Griz face Eagles, Vandals on the road

The Montana volleyball team will face its final two-match road trip of the season this week when it plays at Eastern Washington and Idaho. The Grizzlies will take on the Eagles at 7 p.m. (MT) on Thursday in Cheney and the Vandals on Saturday at 8 p.m. (MT) in Moscow.

Coverage: Links to video streaming and live stats for both matches are available in numerous locations at gogriz.com.

Upcoming: Montana will return home to host Northern Colorado and North Dakota next Friday and Saturday at the West Auxiliary Gym. The Grizzlies will play at Idaho State on Thursday, Nov. 12, then wrap up their regular season at home against Montana State on Saturday, Nov. 14.

Where they stand: Montana (6-16, 2-8 BSC) is alone in fifth place in the Big Sky Conference North Division, 10th place overall. ... Eastern Washington (13-8, 8-2 BSC) is atop the North Division and in third place overall behind South Division leaders Northern Arizona (19-4, 9-1 BSC) and Idaho State (17-7, 9-1 BSC). ... Idaho (9-13, 6-4 BSC) trails only Eastern Washington in the North Division standings but is in fifth place overall.

If the season ended today: Eastern Washington and Idaho would safely make the cut for the eight-team Big Sky Conference tournament. Montana would be one of four teams, along with Portland State, Weber State and Montana State, to miss the tournament.

No team has clinched a spot in the tournament field yet, but five teams could have their spots confirmed by Saturday night: Northern Arizona, Idaho State, Eastern Washington, Sacramento State and Idaho. And then the chase for the final few spots will really heat up.

How Montana could be playing beyond Nov. 14: The lowest-hanging fruit for 2-8 Montana is 4-6 Northern Colorado, which hosts Portland State on Thursday, then plays at North Dakota on Saturday. The Grizzlies get the Bears, who they lost to in four sets in Greeley, in Missoula a week from Friday.

Of course, without wins of its own, and it will probably take four wins in its last six matches at a minimum to be a threat, it won't matter for Montana.

"I just hope we can continue to push, no matter where our wins and losses take us," said first-year coach Brian Doyon.

"We want to finish strong so we have something to build on if we make the tournament. And if we don't make it, we want to have something to build on for the following year and feel good about the effort we put in this season and the changes that we made."

Coaching change: Eastern Washington's Michael King was the Eagles' interim head coach when they played at Montana two weeks ago. He'll still be on the sideline on Thursday but with a new title: head coach. EWU announced Wednesday it was removing the interim tag from King's title.

Most recently: Montana made the Portland State-Sacramento State road trip last week and came away with two things: its first win at PSU since 2000 and the realization that it is not quite ready to compete consistently with the top teams in the conference.

The Grizzlies defeated the Vikings on Thursday, 28-26, 22-25, 25-14, 25-13. On Saturday Montana lost to Sac State in straight sets, 25-14, 25-18, 25-20.

Montana fell into a 7-0 hole in the first set and never recovered. In set two the Grizzlies were down 18-15, and in set three they led 17-16 before giving up the lead.

"The match on Thursday was a great win. Portland State had been playing well, especially at home," Doyon said.

"Sac plays really well at home as well, so that was a challenging match. We needed to step up and play at our top level. We did at times, but that match showed we still have some work to do. We have some areas in our game we need to clean up to make ourselves one of the top teams."

The first time around: Montana played five-set matches against both Idaho and Eastern Washington two weeks ago at the West Auxiliary Gym in Missoula.

The Grizzlies couldn't hold a 2-1 lead against the Vandals or a 12-10 advantage in the fifth set. Idaho scored five of the match's final six points to win 15-13.

Two nights later Montana finished. The Grizzlies trailed 13-10 in the fifth set before scoring four straight points to claw their way back. They fought off a pair of match points before pulling out a 20-18 win.

"We played both of these teams tough (in Missoula). I hope we can go to their place and have the same challenging matches and play at the same high level," said Doyon.

"That would be the first step toward finishing the season strong. If we can challenge them and play at a high level, then that will be success, regardless of wins and losses."

Montana Notes:

* The Grizzlies lost at Eastern Washington in straight sets last season but won 3-1 in 2013. That snapped a 17-match losing streak at Cheney.

* Montana is 10-13 all-time at Moscow but has lost on its last 10 visits. The Grizzlies have not won at Idaho since 1991, the year Montana went 16-0 through its Big Sky Conference schedule (shakes head wistfully).

* Brianna Gardner averaged 2.86 kills on .516 hitting and 1.0 block last week. In Thursday's victory, Gardner had a career-high 11 kills on .500 hitting and added five blocks and three service aces, both team highs. In Saturday's loss, Gardner had nine kills on .538 hitting and a pair of blocks.

* In Big Sky Conference matches, Hannah Sackett ranks second in the league in kills (4.76/s) and points (5.18/s), Capri Richardson ranks fourth in hitting percentage (.344), and Sadie Ahearn ranks fourth in digs (4.42/s). Raegan Lindsey ranks eighth in assists (9.95/s), just under 10 per set.

* Trending: Sadie Ahearn has had 20 or more digs three of the last six matches. ... Raegan Lindsey had 66 assists against Idaho, 55 against Eastern Washington, the two best totals of her career. ... Hannah Sackett was limited to nine kills on .094 hitting Saturday by Sacramento State. It was the fewest kills for Sackett since finishing with seven at Temple on Sept. 11. ... Lia Gaogao's best matches of the season came against Idaho (12 kills, .242 hitting, 11 digs) and Eastern Washington (18 kills, 15 digs, 5 blocks). ... Michelle Robinson had a season-high five kills in Thursday's win at Portland State. ... Sick: Capri Richardson totaled 19 kills on the road last week, with just a single error on 36 swings to hit .500. ... Odd numbers, given the results: Mykaela Hammer had a 1-4-8 line at Portland State to hit -.375 and a 6-0-11 line at Sac State to hit .545. ... Despite the 3-0 loss Saturday, Montana hit .223 against the Hornets. ... Saturday's match was Montana's first this season without a service ace.

Big Sky Conference standings:

North Division
Eastern Washington: 8-2 BSC/13-8
Idaho: 6-4/9-13
North Dakota: 5-5/17-10
Northern Colorado: 4-6/8-15
Montana: 2-8/6-16
Montana State: 1-9/3-15

South Division
Northern Arizona: 9-1/19-4
Idaho State: 9-1/17-7
Sacramento State: 7-3/20-5
Southern Utah: 5-5/14-9
Portland State: 3-7/7-15
Weber State: 1-9/5-17

Big Sky Conference notes: The top eight teams in the combined standings at season's end make the tournament. ... Thursday's huge match: Northern Arizona at Idaho State. NAU won the first matchup in Flagstaff in four sets. With a win and its soft schedule over its final five matches, Northern Arizona could start making tournament preparations.

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Players Mentioned

Sadie Ahearn

Brianna Gardner

Mykaela Hammer

Raegan Lindsey

Capri Richardson

Michelle Robinson

Hannah Sackett

University of Montana Athletics