PHOTO: Pekin Noodle Parlor - Jason Silvernale

This past Saturday, the Mai Wah Society conducted its annual Chinese New Year parade. The only business left from Butte’s former Chinatown is the Pekin Noodle Parlor located at 117 Main Street. Historians believe the Pekin could be the oldest Chinese restaurant in the nation and attribute the origin of Keno to the establishment as well.

Tech Spikers Remain Winless in Frontier

Montana Tech and UM Western have been looking to break into the win column in Frontier Conference play and few predicted they would do so. The Bulldogs of Western snapped a Frontier win dry spell that dates back to 2008 – or 30 conference matches ago. Montana Tech saw a glimpse of hope in a convincing third set where they dominated the game, winning by a 15 point margin. Nevertheless, Western controlled the tempo in the final and fourth set to claim the win for the night. 

Shersteen Cline led the Digger offense with 11 kills in the match while Kiara Ross and Michelle Hardy dished out 13 and 17 assists, respectively. Ross and Hardy also led the team in digs, tallying 11 and 15 respectively. Lacey Phelan hit well for the night accumulating a .429 hitting percentage. Korey Krumm led Montana Tech at the net defensively with 4 “stuff” blocks. 

Saints March Over Diggers

In front of a crowd nearing six thousand, the Saints of Carroll College defeated Montana Tech 26-0, for the 15th consecutive time. 

The first quarter presented some opportunity for the Orediggers in the form of a fumble recovery by Nate Thompson and an interception by Logan Ledgerwood. Nonetheless, Tech couldn’t convert and would not see the end zone the rest of the night. Carroll held the Digger offense to a total of 130 yards – 108 passing and a mere 22 rushing yards.

Connor O’Neill, Mike Walkman, and Jacob Workman each tallied a sack for the evening. Pat Hansen punched in 23 yards for the evening. James Roberts, Leif Knatterud, and Trent Thomas caught for 24, 34, and 25 yards respectively.

Allyse Cruise, Player Of The Week

The Frontier Athletic Conference announced on Sept 5 their selections for players of the week in the fall sports currently underway.  Montana Tech’s own Allyse Cruise was announced as the Player of the Week for volleyball after a 32 dig performance at the UST Labor Day tourney in Houston, TX.  This performance places Cruise at #2 in the all-time ‘Digger record book for digs in a single game.

Allyse Cruise is a 5’8” Libero for the Orediggers, currently in her Junior year of eligibility and working towards a degree in Metallurgical Engineering.  She is a native of Liberty, Saskatchewan. We asked Allyse about how her season is progressing.

Lady Diggers Down Western, Walla Walla

photo: Jason Silvernale

The Montana Tech volleyball squad hit the Kelvin Sampson Court for two convincing victories to open their first home stand of the season. Walla Walla University and Montana Western traveled to Butte to face the Orediggers, who were 1-3 from the previous weekend. The Diggers prevailed in both contests boosting their record to .500 for the season. 


Walla Walla University was Montana Tech’s first opponent for the afternoon. With outside hitters Shersteen Cline and Emily Matosich sidelined with injuries, Gabby Weber was brought of redshirting to fill the gaps. Along with other true freshman, Emily Lobnitz, Weber contributed 13 kills in her Montana Tech debut. The Diggers easily handled Walla Walla winning in straight sets, 25-16, 25-10, 25-21. 

Hansen Scores Five TD’s

photo: Jason Silvernale

Big changes were abundant at Alumni Coliseum on Saturday – a new tailgate location on the west end of the field, Brian Schwarzkoph as quarterback, and Chuck Morrell as head coach of the Diggers. The new era of Montana Tech Football started off with a bang seeing a 50-47 double overtime victory over Southern Oregon. However, Pat Hansen, a redshirt freshman from Ekalaka, may have stolen the show having scored five of the Digger’s touchdowns including the game winning score in the second overtime. 

Post Season Honors - Higbee Named Co-MVP; Hasquet Lands First Team

The Frontier Conference has released their post season honor teams which include five Montana Tech athletes.
Taesha Higbee,a senior for the Lady Orediggers, was named Co-MVP with Jasmine Stohr of Lewis & Clark State for the women’s division. Montana Tech true freshman Kelsey DeWit and junior Meghan Eisenmann both were named to the 2nd Team All-Conference.
Senior Kellen Hasquet was the lone Oredigger athlete to be named to the 1st Team All-Conference. Tyree Haynie was named to the 2nd Team All-Conference. Haynie is a junior at Montana Tech.

Save the Tatas

The Three Bears Alaska parking lot was full of hustle and bustle Saturday morning. No, there wasn’t a huge sale on groceries or three dollar gasoline – just a lot of people raising breast cancer awareness by participating in the SWE’s Save the Tatas 5K Walk/Run/Bike.

Lady Diggers Split; Earn Home Playoff Berth

The Lady Diggers final two regular home and conference games had a lot riding on them. Beating Carroll would mean their third place ranking would stick and they would get a first round playoff game early the following week. If they beat both Carroll and Rocky, Montana Tech’s chances of receiving an at large bid to the NAIA National Tournament would be significantly larger. After defeating Carroll 62-54 and being edged 71-67 by the Battlin’ Bears, the Frontier Conference Tournament may be the Lady Diggers only chance of returning to the National Tournament.

