Griz head east, face another tough field
9/10/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Montana volleyball team will travel east this week and play four matches Friday and Saturday at the West Virginia Mountaineer Invitational in Morgantown.
The Grizzlies will face St. Francis at 8 a.m. (MT) and Seton Hall at noon (MT) on Friday and Kent State at noon (MT) and West Virginia at 5 p.m. (MT) on Saturday.
Coverage: West Virginia will offer live stats for all tournament matches and no-cost video of the Mountaineers' matches. Links to all available services can be found on the volleyball schedule page at GoGriz.com.
More tough opponents: Montana (0-6) has faced Washington State and Wyoming twice in its first six matches, and both of those teams are rolling. The Cougars are 5-1 and last weekend won Notre Dame's tournament. The Cowgirls are 7-0 and have dropped just two sets all season.
Now come Seton Hall (5-2), Kent State (5-1) and West Virginia (6-1), teams with a combined record of 16-4. Montana's first opponent this week, St. Francis, is 2-5 but has won two of its last three.
And even though his team is still seeking its first victory of the season as mid-September approaches, ninth-year coach Jerry Wagner wouldn't have it any other way.
"I wouldn't change a thing," he said. "We'll see if I'm wise in saying that, but it's always been my philosophy that you schedule opponents that are going to help you build yourself into a team that's as good as you can possibly be heading into conference.
"Certainly the challenges that we've put in front of us are ones that will help us accomplish that goal."
Historical precedent: This isn't the first time Montana has opened 0-6 under Wagner. In his first season, in 2006, the Grizzlies started 0-6, and that team was just fine.
It won its next six matches and ended up finishing fourth in the Big Sky Conference with a 9-7 league record, the first time finishing above .500 in conference for the team since 1999.
More on St. Francis: The school is located in Loretto, Penn. ... The Red Flash are 2-5 after losing at home to Youngstown State in four sets Tuesday. ... SFU went just 5-22 a year ago, with all five of its wins coming against Northeast Conference opponents. ... St. Francis was picked sixth out of eight teams in the Northeast Conference preseason coaches' poll. ... The Red Flash are under first-year coach Jason Kozak.
More on Seton Hall: The school is located in South Orange, N.J. ... The Pirates are 5-2 and have won five of their last six since losing to Miami in their season opener. ... SHU returned six starters from last year's team that went 16-15 and finished fifth in the Big East. ... Despite having six returning starters, Seton Hall was picked sixth in this year's preseason coaches' poll. ... Coach Allison Yaeger is in her third year.
More on Kent State: The school is located in Kent, Ohio. ... The Golden Flashes are 5-1 and have won five straight matches. ... KSU won its own tournament last weekend with victories over Evansville, Morehead State and New Hampshire. ... Kent State went 12-18 last season and was picked to finish fifth in the East Division of the Mid-American Conference in this year's preseason poll. ... Coach Dan Gromala is in his third year.
More on West Virginia: The Mountaineers are 6-1, with six straight wins since opening the season with a 3-0 loss to BYU. ... All six of WVU's wins have come in 3-0 sweeps. ... Last weekend West Virginia won the tournament title at Niagara. ... The Mountaineers won 20 matches last season and return five starters plus their libero. ... WVU was picked fifth in this year's Big 12 preseason poll. ... West Virginia is coached by Jill Kramer, who is in her fifth year.
What Montana's been up to: The Grizzlies traveled to Laramie last week and went 0-3 at Wyoming's tournament. Montana lost five-set decisions to Ball State and South Alabama on Friday and dropped its second 3-0 decision to the host Cowgirls in a week on Saturday.
Against Ball State, the Grizzlies held a 2-0 lead. Against South Alabama, Montana built a 24-21 lead in a set it would lose 27-25. In the two matches the Grizzlies hit .258.
"We were in nine out of 10 sets on Friday, and we got those opportunities because we played really well," said Wagner. "On the offensive side we made great strides in finding some consistency and continuity, and that alone put us in position to win some sets.
"What's going to give us opportunities to finalize some of those sets is a combination of forming a better block and being more tenacious in our backcourt defense."
That lack of a solid defensive presence, either at the net or in the backcourt, has allowed Montana's opponents to hit .273 this season, the worst mark in the Big Sky Conference. Those opponents have 103 more kills than Montana, a discrepancy of 4.5 per set, which is a lot.
Griz notes: Sophomore right-side hitter Michelle Robinson has been Montana's all-tournament selection at the team's first two tournaments. Robinson is averaging 2.4 kills per set on .228 hitting with five service aces this season. ... Wagner went with a setter combination of senior Kelsey Schile and sophomore Raegan Lindsey in three matches at Wyoming. Look for freshman Jace Henderson, who played only a few points last week, to get more of an opportunity this weekend. ... Freshman middle blocker Brianna Gardner had two blocks Saturday against Wyoming, her first of the season. ... Redshirt junior middle blocker Capri Richardson has hit .263 or better all six matches this season. In three matches at Wyoming Richardson hit .438 while averaging 1.8 kills and 1.1 blocks per set. ... After getting her feet wet at Montana's home tournament, freshman outside hitter Janell Sparks averaged 2.3 kills on .229 hitting in three matches last week. ... Freshman libero Taylor Schile averaged 3.9 digs at Wyoming's tournament. ... Sophomore outside hitter Claire McCown's 18 kills against South Alabama were the second most of her career. She had 23 last season in a 3-2 home loss to Big Sky Conference tournament champion Idaho State.
Up next: Montana will fill its final week of nonconference matches against Seattle and Gonzaga. The Grizzlies will host the Redhawks on Thursday, the Bulldogs on Saturday. Seattle and Gonzaga will play on Friday.
