Montana at home for pair of matches

The Montana volleyball team will make a pair of rare home appearances this week when its hosts Idaho State and Weber State at the West Auxiliary Gym. The Grizzlies will face the Bengals at 7 p.m. on Thursday and the Wildcats at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Montana was on the road last week for matches at Sacramento State and Montana State, and will be on the road the next two weeks, making the Northern Colorado-North Dakota and Southern Utah-Northern Arizona trips.

Get in free: To Saturday's match with a ticket from that afternoon's football game against Mississippi Valley State. The match against Weber State will be the team's annual pink game to support breast cancer awareness.

Where they stand: Montana had won three of four going into last week's road trip, but a pair of losses to the Hornets and Bobcats left the Grizzlies at 4-10 overall, 1-3 in league, which is tied for fourth in the North Division, tied for eighth overall.

Idaho State is 6-11 and has the same Big Sky record as Montana: 1-3. The Bengals, who are no longer among the Big Sky's elite programs, a level they reached and maintained under former coach Chad Teichert, picked up their lone league win on Saturday, sneaking out a 3-1 victory at Southern Utah.

Weber State is 11-2 overall but 2-2 in Big Sky matches. The Wildcats opened the season 9-0 but have dropped league matches to South Division leaders Sacramento State and Northern Arizona, the only teams in the Big Sky still unbeaten at 4-0.

Coverage: Both matches will have live stats and free video coverage through EverSport.tv. Links can be found at gogriz.com.

Most recently: Montana opened last week with a 3-0 loss at Sacramento State. The Grizzlies hit .036 in dropping the first two sets 25-17, 25-16. The third set was tied 22-22 before the Hornets put an end to things with three straight kills and a 25-22 victory.

In Saturday's match at Montana State, the Grizzlies limited the Bobcats to .000 hitting in taking the first set 25-22. Montana State held Montana to a negative hitting percentage in sets two and three to win 25-18, 25-17.

The Grizzlies fell behind 5-1 in the fourth set but rallied to build a 20-15 lead. Behind some strong serving, the Bobcats ended the match on a 10-2 run to win 25-22.

More on Idaho State: The Bengals opened the season going 0-3 at Utah's tournament but bounced back the next weekend by winning Houston's tournament, with wins over Lamar, Houston and Texas Southern. Only two wins in their 10 matches have followed, over Holy Cross and Southern Utah.

Who to watch for: Junior outside hitter Chloe Hirst (3.79/s) ranks third in the Big Sky in kills, sophomore outside hitter Abby Jensen (3.31/s) ranks fifth.

History: Montana leads the series against Idaho State 41-34, 22-12 in matches played in Missoula, but that margin is closing. The Bengals have won six straight in the series and nine of the last 12.

More on Weber State: The Wildcats had the best start to the season of any team in the Big Sky, opening 9-0 with tournament titles at Houston Baptist, Cal State Fullerton and Western Illinois. Then Sacramento State traveled to Ogden and put an end to that winning streak with a 3-1 victory.

Last week Weber State pulled out a five-set victory at Southern Utah, then lost big at Northern Arizona, 25-17, 25-14, 25-19.

What to watch for: Weber State is hitting .224 for the season, the second-best mark in the Big Sky, but it's defensively where the Wildcats do their best work. They are holding their opponents to .141 hitting this season, which ranks eighth nationally. WSU also leads the Big Sky in blocks at 3.24 per set.

History: Montana leads the series against Weber State 47-29, with a commanding 26-9 advantage in matches played in Missoula. The Wildcats won at Missoula last season, 19-25, 25-19, 25-22, 30-28, to snap the Grizzlies' three-match winning streak in the series.

What to watch for:

1. Senior libero Sadie Ahearn has 962 career digs. Thirty-eight will get her to 1,000, possibly this week, 161 more will move her into the top 10 in program history. With 12 more regular-season matches still on the schedule, she should reach the latter.

2. Can Montana replicate the magic of its most recent home match? Behind 19 kills on .400 hitting from sophomore outside hitter Alexis Urbach, the Grizzlies defeated Idaho for the first time since 1999. The crowd was only 410, but it was into the match and energized further by Montana's five-set win.

3. A weak hitting percentage continues to plague Montana. The Grizzlies have hit better than their opponent just twice this season (Coppin State, Morehead State) and nine times have hit below .100. Their season hitting percentage of .108 ranks 316th nationally out of 329 Division I teams.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

Teams of the week: Northern Colorado and North Dakota. The teams picked second and third behind Northern Arizona in the preseason coaches' poll went on the road and both picked up four-set wins at Idaho and Eastern Washington to show they are the teams to beat in the North Division.

Team under this week's spotlight: Sacramento State. The Hornets are tied atop the South Division with Northern Arizona at 4-0 in league. Sac State will prove if it's truly a contender this week with matches at North Dakota on Thursday and Northern Colorado on Saturday.

MVP watch: Northern Arizona senior outside hitter Lauren Jacobsen. The San Jose State transfer is in her third and final year with the Lumberjacks and averaging 4.53 kills on .305 hitting. Just for fun she digs 3.22 balls per set. This season's drama isn't if NAU is going to win the league but if anyone will hand the Lumberjacks a loss along the way.

Thursday's schedule: Idaho State at Montana, Weber State at Montana State, Sacramento State at North Dakota, Portland State at Northern Colorado, Northern Arizona at Eastern Washington, Southern Utah at Idaho

Saturday's schedule: Weber State at Montana, Idaho State at Montana State, Portland State at North Dakota, Sacramento State at Northern Colorado, Southern Utah at Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona at Idaho

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Players Mentioned

Sadie Ahearn

Alexis Urbach

University of Montana Athletics