PEORIA, Ill. ? Freshmen Melissa Collins (Manchester, Mo./Parkway South) and Emily Austin (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) combined for half of Bradley's 36 kills, but that wasn't enough offense to overcome strong serving by Montana, as the Bradley volleyball team wrapped up play at the 2007 Radisson Hotel Invitational Saturday at Robertson Memorial Field House with a 30-15, 30-19, 30-21 loss to the Grizzlies.

The duo had nine kills each on the night to tie for the team lead. Freshman Alex Starks (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) and fellow newcomer Caitlin Staib (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) both added three kills to give the freshmen a combined 24 of the Braves 36 kills.

Montana (3-3 overall) used a strong serve to keep the Braves offense out of sync. The Grizzlies served up 13 aces and committed just four service errors, in addition to boasting a .291 attack percentage. Jade Roskam led Montana with 14 kills and attacked at a .314 clip.

Bradley (1-6 overall) battled back and forth with Montana early in the first game, but the Grizzlies siezed control with an 11-1 run and never looked back as they cruised to a 30-15 victory.

Much like game one, the Braves were hanging tough with Montana, trailing 14-12, before a six-point UM run opened an 8-1 spurt that gave the Grizzlies a 22-13 lead. Bradley would pull back to within six points, but four attack errors by the Braves and consecutive aces by Taryn Wright helped seal the 30-19 Montana win.

In game three, Bradley tied the game at 16-16 on a Collin's kill and was trailing 18-17, before four consecutive Montana points pushed the lead to five points. The Braves clawed back to within two points (20-22), but Roskam recorded three kills to highlight an 8-1 Montana clip to close out the match.

Senior Eileen Hillary (Washington, Ill./Washington) played in one game and notched four assists to push her career assist total to 1,000. She is the 12th player in program history to record 1,000 assists and is 24 assists from passing Ange Martin for 11th in school history. Junior setter Sam Black (Atalissa, Iowa/West Liberty) is 10th in career assists with 1,108.

Saint Louis claimed the title at the Radisson Hotel Invitational earlier in the evening with a 30-23, 30-16, 30-18 victory over Western Illinois, to finish 3-0 in tournament play. Bridget Fonke led the Billikens with 19 kills and six aces while boasting a .424 attack percentage.

Montana finished second in the tournament with a 2-1 record, while tournament-host Bradley finished third at 1-2. Western Illinois was 0-3 over the weekend and finished fourth.

Saint Louis libero Whitney Behrens was named tournament MVP and was joined by Bridget Fonke and Whitney Roth on the all-tournament team. Montana's Jaimie Thibeault and Lauren Gustafson also earned all-tournament honors in addition to Bradley's Nikki Pierzchala (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview) and Ashley Baker of Western Illinois.

The Braves return to action next weekend at the Panther Classic in Milwaukee, Wis. Bradley faces Cincinnati at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 7 and Virginia Tech later that day at 4:30 p.m. The Braves conclude tournament play on Saturday against Wisconsin-Milwaukee at 1:30 p.m.