Griz fall to Vandals in four sets

Saturday, October 31

Moscow, Idaho

8:00 PM (MT)

Montana

7-17, 3-9BSC

Idaho *

11-18, 8-4BSC

Montana

Idaho

10/31/2015 11:21:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team lost in four sets at Idaho Saturday night, 21-25, 25-20, 20-25, 18-25. The Grizzlies hit .220 but couldn't keep up with the Vandals, who hit .264, two weeks after hitting .266 in a five-set win at Missoula.

"I thought we played well and did some really good things," said UM coach Brian Doyon. "Unfortunately Idaho did a really nice job of exploiting some of our weaknesses. They played well and served well, and we just weren't able to pass the ball well enough to stay in system consistently."

Idaho (11-18, 8-4 BSC) never trailed in winning the first set, Montana (7-17, 3-9 BSC) never trailed in taking set two. After the break the Vandals hit .278 to win set three and .375 to win set four to record their seventh win in eight matches.

Montana had three players finish with at least 10 kills and a high hitting percentage. Hannah Sackett had a match-high 15 kills on .324 hitting, and sophomore Brianna Gardner continued her solid play with 13 kills on .545 hitting and two blocks. Janell Sparks came off the bench to add 10 kills on .375 hitting.

Raegan Lindsey had 44 assists and a match-high 19 digs, Capri Richardson had 10 kills and a team-high three blocks, and Sadie Ahearn added 18 digs.

Idaho got out to a 10-4 lead in the opening set, Montana jumped out 8-4 in the second, and neither team trailed while rolling to victory.

The Grizzlies were close in sets three and four, but in the end the Vandals were stronger finishing out the sets. Idaho broke away from an 18-17 lead in set three with three straight points and closed out the match with six straight points after leading 19-18 in set four.

Montana will host Northern Colorado (10-15, 6-6 BSC) on Friday and North Dakota (17-12, 5-7 BSC) on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the West Auxiliary Gym. The Grizzlies fell to the Bears in four sets at Greeley earlier this month and in straight sets to UND at Grand Forks.

"It's going to be good to be home," said Doyon, whose team went 2-2 while playing its last four matches on the road. "The girls are looking forward to it. They're playing well and doing some really good things, so these should be some good matchups."