Griz sweep Bobcats in Dahlberg Arena

Friday, November 4

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

5-19, 2-12BSC

Montana State

5-18, 3-11BSC

Montana State

Montana

11/4/2016 10:35:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score PDF Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

As one of the Montana volleyball team's two seniors, Raegan Lindsey won't get another home match in her career, but after leading her team to a 3-0 sweep of Montana State on Friday night at Dahlberg Arena, she knows where she would like her 13 younger teammates to play their future home matches.

"I think it would be great if we could play every match in here, especially if we could get a turnout like this every night," she said after playing in front of a season-high 819 fans. It was Montana's first match in Dahlberg Arena since 2009.

Her team made a convincing argument for a venue upgrade on Senior Night, hitting .231, its second-best percentage of the season, and winning 25-20, 26-24, 25-19 to snap an 11-match losing streak.

"I'm so proud our team could pull this one off for our two seniors," said coach Brian Doyon. "To beat the Cats in an incredible match in front of great fans in the Adams Center is a pretty nice sendoff."

(11/4/2016) VB: vs. Montana State (11.4.16)

Neither team entered the match with any sort of momentum as the Big Sky Conference schedule winds down. Montana (5-19, 2-12 BSC) had lost its last 11, Montana State (5-18, 3-11 BSC) was 1-7 over its previous eight.

But the rivalry match brought out the best from both sides in the opening set. The Bobcats hit .294, which wins most of the time. Except the Grizzlies, who hit .017 in Friday night's three-set loss to Portland State, hit .368, putting down 17 kills with just three attack errors on 38 swings.

"We passed really well tonight, both in serve-receive and digging," said Lindsey, the beneficiary of those spot-on touches at her setter position. "We were digging almost everything, and they were passing right to me.

"Everybody played really well. It's hard to have everybody on in the same match, but we did."

With the opening set tied 18-18, Montana used three Bobcat errors to score four straight points and pull away. The Grizzlies carried that into the second set and built a 22-17 lead on back-to-back kills from freshman Missy Huddleston, who finished with a match-high 12.

But Montana State stormed back and took its first lead of the set at 24-23 on a service ace, which led to Doyon calling his only timeout of the match.

A block by Mykaela Hammer and Ashley Watkins on Montana State's one set-point opportunity of the match made it 24-24. An MSU hitting error put Montana back in front, and a Hammer kill gave the Grizzlies a 26-24 win and 2-0 lead.

"That was a pivotal point in the match," said Doyon. "They made a good push back on us, but we were able to play some defense and turn our digs into kills that kept our momentum going. We stayed composed when we most needed to and didn't let any doubt creep in."

Montana pulled away early in set three and cruised to its second 3-0 sweep of the season, hitting .250 in the decisive set.

Sophomore Alexis Urbach had 10 kills on .286 hitting. Freshman Ashley Watkins also had 10 on .280 hitting while adding 20 assists, six digs and a team-high three blocks.

"Ashley did a great job both setting and hitting. I really liked the way both of our setters were able to distribute the ball tonight," said Doyon.

"We passed well, so our outsides and middles were able to step up and take big swings at the ball. I really liked the way we were coming out and swinging."

Montana's middles, Hammer and freshman McKenzie Kramer, combined for nine kills on 18 swings.

Senior libero Sadie Ahearn had 17 digs, giving her 1,135 for her career and moving her into 10th in the Montana record book.

"The area where we made the most improvement was in our transition volleyball," said Doyon. "Sadie made some incredible defensive plays. Our whole team did.

"We were able to make those plays and convert them into offensive opportunities that we scored on. When you look at a lot of the long rallies, we came out on top of a lot of them."

Montana will wrap up its season next week on the road, with matches at Idaho and Eastern Washington. The Grizzlies will be the underdog in both.

But no matter what happens in those matches, Lindsey and Ahearn will have Friday night to look back on as one of the highlights of their careers.

"It was Senior Night and it was the Cats, so there was a lot of adrenaline for this one," said Lindsey. "They beat us when we played over there, and we wanted to get that back and finish the season strong, and we did that."