RELATED CLICKS:
Box score | NC season stats | MSU recap

BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Northern Colorado got a match-high 14 kills from senior Kenzie Shreeve and 11 apiece from junior Ashley Lichtenberg and freshman Kelley Arnold on Friday night in muscling out a 3-2 victory against Montana State inside Shroyer Gym.

The Bears (11-7, 5-0 Big Sky) were down two matches to one following the third game (19-25, 25-23, 18-25) before digging in and dominating games four and five (25-15, 15-6). 

It's a good thing, too, because Northern Colorado, which entered the day a half-match back of Eastern Washington for first place in the Big Sky standings, moved into the conference's poll position by the end of the night thanks to its victory here and the Eagles' loss to Portland State.

Friday's win against the Bobcats (2-13, 0-6) also kept the Bears undefeated in conference play after five matches for just the eighth time in program history and kept Northern Colorado's Big Sky record against Montana State at a sparkling 7-0.

Freshman Marissa Hughes captained the Bears' attack Friday with 45 assists while seniors Breanna VanDerMost (match-high 17 digs) and Taylor Smith (season-high tying six blocks) led Northern Colorado's defensive charge.

Arnold's 11 kills tied a season and career high and her .348 hitting percentage was her best performance since hitting at a .450 clip in a home loss to Miami (Fla.) earlier this season.

And Shreeve, whose 10 digs earned her a second double-double on the season, moved to within five kills of becoming just the 13th player in Northern Colorado history to register 1,000 career kills. She now sits at 995, just 16 shy of Maggie Ledall (2001-04), who finished her career with 1,011.

So, now it's on to Missoula tomorrow night for Northern Colorado.

The Big Sky Conference has adopted a Friday-Saturday format for some inconference volleyball and basketball road trips this season -- rather than the Thursday-Saturday format used in recent seasons -- and this weekend's trip through Montana for the Bears is their first exposure to the quick turnaround.

The series history between Montana and Northern Colorado is just eight matches, dating to 2004. The Bears are 4-4 against the Lady Griz in that time, but they've never defeated Montana in Missoula.

Will that change Saturday night? Stay tuned.