Montana falls in three sets at North Dakota

Thursday, October 1

Grand Forks, N.D.

6:00 PM (MT)

Montana

4-11, 0-3BSC

North Dakota *

13-6, 2-1BSC

Montana

North Dakota

10/1/2015 9:31:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to North Dakota Thursday night at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks, 25-23, 25-18, 25-20, to remain winless through the early portion of its Big Sky Conference schedule.

The Grizzlies dropped to 4-11 overall, 0-3 in league matches. North Dakota improved to 13-6, 2-1 in Big Sky play and maintained its upper hand over Montana. UND improved to 8-0 against the Grizzlies since joining the Big Sky. Montana has just a single set win in those eight matches.

But while Thursday night resulted in another loss, it felt different than some of Montana's recent performances against one of the Big Sky's heavyweights. Though the Grizzlies didn't finish it off, they led 20-16 in the opening set, and after falling into a 2-0 hole, Montana didn't stop competing.

"That was one of our goals," said UM coach Brian Doyon. "We wanted to play strong all three, four or five sets, however many it went, and do it with full intensity, energy and passion, and that's what the girls brought. So that was a success for us."

The difference in the match came at the net. Montana had just two fewer kills than North Dakota, but UND out-blocked the Grizzlies 11-2 and forced Montana into 26 attack errors, which led to a .087 hitting percentage, the team's second-lowest effort of the season.

Led by Faith Dooley, who had 10 kills on .529 hitting and a match-high six blocks, North Dakota hit .230.

Hannah Sackett, whose growing reputation precedes her, had a match-high 13 kills for Montana, but with North Dakota keying on the senior outside hitter, she had nine of the team's attack errors and hit .114.

What presence Montana lacked at the net, the Grizzlies had in the back row. They out-dug the Big Sky's statistical leader 54-48, and junior Sadie Ahearn totaled 19 digs, two more than UND's McKenzie Hart, who entered the match leading the entire nation in that category.

Montana also did well in the serve-receive game. The Grizzlies had more aces than their opponent for just the third time this season and fewer service errors.

"They played us well, but I thought we had some answers," said Doyon. "Some of the things we were focusing on, we did very well. They had some players who went off and did some nice things, but we did as well, and we held our own in some of the areas we talked about holding our own."

Senior middle blocker Capri Richardson had seven kills on .357 hitting, though she went without a block for the first time this season. Sophomore outside hitter Janell Sparks had seven kills, and junior setter Raegan Lindsey totaled 20 assists, seven digs and three service aces.

Montana will play at Northern Colorado at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Greeley. The Bears (5-11, 1-2 BSC) picked up their first Big Sky win of the season Thursday night with a 3-0 victory over Montana State.