Griz fall to Bears in four sets
11/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The University of Montana volleyball team lost a four-set decision to Northern Colorado Thursday night in Greeley, Colo., 17-25, 25-18, 23-25, 21-25. With the loss the Grizzlies (10-13, 6-6 BSC) fall into a percentage-based tie with Sacramento State (15-11, 5-5 BSC) for fourth place in the Big Sky Conference.
The Bears (17-9, 10-2 BSC) moved into a first-place tie with Portland State (16-7, 10-2 BSC) atop the conference with the win.
Montana???s second match of the road trip will come Saturday night against Northern Arizona (8-13, 5-7 BSC) in Flagstaff, Ariz. The Lumberjacks were 3-1 winners over Montana State Thursday.
At first glance, the numbers would indicate Montana played a strong match on the road against one of the Big Sky???s top teams. The Grizzlies had more kills (54-53), digs (76-72) and blocks (10-9) than the Bears, but those numbers did little to console coach Jerry Wagner after the match.
???We may have had some better numbers (than Northern Colorado), but that isn???t how it felt all night,??? he said. ???We were off, and it was our own doing. Our communication was at an all-time low, and our unforced errors were at an all-time high. We did not play at a championship level tonight.???
The teams split their first two sets in similar fashion.
Northern Colorado broke free of a 16-16 tie in the opening set courtesy of a Montana service error, back-to-back UNC service aces and four Griz attack errors down the stretch.
Tied at 11 in the second, Montana scored four straight points on kills by juniors Stephanie Turner and Jaimie Thibeault and two Northern Colorado attack errors and maintained at least a three-point lead the rest of the set.
Montana fell behind 11-4 in the third set but kept battling back until a late 4-0 run, capped by a kill from senior Whitney Hobbs, finally brought the Grizzlies within one, 23-22.
Kenzie Shreeve, who would finish with a match-high 16 kills, pulled the set out for the Bears with kills on two of the next three points.
The Grizzlies fell behind again in the final set, 10-6, but would come back to take an 18-15 lead.
The Bears answered with four straight points, the last two coming on a pair of block assists by UNC???s Taylor Smith against Thibeault and redshirt freshman Paige Branstiter.
Hobbs??? 10th kill of the night evened the score at 21, but a Montana ball-handling error on the next point sparked a 4-0 run by Northern Colorado that closed out the match.
???We gave away the games that we lost in the early going (of those sets),??? Wagner added. ???We had unforced errors in every area of our game tonight, particularly in communication.???
Junior Brittney Brown led Montana defensively with a season-best 27 digs. Her efforts, in part, limited Northern Colorado to .191 hitting, well below its .260 average it had been averaging in Big Sky play entering the match.
Montana, which hit .177, was led offensively by Branstiter, who had a season-high 13 kills. She also matched a season high with four blocks.
Turner, with 12, Thibeault, with 11, and Hobbs, with 10, all finished with double-figure kills.
Thibeault, the Big Sky Conference???s leading hitter at .409 in Big Sky play entering the match, was held to .125 hitting, her first time in league play hitting under .200.
Thibeault led both teams with six blocks, while senior Taryn Wright had her 12th double-double of the season with 44 assists and 12 digs.
Shreeve had her 16 kills on .326 hitting to lead the Bears. Marissa Hughes had 44 assists, Breanna VanDerMost had 22 digs and Smith finished with five blocks.
