BUTTE, Mont. - Freshman Shelbey Nichol led the College of Idaho volleyball team, who was receiving votes in the first poll of the season, with 14 and 10 kills, respectively in a pair of losses to nationally-ranked foes, No. 18 College of Saint Mary and host No. 15 Montana Tech at the Big Sky Challenge.
Nichol and the Yotes were poised to pull off the upset in the season opener before losing the five-set match, 16-25, 25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 14-16 to the nationally-ranked Flames. Nichol had a match-high seven kills in the third set as College of Idaho hit .243 to .108 for College of Saint Mary. Fellow newcomer Haley McUne nearly had a double double with 17 digs and nine kills. McUne led the attack with five kills in the fourth set to force a fifth and deciding set.
Setters Analise Hitchcock and Savannah Hutchins had 25 and 21 assists and two more newcomer Liza Montalbo was able to provide a team-best three aces and Alexi Wheeler had six blocks – three block solos and three block assists - in the loss.
College of Saint Mary (2-1) had four players with double digit kills with Grace Werner leading the attack with 14 and a .333 hitting percentage. Teammate Lexi Langley nearly had a double double with 10 kills – six in the fifth and deciding set – to go along with nine digs.
The fifth and deciding set saw the two teams go back and forth with the set tied on three occasions until four-unanswered points by the Flames put them ahead 10-6. A resilient College of Idaho squad came back to get within one at 10-9 on the strength of back-to-back kills by Avery Lovett and Gabriella Rios.
The second match of the day saw College of Idaho lose by a 30-28, 25-17, 25-22 to host Montana Tech. Nichol paced the attack with three blocks, four digs and 11 kills in the loss. Janae Rayborn added nine kills, setters Savannah Hutchins and Analise Hitchcock had 17 and 15 assists, respectively.
Montana Tech hit .261 as Olivia Muir had a match-high 19 kills in the win to lead the Orediggers.
After a tightly-contested first set that saw six tie scores and three lead changes, it was the Orediggers who controlled the second set with a .269 hitting percentage. The third set saw eight tie scores and five lead changes. Rayborn had three of her nine kills in the third set to lead the efforts from College of Idaho. Muir had six of her 19 kills to lead Montana Tech.
The tournament resumes on Saturday when College of Idaho will face two more Frontier Conference foes in Providence (Mont.) at 9 a.m. and Montana State-Northern at 1 p.m.