Montana opens Big Sky play at home

The Montana volleyball team will open its Big Sky Conference schedule this week when it hosts Eastern Washington and Idaho at the West Auxiliary Gym. The Grizzlies will face the Eagles at 7 p.m. on Thursday and the Vandals on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Where they stand: Montana is 3-7 and takes its first two-match winning streak of the season into this week's matches. ... At 5-4, Eastern Washington, which has won three of four, leads the Big Sky's North Division. ... Idaho, which lost two of three at its home tournament last weekend, is 5-7.

Where they finished, where they were picked: Montana went 8-20 a year ago, finishing 10th in the Big Sky with a 4-12 league record. The Grizzlies were picked 12th out of 12 teams in last month's preseason coaches' poll.

Eastern Washington, one of the league's biggest surprises in 2015, went 14-14 last season and made the eight-team tournament as the No. 6 seed after going 9-7 in Big Sky matches. The Eagles were picked eighth in the preseason poll.

Idaho went 14-16 last season and tied for the North Division title with Northern Colorado at 10-6. Though that was the fourth-best overall record in the Big Sky, the division title (by tiebreaker over the Bears) gave the Vandals the tournament's No. 2 seed. They fell in the semifinals to No. 3 Idaho State. Idaho was picked sixth in this year's preseason poll.

Coverage: Both matches can be viewed free of charge through Eversport.tv or tracked via live stats.

Most recently: Montana took a 1-6 record and .062 hitting percentage into last week's tournament at Morehead State but came away with a runner-up finish to Kent State after winning two of three matches and hitting .223.

The Grizzlies opened the tournament with a tight, three-set loss to the Golden Flashes but hit .179 in the process, the team's best offensive production of the season.

Victories over Coppin State, in three sets, and Morehead State, in five sets, followed, with the Grizzlies hitting .290 in the former, .205 in the latter. Montana trailed the Eagles 2-0 before storming back for its second five-set victory of the season.

"Last weekend wasn't so much about the wins," said second-year coach Brian Doyon. "I wanted to see our numbers start to change. It was encouraging to see those numbers and know we can keep doing it.

"Hopefully we'll be able to play the type of volleyball we played last weekend and pick up where we left off."

Three things to know about Eastern Washington:

1. The Eagles will be coming off an 11-day break from competition when they face the Grizzlies on Thursday. After playing at Wyoming's tournament Sept. 9-10, Eastern Washington took last weekend off.

2. At .158, Eastern Washington ranks in the bottom quarter of the Big Sky statistics, with Montana (.114) and Montana State (.123), in hitting percentage. But while the Grizzlies and Bobcats are allowing their opponents to hit .270 and .280, respectively, the Eagles are allowing .167, the third-best mark in the league.

3. Michael King is in his first year as full-time head coach. He was the Eagles' interim head coach for much of the past two seasons in place of former coach Wade Benson. Near the end of a successful season last fall, King was named permanent head coach.

History: Montana has a 53-37 record against Eastern Washington, 26-12 in Missoula. The Grizzlies have won five of the teams' last six meetings, with a 3-2 home win and 3-1 road victory last season.

"I'm looking forward to playing them," said Doyon. "They are doing some good things with their offense and defense, so that will be a challenge for us. Can we score, and can we play well against them? It's going to be a fun matchup for us."

Three things to know about Idaho:

1. In a league where eight of the 12 volleyball coaches have been at their schools for less than four years, Idaho's Debbie Buchanan stands out. She is in her 17th year with the Vandals.

2. Idaho is nearly as young as Montana. The Vandals have just a single senior, libero Terra Varney, who ranks fourth in the Big Sky in digs, and 12 underclassmen.

3. Idaho went 3-0 and won New Mexico's tournament to open the season. The Vandals are 2-7 since then but have played a schedule that's included Washington, Washington State and Oregon State. No. 4 Washington is now 10-0 and has dropped just six sets this season. Idaho took one of those, 25-19.

History: Idaho holds a 32-26 advantage on Montana, 13-12 in matches played in Missoula. It's been a one-sided rivalry since the early 1990s, when the Grizzlies and Vandals were the top two programs in the Big Sky. Idaho has won 15 of the teams' last 16 meetings since the middle of the 1994 season.

