Montana
Weber State
Griz win second straight, finish .500 in Big Sky
11/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 19, 2011
Box score
There will be no Big Sky Conference tournament for the Montana volleyball team in 2011, but the Grizzlies ended their season on a positive note with a four-set victory over Weber State Saturday night at the West Auxiliary Gym, 21-25, 25-10, 25-17, 27-25.
With the win and the results from the rest of the Big Sky Conference on the final night of the regular season, Montana (11-13, 8-8 BSC) finishes alone in fifth place in the final standings, one game behind fourth-place Eastern Washington in a season with a four-team postseason tournament.
It will be remembered as a season of near misses: The Grizzlies lost three Big Sky Conference matches in five sets, including both against the fourth-place Eagles, and will be staying home from the postseason for just the second time in coach Jerry Wagner's six seasons.
"We're going to be disappointed when we look back and see how close we were this season, but even when we were going through some of that, I was encouraged because we put ourselves in a position to win those matches, and that hasn't always been the case," Wagner said.
"We're getting a better understanding of what it takes to finalize games and how hard you have to play."
Wagner and his players need to look no further than this weekend's two matches. In Friday's victory over Idaho State, Montana came back for a win in the fifth set after giving away nine match-point opportunities in a fourth-set loss.
Saturday, on a Senior Night that recognized the accomplishments and contributions of Brittany Quick and Amy Roberts, the Grizzlies won three straight after dropping the first set, hitting a season-best .305 in the process.
"We came out this weekend with two wins that were hard-fought. I loved how hard we played," Wagner said.
"With all the things that were going on (with Senior Night), it took poise, courage and character to find a way to send (Brittany and Amy) off in the right way and finish the season on a high note."
With Montana State's four-set win over Idaho State Saturday night, Weber State (3-26, 3-13 BSC) finished last in the Big Sky, but the Wildcats looked like world beaters in the opening set.
Montana hit .316 in the first set. It could not compare to WSU's .457 performance, with 19 kills and just three errors on 35 attacks.
The Wildcats came back to reality the next two sets, hitting negative numbers as the Grizzlies pounded out .333 and .407 efforts.
Senior Night took on an odd tableau in the fourth set when Quick and Roberts both had to leave midway through just a few plays apart due to injuries. Quick would not return to the match, and a less-than-100-percent Roberts and her tweaked ankle returned but in a passing and standing-still serving role.
By the time a disjointed Montana regrouped, the Wildcats had built a 19-14 lead. Weber State immediately obliged with a service error, and Kelsey Schile and Natalie Jones, who replaced Quick, teamed up for a block that got the momentum back in the Grizzlies' favor.
Both teams fought off set points before Schile and Kayla Reno put down consecutive kills to end the set, the match and the season for both teams, and the careers of Quick and Roberts.
Roberts did enough while healthy to finish with a match-high 16 kills on .294 hitting. She also jump-served her way to three service aces.
Schile finished off a monster weekend with 12 kills on .455 hitting, 11 assists and six blocks. In Montana's sweep of ISU and WSU, Schile had 27 kills on .309 hitting and 13 blocks.
Reno had 10 kills on .259 hitting, Quick finished with nine kills on .500 hitting, Brooke Bray matched a career high with nine blocks, and Kortney James finished with 38 assists.
Paige Branstiter saw time in all four matches off the bench. She had five kills on .364 hitting and two blocks.
Bethany Wray led Weber State with 12 kills, 10 digs and a pair of blocks.
