October 22, 2025

BUTTE, Mont. — (RV) Montana Tech rallied from a two-set deficit to defeat No. 24 Dakota State (S.D.) in a five-set Frontier Conference thriller Wednesday night inside Valley Bank Arena.  Set scores were 20-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-7.

It was the second straight Frontier Conference road volleyball contest that the Trojans fell in five sets (at RV Carroll, Mont., on Oct. 20).

Dakota State (14-8 overall record, 10-7 Frontier) jumped out strong behind Tristyn Maras, who powered the Trojans with a career-high 25 kills and hit .400 on 45 swings
The Trojans won the opening set 25-20 and followed with a tight 25-23 victory in the second to take a 2-0 lead.

Montana Tech (14-9 overall record, 10-7 Frontier) responded with a balanced attack in sets three and four — led by Payton Treadwell (16 kills, .300 hitting) and Kinnidi Willmore (15 kills, .333) — to even the match before rolling through the decisive fifth set 15-7.

The Orediggers hit .232 for the match and recorded 16 team blocks.  The Trojans finished at .185 overall after posting .317 in set two but dropped to –.353 in the fifth.
Macey Wathen added a career-high 18 kills and a season-high five blocks for Dakota State, while Maddi Langerock tallied 52 assists, 14 digs and a career-high five blocks.

Defensively, Kate VanRooyan led with 22 digs and an ace, and Sydney Wathen chipped in 12 digs.

For the Orediggers, Madison Biery (10 kills, 8 block assists), Kennedy Oman (7 blocks) and Abby Clark (6 kills, .353) anchored the front line, while setters Ellie Reinertson (27 assists) and Rhys Layton (29 assists, 2 aces) orchestrated a 63-kill offense.

Dakota State out-dug Montana Tech 85-73 and out-killed them 69-63.

DSU concludes their four-match Montana trip Thursday evening as they travel south on Interstate 15, visiting Montana Western.  The match is set for 8 p.m. (Central Time)/7 p.m. (Mountain Time) at Straugh Gymnasium.