Diggers Fall to Saints and Bears; Drop to Bottom of Conference

Victory was at hand for the Orediggers when playing the Saints of Carroll Friday evening, but time proved to be Tech’s worst enemy. The tight game ended with Carroll on top with a score of 52-48. It was a slightly different story Saturday night when the Rocky Mountain Bears took a double digit lead in the second half and held on to it for the rest of the game. The Diggers fell 78-69. After these two Frontier Conference losses, the Orediggers are tied for last with the University of Great Falls with a 4-10 record.

Montana Tech Splits with Dawgs of Western

This past Saturday night saw key Frontier Conference action between Montana Tech and rival Montana Western. At the end of the night, the Lady Diggers (6-5) solidified their 3rd place standing by edging the Lady Dawgs (4-7) 78-71, while the Western (8-4) men held on to their 1st place stance with a convincing 69-52 win over the Diggers (4-8).

Bob Green, Tech Athletes Named to Butte Sports Hall of Fame

Former Digger gridder Head Coach Bob Green along with former Tech athletes Don Heater, Dan Mahoney, and the 1971 Oredigger Football team were inducted into the Butte, Montana, Sports Hall of Fame under the 2011 Inductee Class.

Haynie Named Frontier Player of the Week

Tyree Haynie of Montana Tech was named the Frontier Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week. (2/7/11) Haynie is a 5-foot-9, junior guard from Chico, Calif. Montana Tech went 2-0 for the weekend with home wins over national ranked Lewis-Clark State 62-61 and Westminster College 77-68. The Orediggers completed a conference season sweep of Westminster for the first time in school history.
Haynie averaged 19 points and four assists per game. He hit 12 of 26 field goals and 12 of 13 free throws.

Frontier Adds Two to Conference

It has recently been announced that Dickinson State University (North Dakota) and Southern Oregon University will be joining the ranks of the Frontier Conference beginning in the 2012-2013 season. Dickinson will be joining for competition in Volleyball, Men and Women’s Basketball, along with Football. Southern Oregon will solely be joining to participate in Football.

Diggers Leap to 4-5 in Conference

To describe the two Oredigger conference victories this past weekend, big is an extreme understatement. Fans got to experience some of the best play Montana Tech has shown this season as they downed the Warriors of Lewis & Clark and the 16th ranked Griffins of Westminster. The Diggers previously beat Westminster on a half court buzzer beater. Combined with this weekend’s victory on the Kelvin Sampson Court, Tech gains a sweep of the Griffins, which has never happened in the program’s recent history.

Lady Diggers Fall to Warriors; Griffins

Taesha Higbee

Jason Silvernale
The Lady Diggers had another rough conference weekend as the squad dropped home games to both the Warriors of Lewis & Clark State and the Griffins of Westminster. Both schools have been nationally ranked at some point this season, while Tech falls to 4-4 in the extremely competitive Frontier Conference. Taesha Higbee gave impressive performances by posting 15 and 17 points respectively. Brooke Pokorny tossed in 19 points, 15 of those from behind the arc, to lead all scorers in the Westminster contest.


Higbee pulled down 28 boards over the weekend while Megan Eisenmann pulled down 8 against the Griffins. Eisenmann also chipped in 13 points in that game, respectively. Brianne McClafferty was nearly perfect at the charity stripe over both games, making 10 of 11 shots and tallying 7 and 10 points respectively.

Intramural Basketball Season Arrives

Jason Silvernale
Once again, the time of year has arrived to begin Montana Tech’s highly popular intramural basketball season. Everything will work generally the same as previous seasons; however, there are a few changes.

Lady Diggers Send Dawgs to Pound

Brooke Pokorny goes up for a layup

Jason Silvernale
The Lady Orediggers gave Montana Tech fans another great performance as they downed Montana Western 83-68 in non-conference action Thursday night at the HPER. Impressive individual stats were recorded by several players but the teams overall effort was maybe more of a sight to see. Tech bounded out to a 45-26 lead at half with the team shooting 55% behind the arc and 45% from the field while limiting Western to a mere 29%.
Brooke Pokorny, Meghan Eisenmann, and Taesha Higbee all hit double figures in scoring column. Along with Higbee’s 15 points, she also pulled down 11 rebounds to post a double-double. Pokorny was 3-3 from three point land and totaled 22 points in the contest while also accumulating four steals. Eisenmann tossed in 20 points on the night.
Tabitha Tomlinson and Kelsey DeWit both ended with 8 points. Tomlinson also dished out three assists and had a steal while DeWitt slammed back three blocked shots. Bryn Hasquet scored 7 points while Brette Rubie chipped in 3.

Orediggers Come Up Short

Jason Silvernale

Montana Tech played a game of highs and lows, both literally and metaphorically, this past Thursday against Minot State in non-conference basketball action. Minot State would explode into two very convincing leads during the game, yet Tech nearly matched them only to fall to the hands of the clock with an 84-79 final score.
The Beavers leaped to an enormous start within the beginning minutes of the contest, building a 26-9 lead from a 22-3 run. Montana Tech would continue to pull within single digits of Minot when the Beavers were sparked to a 40-24 lead from an impressive campaign from three point land. Nonetheless, the Diggers nearly tied the game for half with a 40-36 score before heading to the locker room.

Lady Diggers Soar Over Blue Hawks

Jason Silvernale
The Lady Orediggers hit the floor Sunday afternoon to meet the Dickinson State Blue Hawks, their second opponent of a weekend of non-conference basketball. Once again, Montana Tech rallied in the second half and overcame the aggressive Blue Hawk club with a final score of 65-61.