Griz continue second-half push, win at Eastern Washington

Thursday, October 29

Cheney, Wash.

7:00 PM (MT)

Montana

7-16, 3-8BSC

Eastern Washington *

13-9, 8-3BSC

Montana

Eastern Washington

Mykaela Hammer, Capri Richardson, Lia Gaogao

Griz continue second-half push, win at Eastern Washington

10/29/2015 10:56:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team won for the third time in four matches Thursday night, winning 3-1 over Eastern Washington at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash., to complete a season sweep of the current Big Sky Conference North Division leader.

The Grizzlies (7-16, 3-8 BSC) picked up their second league road win in eight days and defeated the Eagles (13-9, 8-3 BSC) for the second time in less than two weeks to keep their Big Sky tournament hopes alive.

Senior Hannah Sackett had a match-high 16 kills on .293 hitting and sophomore Brianna Gardner added 14 kills on .579 hitting and three blocks as Montana outplayed Eastern Washington across the board, winning 29-27, 15-25, 25-21, 25-16 to leave Cheney victorious for just the second time since 1995.

"The team has been working hard and playing well, and they are executing at a higher level," said coach Brian Doyon. "They came into this match pretty driven and passionate.

"As we go along, they are getting to know each other and are really starting to enjoy the competition and the idea of playing hard for each other."

Montana handed Eastern Washington its first league loss of the season 12 days ago in Missoula, and the Eagles came out looking to make amends for that five-set setback early on.

EWU built an 18-11 lead in the opening set before the Grizzlies answered. Aided by eight Eastern Washington errors, Montana went on a 12-2 run behind the serving of Gardner, Mykaela Hammer and Lia Gaogao to take a 23-20 lead.

Eastern Washington fought off five set-point opportunities for Montana, and the Grizzlies benefited from an attack error by the Eagles at 27-26 on their way to a 29-27 win.

"That first set really set us up," said Doyon. "We weren't playing that great, and they were playing really well, and we found ourselves in a bit of a deficit. But the girls stayed levelheaded and fought their way back into the match. We had a really nice push-back to get the win."

Eastern Washington hit .343 in the second set and sided out at 81 percent to win 25-15, but that would be the last highlight for the Eagles.

Montana hit .294 over the final two sets to mirror what it did seven days earlier in its four-set win at Portland State. Go extra points to win set one, fall hard in set two, then come out of the break strong to win going away.

"It wasn't so much what we did in the second set. They just came out and did really well. They were doing a nice job of being in system and getting some nice swings," said Doyon. "And we were a little off balance here and there."

Montana finished the match hitting .231, and the Grizzlies cranked out a season-high nine service aces.

"We were able to serve tough, and that was a big part of our strategy tonight," said Doyon. "We wanted to force their outside hitters to pass and hit.

"Their setter was going away from the passer, so that made them a one-hitter offense. That helped us block and helped our girls gain a lot of confidence."

Senior Capri Richardson had 13 kills on .312 hitting and a match-high six blocks, junior Raegan Lindsey finished with 43 assists and 12 digs, junior Sadie Ahearn totaled 18 digs, and Gaogao added three service aces, 12 digs and three blocks.

Montana will face surging Idaho (10-13, 7-4 BSC) Saturday at 8 p.m. (MT) at Moscow, Idaho. The Vandals swept Montana State in three sets Thursday night, their sixth win in seven matches.