Griz face challenging road trip

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The Montana volleyball team faces its final two-match road trip of the regular season this week when it plays at North Dakota and Northern Colorado.

The Grizzlies will play the Fighting Hawks at 6 p.m. (MT) on Thursday in Grand Forks and the Bears at 7 p.m. in Greeley on Saturday.

Montana hosted both teams in Missoula two weeks ago and dropped a pair of 3-0 decisions.

Where they stand:

Montana (7-16, 2-8 BSC): The Grizzlies are in sixth place out of six teams in the Big Sky Conference North Division, 11th out of 12 teams in the combined standings.

North Dakota (23-4, 8-2 BSC): The Fighting Hawks sit atop the North Division standings but remain two behind South Division leader Sacramento State in the important overall standings.

Northern Colorado (11-12, 4-6 BSC): Picked second in the preseason poll, the Bears are surprisingly in the bottom half of the overall standings. UNC is sitting fourth in the North Division.

What's at stake:

Montana: The Grizzlies are only one game ahead of last-place Southern Utah in the standings, but they are also only one behind three teams that are 3-7 in league. And someone from that group is going to make the Big Sky tournament. It's an uphill battle, but it's a battle that can still be fought.

North Dakota: Despite sitting behind Sacramento State in the overall standings by two games (and with a head-to-head loss to the Hornets), at least one Big Sky coach believes the Fighting Hawks are still the top team out there. It's looking more and more like they'll have to prove it next month in Sacramento.

Northern Colorado: It's rare for the Bears in late October, but for this season anyway they are more worried about the teams behind them in the standings than they are pursuing those ahead of them. UNC is just trying to make the league tournament at this point.

Trending:

Montana: The Grizzlies have won just two of their last 15 matches, though both have come in their last five outings, a 3-1 win at Weber State and last week's 3-2 win over Southern Utah, their first home win of the season.

North Dakota: Since getting swept on the Sacramento State-Portland State road trip the first week of October, the Fighting Hawks have answered in the way you would expect the defending champions to: four straight wins, all in 3-0 sweeps.

Northern Colorado: Would the Bears please reveal their true selves? UNC snapped a three-match losing streak by sweeping the Montana schools two weeks ago, then went home and got swept by Weber State and Idaho State last week, dropping six of seven sets.

A Preview:

With just three weeks of regular-season matches remaining and still in need of some wins, Montana hits the road this week, one that's been particularly rocky in the past. The Grizzlies are 0-6 all-time on their trips to Grand Forks and are 1-9 on their last 10 visits to Greeley.

The task Thursday is a monumental challenge. For starters, North Dakota rarely loses at home. Not a match but a single set. They are going for consecutive home win No. 20 on Thursday and have not dropped a set at home this season.

And then there is this: Montana has not fared well against North Dakota over the years. The series is 14-1 in favor of the Fighting Hawks. In the teams' last 13 matchups, the Grizzlies have won just a pair of sets.

When the teams met in the West Auxiliary Gym on Oct. 14, North Dakota hit a season-best .423 and won handily, 25-16, 25-19, 25-17.

In that match, the Grizzlies had no answer for UND's middle-blocking tandem of Faith Dooley, who leads the nation in total blocks, and Jordan Vail. Those two combined for 21 kills and had just one attack error on 34 swings to hit .588.

The key to disrupting North Dakota's attack: serving well. It doesn't necessarily need to result in service aces, but getting setter Sydney Griffin on the move is a must. If North Dakota has pin-point passing, that's the reliable death knell for its opponent.

"We need to take a little more risk and put as much pressure on their passers as we can," said coach Allison Lawrence. "The two games that UND has lost in league, their serve-receive has been in disarray.

"The goal is that they can't easily set their middles. If they can't set their middles, then our jobs become a lot easier, because their middles are hard to stop."

Dooley, last year's Big Sky tournament MVP, is a four-time Big Sky Player of the Week this season. She is always going to produce. Instead it was Vail who did the most damage two weeks ago in Missoula.

