Final matches of the year for volleyball team

The Montana volleyball team will close out the 2016 season this week with road matches at Idaho and Eastern Washington.

The Grizzlies will face the Vandals at 8 p.m. (MT) on Friday at Moscow and the Eagles on Saturday at 9 p.m. (MT) in Cheney.

What's at stake (Montana): At 5-19 overall, 2-12 in league, the Grizzlies are one of two teams, along with Southern Utah, that have been eliminated from Big Sky Conference tournament contention. This will be the fourth time in five years Montana has won eight or fewer matches in a season.

What's at stake (Idaho): The Vandals (9-17, 4-10 BSC) were the No. 2 seed at last year's tournament but need help to make a return trip. It's doable. If Idaho sweeps Montana and Montana State at home, and Weber State falls on the road at both Portland State and Sacramento State, the Vandals are in.

What's at stake (Eastern Washington): The Eagles (11-12, 6-8 BSC) haven't clinched one of the eight tournament spots, but it won't take much to qualify. EWU just needs a home win over Montana State or Montana, or a single loss by either Idaho or Weber State.

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

The first time around: Montana opened its Big Sky schedule in September with home matches against Eastern Washington and Idaho. The Grizzlies lost to the Eagles in four sets and pulled out a five-set victory over the Vandals.

Montana split the first two sets against Eastern Washington, but the Eagles dominated sets three and four to win 25-20, 19-25, 25-13, 25-11. EWU hit .511 over the final two sets, with 27 kills and just three errors on 47 swings.

"I don't think that was one of the better matches we've played this season," said coach Brian Doyon. "Where we are now is significantly better than we were when we first played them.

"I'd really like to come out and have a nice last match and see if we can continue to better our performance and go out with a bang."

Two nights later, Montana allowed Idaho to come back from a 2-0 deficit and force a fifth set, but the Grizzlies played almost flawlessly in the decisive game to win 25-13, 30-28, 12-25, 19-25, 15-7.

Alexis Urbach had 19 kills on .400 hitting, and the Grizzlies had a season-high 13 blocks.

"The last time we faced Idaho, we played them very well at our place," said Doyon. "It was a tough battle, and we used our home court to our advantage. Now we have to go there and try to repeat the same performance in more of a hostile environment."

History: Montana's victory over Idaho in September snapped a nine-match losing streak to the Vandals and gave the Grizzlies their first win in the series since 1999. Idaho still leads the series 32-27 and has gone 14-10 against Montana in Moscow.

The Eagles may have won in Missoula in September, but the Grizzlies have still won five of the last seven in the series and hold a 53-38 all-time advantage. Eastern Washington has a 21-17 edge in matches played in Cheney.

This week's three storylines:

* Season comes to a close: What started with a trip to Dallas, Texas, in late August ends in November on the road at Idaho and Eastern Washington.

After defeating Idaho at the West Auxiliary Gym back on Sept. 24, Montana lost its next 11 league matches, winning just five sets in those matches.

The Grizzlies broke that streak with a convincing sweep of Montana State on Friday night inside Dahlberg Arena, 25-20, 26-24, 25-19. Montana hit .231, its first time over .200 in 14 league matches and its second-best percentage of the season.

"Hopefully we'll continue this week where we left off," said Doyon. "I thought we played really well on Friday. We battled well and were very engaged against a really nice Montana State team.

"We did a lot of really good things, from our ball control to our attacking. I'd really like to see us pick up where we left off and have some solid ball control this week and be able to put up some good numbers in our attacking."

* Ahearn breaks into top 10: Senior libero Sadie Ahearn moved into the top 10 in program history in career digs on Friday night with 17 more. She has 341 this season, 1,135 for her career, which moved her past Claudia Houle and gave her a spot on the career list.

1. Jackie White (2004-07) ... 1,847
2. Brittney Brown (2008-10) ... 1,452
3. Erin Adams (1996-2000) ... 1,301
4. Angie Bellinger (1988-91) ... 1,270
5. Mari Brown (1986-89) ... 1,226
6. Megan Murphey (2010-13) ... 1,216
7. Jennifer Moran (1989-93) ... 1,194
8. Allison Yarnell (1984-87) ... 1,181
9. Amy Roberts (2007-11) ... 1,153
10. Sadie Ahearn (2013-present) ... 1,135

"Sadie has been a rock for us ever since I've been in the program," said Doyon. She's held down the libero position and done an amazing job.

"Her personality is infectious. She just loves playing the game. She puts her heart and soul into it, and I think that's what makes her such an outstanding libero for us."

Ahearn has five times dugs 20 or more balls in league matches this season and ranks ninth in the Big Sky at 4.06 digs per set.

"Her defense this year has been phenomenal," added Doyon. "It's gotten to the point where we've been shifting our block to let hitters go ahead and hit at Sadie, because she's going to dig you.

"She's been very, very steady for us, and I've really appreciated that about her."

* Big Sky race tight at the top: Even though Montana is out of tournament contention, that doesn't mean the race atop the league standings is any less exciting. Four teams enter the final week with a chance of hosting next week's eight-team tournament.

North Dakota (21-9, 12-2 BSC) is atop the North Division and leads the overall standings by one over Northern Arizona (21-6, 11-3 BSC), Northern Colorado (17-9, 11-3 BSC) and Sacramento State (17-11, 11-3 BSC).

Much is riding on a pair of matches this week, when North Dakota plays at Northern Arizona on Thursday, then hosts Northern Colorado on Saturday. UNC plays at Southern Utah on Thursday, NAU hosts Southern Utah on Saturday.

Sacramento State quietly plays home matches against Idaho State and Weber State while hoping to take advantage of the head-to-head results elsewhere.

Those four teams are in the tournament, as are Idaho State (15-12, 10-4 BSC) and Portland State (15-11, 7-7 BSC). Eastern Washington, Weber State (14-10, 5-9 BSC), Idaho and even Montana State (5-18, 3-11 BSC) are still fighting for the final two spots.

"From what I know, this year has been one of the most balanced seasons for the upper part of the conference," said Doyon. "And even at the bottom of the conference, teams are doing battle.

"With the big turnover in coaches in the league two years ago, I think you're starting to see some of the rewards. I really like the quality of the volleyball that's being put out there."

Thursday's schedule: MSU at EWU, UND at NAU, UNC at SUU, WSU at PSU, ISU at SAC
Friday's schedule: UM at UI
Saturday's schedule: UM at EWU, MSU at UI, UNC at UND, SUU at NAU, ISU at PSU, WSU at SAC

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Players Mentioned

Sadie Ahearn

Alexis Urbach

University of Montana Athletics