BELLEVUE, Neb. – The College of Saint Mary volleyball team opened up play in the GoSarpy.com Classic with a 3-1 win over Avila University Friday morning. The Flames then lost their night contest 3-0 to Montana Tech University.

Bellevue University is hosting the two-day tournament at the Lied Activity Center. 

The Flames beat Avila by scores of 24-26, 25-14, 25-23 and 25-15.

"We had a slow start against Avila," CSM Coach Rick Pruett said. "We just weren't being aggressive and our mindset was on the things we were doing wrong instead of just playing aggressive. We talked about that after the first set and we were able to turn it around and play really good volleyball. We were good defensively and played scrappy."

Liz Henrichson led the Flames with 17 kills, while Morgan Ramsey had 12, Grace Werner added nine and Azaria Green chipped in with eight. Miranda Ring tallied 32 assists and teammate Kaitlyn Busby finished with 12. Defensively, Krissy Radicia and Elen Pruett both had 16 digs and Ring added 11.

"Offensively Liz was dominate with 17 kills and an over .450 hitting efficiency," Pruett said. "Morgan had a great match and contributed 12 kills and hit over .300."

The Flames weren't able to get that same amount of offense going against Montana Tech. It was a showdown against two of the top teams in the country at the NAIA level. CSM was ranked No. 17 in the preseason Top 25 poll, while the Diggers were ranked No. 21.

Montana Tech defeated the Flames 25-16, 25-12 and 25-22.

"Our loss to Montana Tech was disappointing because we didn't accept the challenge of playing against a Top 25 team," Pruett said. "We need to play with more toughness and competitiveness. We need to learn to make adjustments and not be complacent.

"This level takes toughness both mentally and physically and we need to figure that part out."

The Flames hit just .040 as a team against the Diggers.

Werner led CSM with seven kills. Busby and Kamryn Chohon pushed up 10 assists each and Pruett had a team-high 10 digs.

"On a positive note, I thought our serve receive played well and Kamryn came off the bench and brought some good energy to the court."

College of Saint Mary is now 2-2 on the season. The Flames return to Bellevue on Saturday with matches vs. Dickinson State at 11:30 a.m. and Grand View University at 4:30 p.m.