She didn't have a single attack error in the match until Janna Grimsrud solo-blocked her late in set No. 3.

"We need to do a better job of blocking her best shot and funneling her to a defender. Then our floor defenders need to get in there and dig a ball," said Lawrence.

"All of that is way easier said than done. Few teams have been able to do that to them, but that's how you get them out of what they want to do."

When Northern Colorado arrived in Missoula two weeks ago, the Bears were struggling, coming off three straight losses. They got healthy against the Grizzlies. UNC held Montana to .120 hitting, out-blocked the Grizzlies and hit .233 itself.

The first two sets, both 25-18 results, were not close, and the Bears rallied back from a 19-15 deficit in set No. 3 to win 25-22 and finish off the sweep.

Then came last week's two head-scratching home losses to middle-of-the-pack teams from the South Division.

"It's uncharacteristic of that program to be inconsistent," said Lawrence. "But the last few weeks have shown they can be a little hot and cold. Hopefully we can get them thinking they might be having another off weekend while we gain some confidence."

One of the keys to the match will be freshman setter Daisy Schultz, who didn't play like it in Missoula. She had 28 assists and added five kills on .500 hitting.

"Whenever you have a young setter running a team that relies on a really fast offense, if you can make her second-guess her choices, then that's a good way to gain some control of the match," Lawrence said.

Another key: Northern Colorado served Montana out of system, much like Northern Arizona did on Saturday night in the Lumberjacks' 3-0 sweep.

"They served with so much pace in that match. That's one thing we can't allow them to do this week. We have to start the match with strong serve-receive," said Lawrence.

Montana Notes:

* Northern Arizona had 10 service aces in Saturday's 3-0 sweep of Montana. The Grizzlies have allowed 54 aces in 10 league matches while only recording 29 themselves.

* Montana hasn't out-blocked an opponent since playing at Eastern Washington on Sept. 21.

* Freshman Maddy Marshall was averaging more than three kills per set over the previous five matches until Northern Arizona made her a focus of its game plan. NAU forced Marshall into more errors (4) than kills (3) and into a negative hitting percentage (-.077).

* Missy Huddleston has had the same experience. In five of the last six matches she is averaging 4.1 kills on .322 hitting. Against North Dakota: one kill, five errors on 10 swings to hit -.400.

* Setter Ashley Watkins is the only Montana player who ranks in the top 10 in the Big Sky statistics this week. She ranks sixth in assists (9.56/s).

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* With only three weeks of league matches remaining, six teams feel like locks to be among the eight in the tournament field: Sacramento State (10-0), North Dakota (8-2), Portland State (8-2), Idaho (7-3), Idaho State (6-4) and Northern Arizona (5-5).

Six wins was the cutoff last year, and Northern Arizona plays five of its final six matches at home.

Northern Colorado should be there but could use some wins this week at home to help its cause. After that, three of four on the road at tough locations: Idaho, Eastern Washington and North Dakota.

That would leave only one spot remaining for everybody else to fight over. Montana State, Eastern Washington and Weber State are all 3-7. Montana is 2-8, Southern Utah 1-9.

Thursday matches: UM at UND, MSU at UNC, UI at ISU, EWU at WSU, PSU at SUU, SAC at NAU

Non-Montana match to monitor: Sacramento State at Northern Arizona. This is maybe the biggest hurdle the Hornets have left on their schedule as they try to wrap up tournament hosting rights. Portland State remains, but that match is in Sacramento.

Saturday matches: UM at UNC, MSU at UND, ISU at WSU, UI at EWU, SAC at SUU, PSU at NAU

Non-Montana match to monitor: Anything involving those teams directly ahead of Montana in the standings. Go Idaho State, Idaho and North Dakota.

Upcoming: Montana will play its final regular-season road match against Portland State next Thursday at Concordia University in Portland, starting at 9 p.m. (MT). The Grizzlies will then return home to host Montana State on Saturday, Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena.

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Players Mentioned

Janna Grimsrud

Missy Huddleston

Maddy Marshall

Ashley Watkins

University of Montana Athletics