Montana
Portland State
Resilient Vikings steal thriller from Grizzlies
9/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 23, 2011
Box score
Portland State trailed Montana 13-7 in the fifth set, but the Vikings scored nine of the match's final 10 points to take a 3-2 victory over the Grizzlies Friday night in front of a stunned crowd at the West Auxiliary Gym in Missoula, 22-25, 25-23, 25-17, 22-25, 16-14.
The win was the 15th straight for Portland State (6-9, 2-1 BSC) over Montana (3-8, 0-3 BSC), which - despite playing its best match of the season - is still left searching for its first Big Sky Conference win.
Both teams had the usual ups and downs typical of a five-set match, but it will be Montana wondering how things slipped away in sets two and five.
The Grizzlies led 23-20 in the second set before the Vikings scored five unanswered points to even the match at a set apiece.
In the fifth set, Montana broke free of a 5-5 tie on a kill from sophomore Kayla Reno and an emphatic solo block by sophomore Brooke Bray on Portland State setter Garyn Schlatter.
The lead reached 13-7 on a kill by senior Amy Roberts, which forced Portland State to use its second and final timeout.
Whatever words PSU coach Michael Seemann had for his team obviously worked.
The Vikings answered with consecutive kills, then a service ace to close to within 13-10.
After a Montana timeout, Katie O'Brien and Megan Ellis had back-to-back blocks for Portland State, and an Aubrey Mitchell kill made it 13-13 and required another Montana timeout.
A Griz attack error gave the Vikings their seventh straight point.
Roberts had a kill to even the score at 14, but Ellis put down her 20th and 21st kills of the night on the next two points to give Portland State the victory.
"As tough as it is to say right now, I think we established an identity tonight," UM coach Jerry Wagner said.
"We played very, very hard and with a lot of fight. We were as determined as we've ever been and played that way longer than we have all year long.
"The ingredient we're still missing is finding the ability to patiently execute at the end of sets like we did earlier (in the set) to get to that point.
"We wanted so badly to break through. Portland State made some timely blocks and came up with some huge digs."
The loss overshadowed what Wagner can only hope is a breakout performance by Roberts, a key piece if Montana is going to live up to the league's coaches' preseason predictions of the Grizzlies being one of the top three teams in the Big Sky.
The senior outside hitter struggled through the match's first three sets, hitting -.136 with just two kills, but she came on in the fourth and fifth sets to put the Grizzlies on the verge of a victory.
Roberts had 10 kills on .320 hitting in the final two sets and her play brought out the emotional on-the-floor leader Wagner has been looking for since the team opened the season in Philadelphia just under a month ago.
"I know that is how Amy wants to play, and that's how I see her playing," Wagner said.
"With Amy playing like that, our identity is coming out, because that gives us two of the better left-side hitters in the conference.
"Now we have some direction. Now I'm sensing a fighting spirit in this team."
Montana jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the opening set - a big change from last weekend when the Grizzlies trailed Northern Colorado 17-4 in the first set and dropped the opening set at Northern Arizona 25-10 - and never trailed despite hitting just .118.
Montana hit .220 in the second set and was in a position to take a 2-0 lead into the break, but two Griz attack errors and three Ellis kills gave Portland State the victory.
The Grizzlies played their poorest set of the night in the third, falling behind 20-11 at one point. A late run in that set at least forced a Portland State timeout, and that momentum carried over to the fourth set.
In a back-and-forth battle that had seven ties, kills by freshman Kelsey Schile and Roberts broke a 20-20 deadlock and sparked Montana to a 25-22 victory, setting up the heartbreaking fifth set.
Reno led Montana with 15 kills. Roberts added 12, and senior Brittany Quick finished with 11 kills on .360 hitting.
Quick and Bray both totaled five blocks, with Bray adding nine kills on .300 hitting.
Playing in a 5-1 system with little subbing, sophomore setter Kortney James had 41 assists and 16 digs, and she showed her offensive flair with seven kills on .333 hitting.
Montana out-dug Portland State for the match, 85 to 83. Sophomore libero Megan Murphey had 23 digs, and Schile added 19 along with three blocks.
Ellis finished with 21 kills for Portland State. Schlatter had 53 assists, and O'Brien led both teams with eight blocks.
Montana will host Eastern Washington (7-6, 3-0 BSC) Saturday at 7 p.m. The Eagles remained unbeaten in league play with a 3-2 victory at Montana State Friday night.
