Montana
Cal Poly
Griz drop season opener to Cal Poly
8/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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The Griz volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to Cal Poly Friday night on the opening day of the Montana Invitational at the West Auxiliary Gym in Missoula. Wyoming swept Washington State in three sets in the tournament's first match Friday afternoon.
All four teams will play two more matches on Saturday, starting with Wyoming and Cal Poly at 9:30 a.m.
Montana coach Jerry Wagner played all 13 active players in Friday's opener, including 10 underclassmen. Only six players saw action in all four sets.
Even with all the different lineups, the Grizzlies hit .225, out-blocked the Mustangs 14-2 and had the better serving numbers.
"I thought we played well, just not well enough to win tonight," he said. "We needed to start someplace with this group, and everybody who played tonight contributed and more often than not had a positive effect on the game."
Sophomore Claire McCown had a team-high 10 kills, but while the Grizzlies were stronger in some areas, Cal Poly took 30 more swings than Montana and finished with 21 more kills and 15 more digs.
Raeann Greisen, playing in her first collegiate match, had 17 kills on .219 hitting for Cal Poly, which also had 24 more assists than Montana.
The Grizzlies fell behind early in their first set of the season, mostly due to their own unforced errors. Montana had eight attack errors in the opening set, just five the rest of the match.
One of Montana's four true freshmen who are playing this season almost brought the Grizzlies all the way back from a 22-16 deficit.
After a Cal Poly service error made it 22-17, Taylor Schile entered the match for the first time and served five straight points to bring Montana even at 22-22.
The Mustangs would pull out a 26-24 victory and led almost the entire second set, winning 25-20 to take a 2-0 lead.
Freshman setter Jace Henderson was subbed for the first time early in set three, and she and sophomore setter Raegan Lindsey sparked Montana to its lone set win, a 25-17 victory. The Grizzlies hit .409 in the third set and held the Mustangs to .083 hitting.
Montana had its opportunities in the fourth set but could not match Cal Poly's firepower. The Mustangs had 19 kills in the set to the Grizzlies' eight, and Cal Poly won 25-22.
"The final score wasn't what we wanted, but we met some offensive goals, we served strong, and we had a team off balance quite a bit," Wagner said.
"We're trying to come together and build some team chemistry in a very short period of time. The final formula is still in the making."
Montana's upperclassmen middle blockers, redshirt senior Natalie Jones and redshirt junior Capri Richardson, paired up for a solid match. They combined for 14 kills on .429 hitting and a dozen blocks. Richardson also had three of Montana's eight service aces, as did Lindsey.
Sophomore Michelle Robinson, a star in the making, had eight kills, six digs and a career-high four blocks. Redshirt freshman Tess Hellerud hit .214 with six digs in three sets.
Montana will face Washington State at noon on Saturday and Wyoming at 7:30 p.m.
