Montana snaps streak with four-set win

Thursday, October 22

Portland, Ore.

8:00 PM (MT)

Montana

6-15, 2-7BSC

Portland State *

6-15, 2-7BSC

Montana

Portland State

10/22/2015 11:37:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana hit a season-best .338 and won in four sets at Portland State Thursday night, 28-26, 22-25, 25-14, 25-13. It was the first win for the Grizzlies at PSU since 2000, snapping a 15-match losing streak at the Stott Center.

It was the second straight win for Montana (6-15, 2-7 BSC), matching its longest winning streak of the season. Portland State dropped to 6-15 overall, 2-7 in league matches.

Montana, which got 19 kills on .366 hitting from Hannah Sackett and 21 digs from Sadie Ahearn, rallied from a 23-20 deficit to win set one, then rolled through sets three and four to remain in contention for next month's Big Sky Conference tournament.

"We didn't bring any of the program's history with us," said first-year coach Brian Doyon. "It was just a great team win."

Trailing 23-20 in the opening set, Brianna Gardner, who had 11 kills on .500 hitting, three service aces and five blocks, served Montana back into the match. The Grizzlies fought off two set points before pulling out the tight victory on a Sackett kill.

"That was huge," said Doyon. "Even though we weren't doing all the things we could have done, the players were throwing themselves on the floor to make some big digs, and that helped us pick up some points.

"Brianna had some really nice serves that got them out of system, and we made some plays late. I thought we were going to be able to do it again in the second set, but we had a couple of untimely errors."

Despite dropping the second set, the Grizzlies still hit .355.

"We had a pretty nice game plan, but the first and second sets we didn't execute quite like I wanted us to," said Doyon. "Somewhere in set three, things started to click. Our serving got going, and our passing improved, so we got into system and were able to split up their block and cause a little bit of trouble.

"But the big thing we talked about (between sets two and three) was our energy. It was a quiet gym, so we had to do things for ourselves a little bit more. The team stepped up and started celebrating points more, and it really showed in our overall play."

Montana hit .448 in set three, .286 in set four, while limiting Portland State to just 13 total kills over the final two sets. The Grizzlies had a season-high eight service aces in the match.

Capri Richardson had 13 kills on .480 hitting and three blocks, Raegan Lindsey totaled 45 assists, four kills and three blocks, and Michelle Robinson and Janell Sparks came off the bench to combine for a dozen kills on .360 hitting.

Montana held Portland State to .176 hitting, the best defensive performance for the Grizzlies in nine Big Sky matches.

Montana will put its modest winning streak to the test Saturday afternoon at Sacramento State (19-5, 6-3 BSC). The Hornets won their third straight match by destroying Montana State Thursday night, 25-15, 25-7, 25-12.