Griz conclude home stand

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The Montana volleyball team will wrap up its four-match home stand this week against Southern Utah and Northern Arizona.

The Grizzlies will host the Thunderbirds on Thursday and the Lumberjacks on Saturday. Both matches will be at 7 p.m. at the West Auxiliary Gym.

Quick sets:

Montana (6-15, 1-7 BSC): The Grizzlies, alone in last place in the Big Sky Conference North Division, lost two matches last week as their home stand opened against Northern Colorado and North Dakota. Montana, which has won just one of its last 13 matches, lost to both teams in straight sets.

Southern Utah (6-14, 1-7 BSC): The Thunderbirds, like the Grizzlies, have just one Big Sky win -- at home against Eastern Washington -- and sit at the bottom of the South Division. Southern Utah lost twice last week on the road, 3-0 at both Sacramento State and Portland State.

Northern Arizona (7-12, 3-5 BSC): The Lumberjacks were picked a strong fourth in the preseason poll but are currently tied for seventh in the overall standings due to a 0-3 home record in league. Northern Arizona has lost four of five but had an impressive 3-1 victory on Thursday at Portland State.

What's at stake:

Montana: At the midway point of the league schedule, the Grizzlies find themselves with just a single Big Sky win, at Weber State. With the projected cut to make the eight-team league tournament at six wins -- and with road matches at North Dakota, Northern Colorado and Portland State upcoming -- Montana is in need of some West Auxiliary Gym magic this week.

Southern Utah: The Thunderbirds are in the same position as the Grizzlies, which makes Thursday night's match a must-have for both teams if they hope to be playing beyond Nov. 11, the final night of regular-season matches across the Big Sky. The teams were picked 11th (Montana) and 12th (Southern Utah) in the preseason poll, so the league's coaches were right on as things stand now.

Northern Arizona: The Lumberjacks will be in the Big Sky tournament. Opening 0-3 at home, with a pair of tough 3-2 losses to Northern Colorado and Idaho, will make it later in the fall before they are officially locked in, but with five of six matches at home to close the season after this week's road trip, Northern Arizona is in a good position.

The state of the program (Oct. 18 edition):

Montana was feeling good, really good, at this time last week. The Grizzlies pushed suddenly resurgent Idaho State to five sets in Pocatello, then were the better team two nights later in their 3-1 win at Weber State.

Ashley Watkins was coming off a 63-assist performance against the Wildcats, Lia Gaogao a 33-dig effort, while Montana hit .270, a season best. And the Grizzlies were home for four consecutive matches after playing 18 of their first 19 away from the West Auxiliary Gym.

It felt like the timing was right to get on a roll.

But as they frequently do, Northern Colorado and North Dakota, two of the Big Sky's Big Deals when it comes to volleyball, had other ideas. The Bears limited the Grizzlies to .120 hitting, while the Fighting Hawks hit .423 as both left the WAG with 3-0 sweeps.

"There were moments against UNC where the speed of their game, I didn't expect to be as lethal against us as it was," said first-year coach Allison Lawrence. "And I thought we could contain UND's physicality better than we did, whether it be serving or our own physicality.

"But I wasn't let down by how we played, because I didn't have an expectation of what the scores would be. I've tried to go into every match talking about execution, not expectations. Expectations just set me up to react mid-match when I don't need to be reactive."

Now, with the league schedule at its midpoint -- eight matches down, eight to go -- Southern Utah and Northern Arizona arrive as teams start looking toward November and the postseason.

The Thunderbirds have just one win in their last 10 matches, but they've had some competitive losses against some good teams, like Saturday's 16-25, 24-26, 23-25 loss at Portland State. A sweep on the surface, but SUU hit .226 and out-blocked the Vikings.

Five of the team's top seven hitters are freshmen as third-year coach Craig Choate, formerly the head coach at New Mexico State, San Jose State and Northern Arizona, remakes his roster. And that makes Southern Utah unpredictable and a bit worrisome.

Northern Arizona will begin its two-match road trip at Montana State on Thursday night before making its way to Missoula.

The Lumberjacks once again have one of the better offenses in the Big Sky, hitting .216 (compared to Montana's .158), but NAU is also allowing its opponents to hit .234. Only Weber State is worse in the Big Sky in that category.

