Griz roll to another three-game victory
9/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The University of Montana volleyball team continued its impressive early-season play with a tight 3-0 victory over Northern Illinois Friday night in the opening match of the Denver University Invitational. The Grizzlies won all three games by two points, 32-30, 30-28, 30-28.
Montana improved to 9-3 on the season and sent the Huskies to 7-5.
"This was a really cool match," coach Nikki Best said soon after the match ended. "It was point for point down the stretch in all three games. We played with a great deal of poise; it was our best match of the year so far."
The Grizzlies hit .185 in the match to NIU's .234, but whereas the Huskies were reliant upon one player, junior middle blocker Katie McCullagh, Montana had numerous options. And that was the difference in the match.
"They were a one-person team, and we weren't," Best said. "That's why we won."
McCullagh finished with 24 kills on .321 hitting, but took nearly half of Northern Illinois' 124 attacks.
Montana had two players with double-figure kills and had four players with at least eight.
Junior Claudia Houle had 14 kills, junior Emily Sakis added 12, with senior Audrey Jensen and freshman Jade Roskam finishing with eight each. Sakis hit .320, finishing with just four errors in 25 attempts.
Senior Diana Thompson had 42 assists.
"It was very impressive play all around tonight," Best said. "Diana did a fantastic job of distributing the offense, and Emily was truly unstoppable. It was pretty neat to see."
Jensen had a match-high three service aces, sophomore Jackie White had 13 digs with Houle and sophomore Jessica Petersen both adding three blocks.
After being tied at 21-21, game one seemed to be slipping away from the Griz when NIU scored five straight points to go up 26-21. But the lead was short lived.
Jensen had two service aces and a kill and Houle added three kills to pull Montana back even, 27-27.
With the game tied at 30-30, Sakis and Roskam had kills to finish the game, 32-30.
Game two was tight throughout, but the Griz never trailed. UM had game point at 29-26 after a McCullagh hitting error, but a Montana service error and attack error allowed the Huskies to pull within one, 29-28.
Houle responded with a key kill to put the Grizzlies up 2-0 with the 30-28 win.
In game three, Montana trailed 28-27, but again the Griz made the plays to pull out the victory. A Sakis kill made it 28-28. An NIU hitting error gave UM match point, and Roskam finished things off with her eighth kill for the 30-28 win.
"What it came down to was that we made the great plays at critical times," Best said.
Montana plays Denver (11 a.m.) and Portland (5 p.m.) on Saturday.
Montana improved to 9-3 on the season and sent the Huskies to 7-5.
"This was a really cool match," coach Nikki Best said soon after the match ended. "It was point for point down the stretch in all three games. We played with a great deal of poise; it was our best match of the year so far."
The Grizzlies hit .185 in the match to NIU's .234, but whereas the Huskies were reliant upon one player, junior middle blocker Katie McCullagh, Montana had numerous options. And that was the difference in the match.
"They were a one-person team, and we weren't," Best said. "That's why we won."
McCullagh finished with 24 kills on .321 hitting, but took nearly half of Northern Illinois' 124 attacks.
Montana had two players with double-figure kills and had four players with at least eight.
Junior Claudia Houle had 14 kills, junior Emily Sakis added 12, with senior Audrey Jensen and freshman Jade Roskam finishing with eight each. Sakis hit .320, finishing with just four errors in 25 attempts.
Senior Diana Thompson had 42 assists.
"It was very impressive play all around tonight," Best said. "Diana did a fantastic job of distributing the offense, and Emily was truly unstoppable. It was pretty neat to see."
Jensen had a match-high three service aces, sophomore Jackie White had 13 digs with Houle and sophomore Jessica Petersen both adding three blocks.
After being tied at 21-21, game one seemed to be slipping away from the Griz when NIU scored five straight points to go up 26-21. But the lead was short lived.
Jensen had two service aces and a kill and Houle added three kills to pull Montana back even, 27-27.
With the game tied at 30-30, Sakis and Roskam had kills to finish the game, 32-30.
Game two was tight throughout, but the Griz never trailed. UM had game point at 29-26 after a McCullagh hitting error, but a Montana service error and attack error allowed the Huskies to pull within one, 29-28.
Houle responded with a key kill to put the Grizzlies up 2-0 with the 30-28 win.
In game three, Montana trailed 28-27, but again the Griz made the plays to pull out the victory. A Sakis kill made it 28-28. An NIU hitting error gave UM match point, and Roskam finished things off with her eighth kill for the 30-28 win.
"What it came down to was that we made the great plays at critical times," Best said.
Montana plays Denver (11 a.m.) and Portland (5 p.m.) on Saturday.
National Girls and Women in Sports Day 2026
Monday, March 30
Student-Athlete Spotlight: Maddie Pyles (Griz Volleyball)
Thursday, January 15
Griz Volleyball: Name The Person
Tuesday, December 30
Griz Volleyball: Name The Object
Tuesday, December 30
