Vikings down Grizzlies in four sets

Thursday, November 2

Portland, Ore.

9:00 PM (MT)

Montana

7-19, 2-11BSC

Portland State

19-6, 10-3BSC

Montana

Portland State

11/3/2017 12:12:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Montana Sports Information

Portland State kept its hopes for a Big Sky Conference championship alive with a 3-1 victory over the Montana volleyball team on Thursday night, in a match played at Concordia University-Portland.

The Vikings (19-6, 10-3 BSC) hit .323 in the victory and now face a must-win match at Big Sky leader Sacramento State on Saturday afternoon.

A victory by the Hornets, who defeated Montana State in four sets on Thursday night, would give them at least a share of the Big Sky title and hosting rights to the eight-team tournament in two weeks.

Portland State handed the Grizzlies (7-19, 2-11 BSC) their 16th loss in their last 18 matches, winning 23-25, 25-14, 25-21, 25-19.

Missy Huddleston had nine kills in the opening set on .727 hitting and Shannon Casale's work from the service line allowed Montana to fight back from a 21-17 deficit and post its only set win of the night.

"I was really proud of how we came out," said coach Allison Lawrence. "We talked after our matches last week about learning how to get locked into our scouting report and hitting all our assignments from the opening point, and I thought we came out and did that really well."

With Montana trailing 21-17, Huddleston put down a kill, giving the serve to Casale. She served five straight points for the Grizzlies, with back-to-back aces making it 23-21.

"When Shannon came in and went on that big serving run, it really changed the momentum for us and reinforced what we were trying to do with our serving," said Lawrence.

"A big goal for us when we play teams as efficient as Portland State is to serve them really tough and into fewer options, and we did that."

The Vikings hit .452 to easily take the second set, then got off to good starts in the third and fourth to improve to 9-2 in matches played in the city of Portland this fall.

There were no lead changes in either the third or fourth sets, but Montana was competitive in both, hitting .214.

"They made some adjustments, and in the second set we weren't able to adjust quickly enough to keep up with them, but we came back in the third and got back into the mentality that we started the match with," said Lawrence.

Trailing 19-11 in the third, the Grizzlies fought back to within two, 21-19, but consecutive kills by the Vikings sent them to victory.

Montana was within two again in the fourth, 17-15, when three straight points gave Portland State its winning margin.

"It was really fun volleyball and a fun match to be a part of. The rallies were long and there were a lot of athletic plays being made by both teams," said Lawrence. "It felt like a lot of earned points on both sides.

"When we went on runs, it was because we forced those runs. It wasn't because they made a string of errors, and that made it feel like we accomplished a lot of our goals."

Huddleston led Montana in kills, but her 13 meant she had more attack errors than kills over the final three sets after her hot start.

"I don't think Portland State changed anything," said Lawrence. "We started passing a little worse in the second set, which got us a little more out of rhythm. Missy was hitting more out of system and maybe lost a little bit of confidence in what was working for her."

Maddy Marshall added 12 kills and 15 digs, and Mykaela Hammer totaled 10 kills on .269 hitting, plus four blocks, as Montana hit .207, just its third time in its last 18 matches hitting better than .200.

Ashley Watkins had 42 assists and 15 digs. Baily Permann and McKenzie Kramer combined for 11 kills on .276 hitting and six blocks in the middle, and Lia Gaogao added 19 digs.

Caitlin Bettenay had 17 kills on .235 hitting to lead the Vikings. Katy Wilson and Mikaelyn Sych, Portland State's middles, combined for 19 kills on .563 hitting, along with 10 blocks.

Montana will host Montana State (8-14, 4-9 BSC) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Dahlberg Arena.