Northern Arizona used a dozen service aces to pull off the mini-upset at Portland State on Thursday -- 24 kills on .304 hitting from Kaylie Jorgenson also helped the cause -- then lost in four tight sets at Sacramento State on Saturday afternoon in one of the better league matches of the fall.

The teams combined for 190 digs and 26 blocks in four sets, but in the end, Mikaela Nocetti's 21 kills and 22 digs for the Hornets -- and their 27-25 win in the decisive fourth set -- proved to be the difference.

After this weekend, Montana will play three straight on the road and be heavy underdogs in each of them.

First the North Dakota-Northern Colorado road trip, then a trip to Portland to face the Vikings before returning home to close out the regular season against Montana State, Idaho and Eastern Washington.

Beyond that? This week's results will go a long way toward determining that.

Match notes:

* The Montana-Southern Utah series, which dates back to only 2011, is tied 4-4, with the Thunderbirds winning the last two matchups, including 25-22, 27-25, 25-10 on their most recent visit to the WAG in 2015.

* Montana leads the series against Northern Arizona 33-30, but that advantage won't stand for long given the current trend. The Lumberjacks have won seven straight regular-season matchups against the Grizzlies, with just two set wins for Montana in those matches. Montana's edge is 17-12 in Missoula.

* The Grizzlies pounded out 78 kills in their 3-1 win at Weber State two weeks ago. In two matches at home last week, Montana combined for 70 over six sets against Northern Colorado and North Dakota.

* The .423 North Dakota, which is now 21-4, hit against Montana on Saturday night was a season best for the Fighting Hawks, whose previous high was .350 against George Washington.

* Maddy Marshall has taken control of one of the team's outside hitting positions. She had a season-high 16 kills at Weber State, then recorded 10 kills against both Northern Colorado and North Dakota, hitting .311 in the two matches.

* North Dakota was ready for Missy Huddleston. The outside hitter totaled 50 kills against Idaho State, Weber State and Northern Colorado on .358 hitting. Against the Fighting Hawks she had just a single kill with five attack errors on 10 swings to hit -.400.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* At the midway point of the league schedule, here are five things we know:

1. Sacramento State, at 8-0, is the only team to emerge from the front half without a loss to take control of the South Division. The Hornets took full advantage of a schedule that had them playing six of those eight matches at home. That means six of eight the rest of the way are on the road.

2. It's no longer up for debate. Idaho, at 7-1 and atop the North Division, is good. And the schedule helps the Vandals out big time from here on out. They get Sacramento State, Portland State, Northern Colorado and North Dakota at home as the team picked seventh in the preseason poll tries to shock all.

3. North Dakota, at 6-2, and Portland State, also at 6-2, are both in second place in the North and South divisions. They are tournament-bound and waiting to see if Idaho or Sacramento State stumbles.

4. Rick Reynolds is getting things turned around at Idaho State. A few weeks ago the Bengals were on an ugly 11-match losing streak, with nine of those by 3-0 scores. Today: ISU is on a five-match winning streak, which comes courtesy of five-set wins over Montana, Montana State and Weber State.

5. Changing a program's path is hard: Last season Montana, Montana State, Southern Utah and Weber State were the four programs that missed the eight-team Big Sky tournament. Those same four teams would be home watching again this season if the field were set today.

Thursday in the Big Sky: SUU at UM, NAU at MSU, ISU at UND, WSU at UNC, PSU at EWU, SAC at UI

Non-Montana match to check out: Nobody would have had Sacramento State at Idaho as a potential key matchup earlier this season. But it's become huge, with each team leading their division, the Vandals one back of the Hornets in record. It's their only meeting, so potential tiebreakers are at stake.

Saturday in the Big Sky: NAU at UM, SUU at MSU, WSU at UND, ISU at UNC, SAC at EWU, PSU at UI

Non-Montana match to check out: Idaho State at Northern Colorado. If the Bears win on Thursday over Weber State, UNC will be going for its fourth straight win, with Montana State and Montana visiting Greeley to close out October. Six straight wins entering November? That's so Lyndsey Oates.

Upcoming: Montana hits the road next week for matches at North Dakota and Northern Colorado.

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Players Mentioned

Missy Huddleston

Maddy Marshall

Ashley Watkins

University of Montana Athletics