Vandals outlast Grizzlies, win in five

Thursday, November 9

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

7-21, 2-13BSC

Idaho

16-10, 11-4BSC

Idaho

Montana

11/9/2017 11:36:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

What Montana lacked in killer instinct on Thursday night, the Grizzlies made up for in fight. The result was twofold, both a disappointing and encouraging near miss against one of the Big Sky Conference's heavyweights.

Montana couldn't finish off a 19-13 lead in the fourth set while holding a 2-1 advantage, and that allowed Big Sky North Division co-leader Idaho to rally for a 19-25, 25-15, 25-27, 30-28, 19-17 victory at the West Auxiliary Gym.

The loss dropped the Grizzlies to 2-13 in league, 7-21 overall. They were eliminated from postseason contention last week, but they gave no hint of that fate against the Vandals (16-10, 11-4 BSC), who won their fourth straight match.

"We talked this week that who we are cannot change, whether we're in the postseason or we're not, whether we have two Big Sky wins or eight or 10. Who we are can't change," said coach Allison Lawrence.

"If we care anything about our character and the type of team we've been working so hard to become, we have to show up until it's over. We talked about the amount of heart that that takes, and I thought we showed that tonight."

Idaho, which leads the Big Sky in hitting percentage, handled Montana in straight sets when the teams met in Moscow in late September, and the Vandals, who are tall, lean and imposing across the board, won the pregame on Thursday.

(11/10/2017) VB: vs. Idaho (11.9.17)

They just looked like they were going to be a handful once again warming up. Which made it all the more surprising that Montana jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the first set.

"Idaho was off early on, but I also thought we came to play tonight," said Lawrence.

Aided by five Idaho service errors, Montana won the opener. Idaho looked more like the team that defeated Montana in September in the second, holding the Grizzlies to a .000 hitting percentage, with 10 attack errors balancing out 10 kills.

The final three sets would all go to extra points, with Montana rallying from a 22-20 deficit to take the third, Idaho coming back from its 19-13 hole to take the fourth and then down 13-11 in the fifth to pull out the win.

Lost amid the back-and-forth drama was that Montana held Idaho mostly in check. The Vandals' .196 hitting percentage was their lowest in 15 Big Sky matches and their lowest since mid-September.

"When we played them at their place, we were not making decisions as quickly as we were tonight or reading their setter as well as we were tonight," said Lawrence.

"Out blocking showed up in big ways. Even on plays when we were late filling with our block, we were still getting touches and slowing them down. We talked all week about needing to show up on defense and make plays on defense."

Montana only finished with 7.0 blocks, but the Grizzlies' play at the net gave their back row a chance. And Lia Gaogao was spectacular. She not only had 35 digs, many on thunderous attacks, but she consistently dropped her passes right on setter Ashley Watkins, which helped Montana transition.

Mykaela Hammer added 17 digs, Missy Huddleston had 15, Maddy Marshall finished with 14 and Watkins had 13.

"Our blockers executed our block calls really well, and Lia touched everything. They didn't get a lot of clean kills to the floor," said Lawrence.

After Montana fell behind 22-20 in the third, it felt like Idaho might be on its way to a four-set win. But these are not the Grizzlies of recent past, who had a habit of rolling over late in sets.

Following a Lawrence timeout to settle her players, Hammer had a kill and McKenzie Kramer a solo block to tie it at 22-22. Montana won it on its third set-point opportunity on a Baily Permann kill.

Carrying all the momentum into the fourth, Montana looked dominant for much of the set, building a 12-7 lead and extending it to 19-13, but the impulse to confidently finish for a program that is in its fourth straight season of 20 or more losses wasn't there.

It will come under Lawrence, but not on this night.

Idaho scored seven of the next eight points to tie it at 20-20. Montana would have match point at 26-25, but the Vandals fought it off with a kill, followed by a block, and the Grizzlies would never be that close to winning again, despite the closeness of the final score.

Trailing 13-11 in the fifth, Idaho scored three straight points to earn its first match-point opportunity. Hammer put it on hold with a kill, as Huddleston and Marshall would later do as well.

With the score tied 17-17, Sarah Sharp put down a kill, and on their fifth match-point opportunity, the Vandals finally won it on a Montana error.

"We put enough pressure on them to win the match," said Lawrence. "It's heartbreaking when you get that close, but also encouraging."

Hammer finished with 20 kills, the fourth time this season she has had 20 or more. Huddleston added 16, Marshall and Permann both had 13. Watkins had 66 assists, Kramer four blocks.

Kaela Straw led Idaho with 23 kills on .417 hitting. DeVonne Ryter had eight blocks.

Montana will play its final match of the season on Saturday night when it hosts Eastern Washington (7-17, 4-11 BSC) at 7 p.m. at the West Auxiliary Gym. The Eagles lost 3-0 at Montana State on Thursday.