Unbeaten Bulldogs spoil home opener

Saturday, September 3

Missoula, Mont.

2:00 PM

Montana

1-3

Gonzaga

4-0

Gonzaga

Montana

9/3/2016 5:15:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Gonzaga hit .345 and never trailed as the Bulldogs improved to 4-0 with a quick 25-18, 25-18, 25-9 sweep of the Montana volleyball team Saturday afternoon at the West Auxiliary Gym in Missoula.

It was the home opener for the Grizzlies, who dropped to 1-3 with the loss.

"We wanted to play an early home match so our young athletes could experience what it's like to play in front of our home crowd," said second-year coach Brian Doyon, whose team attracted 572 fans.

"I think some of our athletes tried to play above what they normally do. Nerves may have gotten to some of them, because I think we can play better than this."

(9/3/2016) VB: vs. Gonzaga (9.3.16)

Gonzaga won Utah's tournament last weekend, pulling out five-set victories over Butler and the Utes before closing with a tight 3-1 victory over Idaho State.

The Bulldogs, who jumped out to quick leads in all three sets, weren't pushed nearly as much on Saturday. The Grizzlies hit just .040, a season low.

"Gonzaga is a really good team, and they played the type of game I thought they were going to try to play," said Doyon. "At times we were able to match them, but for the most part we just struggled too much with our serve-receive."

Gonzaga's top hitters -- seniors Emmy Allen and McKayla Ferris -- were just that, combining for 20 kills and just three attack errors on 40 swings to hit .425. Senior middle blocker Paige Folger and freshman middle blocker Katelyn Oppio both had six kills and no errors on 13 swings, a .462 hitting percentage.

The Bulldogs had 38 kills and just eight attack errors for the match. The Grizzlies had 29 kills and 25 errors, much of those the result of the team's first touches.

"We weren't able to generate any offense, because we weren't able to pass quite to the level we'd hoped," said Doyon. "That put a lot of pressure on our hitters. They faced a lot of two-blocker situations and just weren't able to score."

Sophomore Mykaela Hammer and freshman Missy Huddleston came out of last weekend's tournament at SMU as Montana's top offensive threats. Gonzaga held the two outside hitters to eight kills while forcing them into 11 errors. Both finished with negative hitting percentages.

Sophomores Alexis Urbach, who started the match at middle blocker and later switched to the outside, and Cassie Laramee were the Grizzlies' lone threats. Laramee had a career-high nine kills on .300 hitting. Urbach totaled a season-high six kills on .294 hitting.

"We had some great plays from Cassie and Lex, and that was really good to see," said Doyon. "They were able to answer in a few areas, even though we changed Lex's role a little bit."

Montana fell into 4-0 holes in the first two sets but matched Gonzaga for stretches in each. The Grizzlies pulled within 14-13 in set one on a Hammer service ace and were down 17-14 in set two. The Bulldogs pulled away for 25-18 victories in both.

Gonzaga, which had five of its seven service aces in the final set, scored 16 of the match's last 19 points to win going away, winning 25-9 in set three. Montana had just seven kills in the set on .000 hitting.

"We got aced quite a few times in the third set, and we just weren't able to get into system and give ourselves opportunities," said Doyon. "And when we were able to be in system, our hitters couldn't quite get it done today.

"We'll bounce back and answer the call for next week."

Montana will face North Dakota State, Iowa and Iowa State next week at ISU's tournament in Ames.