BUTTE, Mont. – The Rocky Mountain College volleyball team spilt a pair of matches on the first day of action at the Big Sky Volleyball Challenge. Rocky opened the day with a 3-set loss to No. 11 Eastern Oregon. The Battlin' Bears came back to earn a sweep of Saint Francis (Ind.) to close the day.
 
Rocky is now 3-3 on the season and will play UC Merced (Calif.) and Northwest (Wash.) in matches on Saturday. The tournament is hosted by Montana Tech and is being played at the Butte Civic Center.
 
The Bears fell to Eastern Oregon by scores of 25-22, 25-19, 25-14. Rocky got eight kills apiece from Olivia L'Ami and Daniella Russell in the loss. They hit .167 as a team while allowing EOU to hit .351 with 47 kills. Holland Fergurson led Rocky with 13 digs.
 
Rocky responded in the day's second match to claim a 25-19, 25-10, 25-12 victory over Saint Francis and snap a three-match losing skid. While the Bears had a slim 31-28 edge in total kills, they forced Saint Francis into 37 hitting errors and negative-.087 efficiency.
 
Sydney Matheny posted a team-high eight kills in the victory She hit .727 with zero errors. Natalie Hilderman tallied 22 assists and nine digs.