Griz lose but still control tournament destiny
11/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The University of Montana volleyball team lost in four games at Sacramento State Saturday night, 32-34, 32-30, 20-30, 17-30, in the Grizzlies' only match of the week. Montana, which closes out the regular season next weekend with home matches against Weber State and Idaho State, dropped to 9-15 overall and slipped back into seventh place in the Big Sky Conference at 5-9.
The first-place Hornets improved to 25-6, 12-2 in league play.
Five of the six teams advancing to the 2007 Big Sky Conference Tournament, which will be held Nov. 23-24 at Sacramento, have been determined going into the final weekend of regular-season play. Sacramento State (12-2 BSC), Eastern Washington (12-3 BSC), Portland State (12-3 BSC), Weber State (9-5 BSC) and Northern Colorado (8-7 BSC) have all clinched spots at the tournament.
The tournament's final entry will be either Northern Arizona, which improved to 6-9 in Big Sky play with a 3-1 victory at Idaho State Saturday night, or the Grizzlies.
With the Lumberjacks hosting Northern Colorado in their only remaining match next Saturday night, Montana can qualify for the post-season, regardless of what Northern Arizona does, with a sweep of Weber State and Idaho State next weekend since the Grizzlies hold the tie-breaker advantage over NAU. A Montana split would force the Grizzlies to rely on UNC winning at Flagstaff, Ariz., for UM to advance.
Montana, which has not won back-to-back matches this season, won at Idaho State in four games on Oct. 12 and lost a five-game decision at Weber State on Oct. 13.
Junior Jade Roskam had a career-high 22 kills on .375 hitting Saturday night to lead Montana's offensive attack against the Hornets. Freshman Amy Roberts finished with 16 kills on .324 hitting and senior Jessica Petersen added eight kills on .467 hitting.
Sophomore Taryn Wright had 49 assists, senior Jackie White finished with a match-high 25 digs and freshman Jaimie Thibeault had a team-high five blocks.
Roskam, with 13, and Wright, with 10, both reached double figures in digs to record double-doubles for the match.
Sacramento State's Missie Stidham led both teams with 23 kills and added 18 digs. Both were team highs.
Rose Burke added 50 assists and Lindsay Haupt finished with five blocks.
The Grizzlies, who had a 10-7 team blocks edge, hit .234 for the match, well above Sac State's opponent hitting percentage for the season of .150. The Hornets hit .238.
The Grizzlies held as much as a five-point lead mid-way through game one before Sac State rallied back to tie it at 22-22. Both teams had two chances to close out the game before the Hornets ended it with back-to-back kills from Jennifer Ferguson.
Game two was just as tight, though Sacramento State appeared to be pulling away for the victory when the Hornets took a 29-27 lead on a Haupt kill. Roberts and Thibeault had back-to-back kills to even the score and an attack error by Stidham gave Montana a 30-29 lead.
A Grizzly attack error made it 30-30, then Roskam put away a kill and sophomore Taryn Wright had a solo block against Stidham to give UM the win.
Montana would be plagued by early deficits in games three and four, falling behind by 6-2 and 17-7 margins in game three and 10-2 and 22-8 scores in game four.
"We still control our own destiny for making the Big Sky Conference Tournament," Montana coach Jerry Wagner said after the match. "But if we're going to do what we need to do next weekend at home in our matches against Weber State and Idaho State, I'm going to need a team with the personality that we had in games one and two tonight.
"Every player competed for every second of every point in those two games."
The Grizzlies will host the Wildcats on Friday and the Bengals on Saturday. Both matches will start at 7 p.m. at the West Auxiliary Gym.
The first-place Hornets improved to 25-6, 12-2 in league play.
Five of the six teams advancing to the 2007 Big Sky Conference Tournament, which will be held Nov. 23-24 at Sacramento, have been determined going into the final weekend of regular-season play. Sacramento State (12-2 BSC), Eastern Washington (12-3 BSC), Portland State (12-3 BSC), Weber State (9-5 BSC) and Northern Colorado (8-7 BSC) have all clinched spots at the tournament.
The tournament's final entry will be either Northern Arizona, which improved to 6-9 in Big Sky play with a 3-1 victory at Idaho State Saturday night, or the Grizzlies.
With the Lumberjacks hosting Northern Colorado in their only remaining match next Saturday night, Montana can qualify for the post-season, regardless of what Northern Arizona does, with a sweep of Weber State and Idaho State next weekend since the Grizzlies hold the tie-breaker advantage over NAU. A Montana split would force the Grizzlies to rely on UNC winning at Flagstaff, Ariz., for UM to advance.
Montana, which has not won back-to-back matches this season, won at Idaho State in four games on Oct. 12 and lost a five-game decision at Weber State on Oct. 13.
Junior Jade Roskam had a career-high 22 kills on .375 hitting Saturday night to lead Montana's offensive attack against the Hornets. Freshman Amy Roberts finished with 16 kills on .324 hitting and senior Jessica Petersen added eight kills on .467 hitting.
Sophomore Taryn Wright had 49 assists, senior Jackie White finished with a match-high 25 digs and freshman Jaimie Thibeault had a team-high five blocks.
Roskam, with 13, and Wright, with 10, both reached double figures in digs to record double-doubles for the match.
Sacramento State's Missie Stidham led both teams with 23 kills and added 18 digs. Both were team highs.
Rose Burke added 50 assists and Lindsay Haupt finished with five blocks.
The Grizzlies, who had a 10-7 team blocks edge, hit .234 for the match, well above Sac State's opponent hitting percentage for the season of .150. The Hornets hit .238.
The Grizzlies held as much as a five-point lead mid-way through game one before Sac State rallied back to tie it at 22-22. Both teams had two chances to close out the game before the Hornets ended it with back-to-back kills from Jennifer Ferguson.
Game two was just as tight, though Sacramento State appeared to be pulling away for the victory when the Hornets took a 29-27 lead on a Haupt kill. Roberts and Thibeault had back-to-back kills to even the score and an attack error by Stidham gave Montana a 30-29 lead.
A Grizzly attack error made it 30-30, then Roskam put away a kill and sophomore Taryn Wright had a solo block against Stidham to give UM the win.
Montana would be plagued by early deficits in games three and four, falling behind by 6-2 and 17-7 margins in game three and 10-2 and 22-8 scores in game four.
"We still control our own destiny for making the Big Sky Conference Tournament," Montana coach Jerry Wagner said after the match. "But if we're going to do what we need to do next weekend at home in our matches against Weber State and Idaho State, I'm going to need a team with the personality that we had in games one and two tonight.
"Every player competed for every second of every point in those two games."
The Grizzlies will host the Wildcats on Friday and the Bengals on Saturday. Both matches will start at 7 p.m. at the West Auxiliary Gym.
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