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. 

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. 

Lady Diggers Annihilate Western; End Regular Season

Jason Silvernale
Montana Tech’s three seniors, Katie Daly, Cassie Hodges, and Savanna Lester, could not have had a better way to end their Oredigger volleyball careers as they did Thursday evening. The Diggers tore apart winless Western in straight games by scores of 25-12, 25-14, and 25-20. To compliment the senior recognition before the game, Daly and Hodges led the team for kills with 15 and 14, respectively, while Lester tallied 11 digs for the night. Daly also accounted for 4 of the teams 8 blocks.

Lady Diggers Get Momentum

Jason Silvernale

Lacey Phelan and Katie Daly Go Up for a Block

This past weekend, Tech fans got to see a Lady Oredigger squad play like they began the season – winning. Ninth ranked Lewis and Clark of Lewiston, Idaho, and Westminster of Utah, came to town expecting easy conference victories, having swept Montana Tech in previous meetings. However, Lewis and Clark were forced into a fifth set tiebreaker match which has only happened three times this season for the nationally contending team. Although Tech dropped the fifth set, they knew they had the ability to win it. This confidence led into Saturdays match against Westminster where the Lady Orediggers went on to win in a very convincing fashion.

Lady Diggers Drop Two

Jason Silvernale

Katy Daly at the net

     The Lady Orediggers finally made it back to the HPER floor for a homestand against nationally ranked conference rivals Carroll College of Helena and Rocky Mountain College of Billings this past weekend. However the outcomes of the two league matches were not what Tech wanted to see. The Diggers were swept in both matches dropping their league record to 1-5, their sole victory coming from UGF.

      Against the Saints, the Diggers came out cold in each game and fell behind early. However in the first two games, Tech made mid game point rallies to tie it up but couldn’t convert their efforts to a win. Carroll had better totals in all categories; kills, assists, aces, digs, and blocks. Katie Daly posted five blocks and libero Allyse Cruise tallied twelve digs. No hitters were in double figures. Kiara Ross led the offense with twenty assists.