Griz enter Big Sky Conference play on a roll

Saturday, September 19

Denver, Colo.

5:00 PM

Montana

4-8

Illinois-Chicago

6-7

Montana

Illinois-Chicago

9/19/2015 9:20:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team finished off a 2-1 tournament at the Denver Invitational with a five-set victory over Illinois-Chicago Saturday evening. The Grizzlies begin Big Sky Conference play on Wednesday with a home match against Weber State.

Montana (4-8) hit better than .220 in all three of its matches at the tournament, against Abilene Christian, Denver and UIC, and held all three to sub-.200 hitting.

"I was very happy with the weekend. Anytime you come away from a tournament 2-1, you've got to be pleased with the effort," said UM coach Brian Doyon, who sent 13 players to the court against the Flames.

"It was a really nice team weekend. Everybody played in this match and had big roles. The team is starting to come together."

Facing a different UIC starting lineup than it was expecting, Montana, which had 12 kills on .667 hitting, rolled to a 25-9 win in the opener. The Flames came out with their normal lineup for the start of set two and went up 2-1 with 25-23 and 25-16 victories.

"They came out in the second set fired up and played really well," said Doyon. "We were maybe a little over-confident after the first set, and they got us on our heels a little bit."

Raegan Lindsey's serving helped Montana pull away from a 14-14 tie in set four, and after Illinois-Chicago pulled to within 24-23, a Lia Gaogao kill sent the teams to a fifth set.

The Grizzlies hit .429 in the final set to win 15-11.

"We kept our composure through the whole match. Even when they were going on their runs, we knew what we needed to do, and we answered back," said Doyon.

"To be down 2-1 to a very talented team and then push back and win the next two sets? That showed a lot of composure from our whole team."

Montana's seniors, both of whom were named to the all-tournament team, came up big. Hannah Sackett had 20 kills on .325 hitting on the left side, and middle blocker Capri Richardson totaled 10 kills on .429 hitting and a season-high seven blocks.

Redshirt freshman Mykaela Hammer came off the bench to add five kills on .333 hitting, and Lindsey finished with 25 assists while teaming up with redshirt freshman setter Rachel DeArman to guide Montana to a season-best .273 hitting percentage.

"We got a huge boost from Mykaela off the bench. She helped change the tone and gave us some answers where we weren't quite able to answer before," said Doyon.

"And Raegan had a really impressive match and did a tremendous job in the back row for us. Teams have been trying to take advantage of the right side of the court, and she hasn't allowed it to happen."

Junior Sadie Ahearn finished with a team-high 14 digs, sophomore Brianna Gardner had eight blocks to help the Grizzlies out-block their opponent for just the fourth time this season.

After opening Big Sky play against the Wildcats on Wednesday, Montana will play at Montana State on Saturday night in Bozeman.