Lumberjacks sweep Grizzlies

Thursday, October 8

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

4-13, 0-5BSC

Northern Arizona *

14-4, 4-1BSC

Northern Arizona

Montana

10/8/2015 10:26:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The last five percent, those end-game plays that Montana volleyball coach Brian Doyon says is keeping his team from breaking through, is still being elusive.

A couple of plays probably wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome Thursday night at the West Auxiliary Gym -- Northern Arizona never trailed in winning sets one and two convincingly -- but they could have extended the match to a fourth set, and then who knows?

With Montana leading 24-22 in the third set, Northern Arizona scored the match's final four points to win 25-18, 25-20, 26-24 and keep Montana winless in Big Sky Conference matches. The Grizzlies aided the Lumberjacks' strong finish with a ball-handling error and then a receiving error on match point.

"The five percent that we need still isn't there yet," said Doyon. "We had a couple of errors, and at the end game, those are the little things that compound on you."

Northern Arizona (14-4, 4-1 BSC) got out fast in the first and second sets by putting up a big block on Montana's hitters. It would be the decisive advantage in the match. The Lumberjacks (43) had just one more kill than the Grizzlies (42), but NAU had a 13-0 blocking advantage.

(10/8/2015) VB: vs. Northern Arizona (10.8.15)

While kills and attacks were mostly even, Northern Arizona's blocking led to 23 hitting errors for Montana, which got outhit .280 to .154.

"They are a good blocking team, plus they've got a lot of size on us," said Doyon. "We had to make some adjustments, go a little higher and get some deflections, and then change up our shot selection and who we were setting."

It took two sets -- Montana hit .077 in sets one and two -- before the Grizzlies finally looked like a team that could go head-to-head with one of the top teams in the Big Sky Conference. Montana hit .289 in the third and built a 24-22 lead, but that would be the last hurrah for the Grizzlies.

Following a Lumberjack timeout, Addy Lofstedt put down a kill to extend the set, and a Montana ball-handling error made it 24-24. Janae Vander Ploeg, the Big Sky leader in kills, put down her 15th kill of the match to make it 25-24, and Vander Ploeg finished off the sweep with a service ace.

All of which overshadowed the steps Montana made to get back into the match after digging itself a 2-0 hole.

Doyon went 10 players deep searching for the right combinations, and Montana got big nights from outside hitter Hannah Sackett, who totaled 21 kills on .326 hitting, and middle blocker Capri Richardson, who had 11 kills on .435 hitting. Raegan Lindsey had 37 assists, Sadie Ahearn totaled 20 digs.

"I shifted the lineup a little bit to get a better matchup with their players, and we had some subs who came in and made a difference," said Doyon. "Mykaela Hammer came in and slowed down (Vander Ploeg), and Capri got hot, and that helped loosen up the pins for our outsides to get some kills."

But Sackett and Richardson, who combined for all but 10 of the team's kills, could only do so much. In addition to Vander Ploeg's 15 kills, Payton Bock had seven on .467 hitting and nine blocks, and setter Jensen Barton had 35 assists and six blocks while helping her team hit better than its season average.

"We need to keep pushing, keep on swinging and continue to take chances," said Doyon. "They're a good team, and they swing well, but we were able to get some good digs and turn some good transition volleyball into some attacks. We need to keep that up."

Montana will host Southern Utah (11-7, 2-3 BSC) Saturday at 7 p.m. The Thunderbirds won in three sets at Montana State Thursday night.