"Idaho has had a good preseason and will be a bit of a different challenge," said Doyon. "Their tempo and pace is a little different from Eastern Washington and from ours. It will be fun to be at home for back-to-back matches against good competition. I hope it brings out our competitiveness."

Montana Notes:

* Montana's victories at Morehead State over Coppin State and the host Eagles was the first two-match winning streak for the program since knocking off Eastern Washington at home and Portland State on the road last October.

* Sophomore outside hitters Lia Gaogao and Cassie Laramee were named to the all-tournament team last weekend. Sophomore Mykaela Hammer was named all-tournament at SMU's season-opening tournament. Senior setter Raegan Lindsey was named all-tournament at Iowa State.

* Last weekend marked a pair of debuts. Freshman middle blocker McKenzie Kramer played her first collegiate matches and totaled seven kills on .136 hitting and six blocks.

Sophomore Mykaela Hammer also debuted in the middle after playing last season and the first seven matches this season on the outside. She totaled a team-high 10 blocks last week in Kentucky, with 11 kills on .400 hitting and six blocks in Montana's five-set win over Morehead State.

* Montana's three best hitting performances of the season came last week. Much of that was due to the presence in the middle of Kramer and Hammer. They freed up the team's outside hitters, none more than freshman Missy Huddleston, who averaged 2.82 kills on .289 hitting in three matches. Huddleston hit .007 through the team's first seven matches.

"The athletes we have in the program right now are doing great things," said Doyon. "They're working hard, and I enjoy our time with them. It's shaping up so nicely. It's great to see them come in and achieving right now, knowing that the future is even brighter."

* The Grizzlies had more kills than both Coppin State and Morehead State. It was the first time this season Montana out-killed an opponent. ... Montana's 9.0 blocks against Morehead State were a season high.

Three Big Sky Conference questions from the pre-league schedule:

1. Is Weber State for real? The Wildcats were one of the Big Sky's two worst teams last season, finishing 2-14 in league, one game ahead of 1-15 Montana State, but they are somehow off to a 9-0 start this season, with tournament titles at Houston Baptist, Cal State Fullerton and Western Illinois.

Much will be answered over the next two weekends, when Weber State hosts Sacramento State and Portland State, then goes on the road to face Northern Arizona, who we know is for real.

2. Is it Northern Arizona's league to win for eternity, or does it just feel like it? The Lumberjacks have won 27 of their last 31 matches and are going to win the regular-season title, host and win the tournament, and keep doing it forever.

3. How fortunate are the teams in the Big Sky's North Division? These things are cyclical, but right now, the power in the Big Sky resides mostly in the South Division, with Weber State, Northern Arizona, an alive-and-kicking Portland State and Idaho State, the Big Sky's best program the last half decade.

Montana gets two matches against the teams in the North Division and has to face the teams from the South Division just once each season.

Non-Montana match to track on Thursday: Northern Arizona at Northern Colorado. The Bears are always tough in Greeley but they also have typically been slow starters in league under coach Lyndsey Oates, with their best work coming in October and November, when it matters.

Match to track on Friday: Sacramento State at Weber State. The unbeaten Wildcats are limiting their opponents this season to .120 hitting , a few points better than No. 1 and unbeaten and defending national champion Nebraska, which is getting by at .128.

Non-Montana match to track on Saturday: North Dakota at Northern Colorado. The Bears were picked second in the Big Sky preseason poll behind Northern Arizona, the Fighting Hawks third. This will be their first of two matchups that will help decide North Division supremacy.

Jenny Glenn watch: The former Northern Colorado assistant and gogriz.com favorite for life is in her first year at Division II Metro State. She has the Roadrunners off to a 7-3 start, with league-opening Rocky Mountain Conference victories at home last weekend over Regis and Chadron State.

Upcoming: Montana will play its first Big Sky road matches next week, playing at Sacramento State on Thursday, Montana State on Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

Mykaela Hammer

Missy Huddleston

McKenzie Kramer

Cassie Laramee

Raegan Lindsey

University of Montana Athletics