Wildcats get past Grizzlies in four

Saturday, October 8

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

4-12, 1-5BSC

Weber State

12-3, 3-3BSC

Weber State

Montana

10/8/2016 10:20:00 PM | Volleyball

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By: Montana Sports Information

For the second time this week, a big-swinging outside hitter on the other side of the net proved to be the difference for the Montana volleyball team, which lost in four sets to Weber State on Saturday night at the West Auxiliary Gym.

Amanda Varley had 26 kills, half of her team's total, as the Wildcats (3-3 BSC) improved to 12-3 with a 25-17, 20-25, 25-17, 25-22 victory over the Grizzlies (4-12, 1-5 BSC), who dropped their fourth straight match.

At .128, Montana hit better than its season average and had three players with double-figure kills, but when crunch time arrived late in set four, when an anything-goes fifth set looked like a good possibility, Weber State just made a few more plays.

"It really wasn't much that separated it, a couple points here and there," said UM coach Brian Doyon. "A couple blocks here and there, an error here or there, and that was the gap."

Weber State opened the season 9-0, with tournament titles at Houston Baptist, Cal State Fullerton and Western Illinois, and the Wildcats looked more like that team in the opening set than the one that opened league 2-3, with a five-set loss at Montana State on Thursday night.

The Wildcats hit .312 in the opener and forced the Grizzlies, who had been establishing a trend in recent weeks of being the team that jumped on their opponent early, into 10 attack errors and a negative hitting percentage.

"The first set we came out a little bit slower than we have in the past. That's been our trait, that we come out on fire," said Doyon.

Instead Montana saved it for set two. The Grizzlies hit .171 and turned the tables on the Wildcats, who had 10 hitting errors and a .000 hitting percentage as Montana evened the score.

"I really like the way we responded. The second set we came out and played really well," said Doyon. "We started to swing away and find some openings. I really liked what we were doing."

Weber State hit .345 in the third set to retake the lead, and once again Montana responded like a team that is transforming from youthful to somewhat seasoned.

Behind the serving of Sadie Ahearn, the Grizzlies rolled to a 6-0 start in set four and held the lead until a 7-0 run by the Wildcats turned their 17-13 deficit into a 20-17 lead. Montana would fight back and pull within one, but that's as close as the Grizzlies would get.

"We had a lead, but then we had a couple of hitting errors and couldn't get out of that one rotation," said Doyon. "But once we did, we started rolling again.

"It's just some little things now. The players are doing a really good job. Our younger players are starting to get it and mature. I'm really feeling comfortable with how things are going."

Mykaela Hammer had eight kills on .400 hitting, and Missy Huddleston and Alexis Urbach both had a team-high 11 kills. Lia Gaogao came off the bench to add 10 kills on .364 hitting.

Raegan Lindsey finished with 23 assists and nine digs, Ashley Watkins had 18 assists and 10 digs. Ahearn totaled 11 digs, leaving her seven shy of 1,000 for her career.

Montana will play its next four matches on the road, starting with the Northern Colorado-North Dakota road trip next week. The Grizzlies will play at Southern Utah and Northern Arizona the following week.