Bears top Griz in five, clinch tournament spot

Friday, November 6

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

7-18, 3-10BSC

Northern Colorado *

11-15, 7-6BSC

Northern Colorado

Montana

11/6/2015 11:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

It was a match befitting two teams fighting for the final Big Sky Conference tournament spots. Until the final set, when the team with the postseason pedigree powered away for a five-set victory.

Northern Colorado (11-15, 7-6 BSC) joined the Big Sky tournament field with a 21-25, 25-21, 27-25, 22-25, 15-5 victory over Montana (7-18, 3-10 BSC) Friday night at the West Auxiliary Gym in Missoula. The loss all but ended the Grizzlies' postseason chances.

Montana would need to win its final three matches and not drop a set Saturday night when it hosts North Dakota. And even then the Grizzlies would need help beyond its control.

And all because of a shaky fifth set Friday night against the Bears.

Montana, which got 25 kills from Hannah Sackett, traded blows with Northern Colorado through the first four sets. Both teams had 65 kills. The Grizzlies were serving better, the Bears were blocking better.

But the fifth set was as lopsided as could be. Montana had 11 attack errors in a set that had just 20 points. Northern Colorado recorded 5.5 of its 13.5 blocks for the match in the final set. And just like that it was over, a good match spoiled.

"We did a lot of good things tonight," said first-year coach Brian Doyon. "We served tough, we passed well, and that allowed us to be in system a lot, which gave our hitters a lot of opportunities.

"Unfortunately when we needed it in the fifth set, we couldn't quite get the kills. They put up a good block, and our hitters really struggled trying to find some openings."

Kendra Cunningham had 18 kills, 15 digs and seven blocks for Northern Colorado, which hit .311, and Timarie Nymeyer added 13 kills on .600 hitting. Yet after the fourth set, which Montana led from start to finish, the Grizzlies not only had the match tied, they had the momentum.

Northern Colorado won the fifth set by 10 despite putting down just four kills.

Sackett, with 25, was one of four hitters to record 10 or more kills for Montana. Capri Richardson had 14 kills on .303 hitting and a team-high three blocks, Brianna Gardner finished with 12 kills, and Lia Gaogao totaled 10 kills and 13 digs.

Sadie Ahearn finished with a match-high 19 digs, Raegan Lindsey totaled 51 assists and had Montana hitting .240 through four sets. The Grizzlies hit -.292 in the fifth set to finish at .176 for the match. Lindsey also added a match-high three service aces.

She was a big part of Montana's strategy to serve up a heavy dose of floaters that just cleared the net, which the Grizzlies did consistently well. Montana had five aces against just five errors, but that wasn't even the goal.

"We did that to try to pull their front-row hitters out of formation and get them one-dimensional so we could play defense a little bit easier," said Doyon. "We did a good job. They started pushing their hitters around and moving them out of the passing formation, and that's what we wanted to do.

"It's high risk, but something we needed to do."

Montana was a force offensively in the opening set. The Grizzlies, behind 12 kills on .417 hitting from Sackett and Gaogao, put down 20 kills while hitting .326.

Northern Colorado slowed Montana the rest of the match, and the Bears hit .333 in set two and .444 in set three to go up 2-1.

The Grizzlies had three of their five blocks for the match in the fourth set to extend it to five. Montana went up 4-3 on a UNC service error and held off the Bears the rest of the set, winning the final point on another serve error.

That braced the crowd of 457 for set five, which turned out to be a disappointing and rare fifth: one that was totally free of any drama. Sweet if the home team is the one dominating. Sour if it's the visitor.

Montana will host North Dakota (18-12, 6-7 BSC), the only team left that isn't yet qualified for the tournament and can still be caught by the Grizzlies, Saturday at 7 p.m. UND won at Montana State on Friday in four sets, 25-23, 25-23, 18-25, 25-20.