Griz conclude pre-league schedule in Illinois

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The Montana volleyball team will compete in its final tournament before starting Big Sky Conference play next week when the Grizzlies travel to the Cougar Invitational in Edwardsville, Ill.

The two-day, four-team tournament will be made up of teams from Montana, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Seattle and Illinois-Chicago.

The schedule:
Friday: Montana vs. Seattle, 10 a.m. (MT)
Friday: Montana vs. Illinois-Chicago, 2:30 p.m. (MT)
Saturday: Montana vs. SIU-Edwardsville, 10 a.m. (MT)

Coverage: All three of Montana's matches can be tracked through live stats. Saturday morning's match against the host Cougars can be watched free of charge through the Ohio Valley Conference Digital Network. Links for all available services can be found at gogriz.com.

Warm-up numbers: At 5-5, Montana has already matched last year's win total. The Grizzlies went 5-21 in 2016 under then-head coach Brian Doyon. ... At 5-5, Montana is off to its best 10-match start since the 2005 season. ... The Grizzlies have a pair of 3-0 wins this season. Montana had just three 3-0 wins combined over the previous three seasons. ... Montana is 2-0 in matches that have gone to five sets.

Montana in a nutshell: Through three early-season tournaments, Montana is 5-5. The Grizzlies went 2-1 at North Texas, 1-2 at Utah Valley and 2-2 last weekend at Drake. Montana tied for 11th (out of 12 teams) in the Big Sky Conference last season and was picked 11th in this year's preseason poll.

Seattle in a nutshell: The Redhawks have won two of their last three matches to improve to 3-7 this season. Seattle has losses on the road at California and Washington, and fell to Sacramento State on Saturday in Kentucky. The Redhawks were picked to finish fifth (out of eight teams) in the WAC.

Illinois-Chicago in a nutshell: The Flames, 6-3 overall, take a four-match winning streak into Wednesday's home match against South Dakota State. One of UIC's losses was in five sets at home to Idaho. The Flames were picked seventh (out of nine teams) in the Horizon League preseason poll.

SIU-Edwardsville in a nutshell: The Cougars, at 7-2, have the field's best record. One of SIUE's two losses was in straight sets at home to Tulsa, a team Montana defeated 3-2 at North Texas. The Cougars won 22 matches last season and were picked third this year in the Ohio Valley preseason poll.

Montana Insider

Montana went into last weekend's tournament at Drake, which featured mostly even-matched teams, with the hope of going 4-0 and the understanding it could go 0-4. The Grizzlies split that right down the middle, going 2-2, with two wins on Friday and two losses on Saturday.

Montana opened with a 3-2 win over Southeast Missouri State, a match the Grizzlies would later regret not finishing off in three, then took out Nebraska-Omaha in straight sets.

Two things from those matches. First, Montana dominated Southeast Missouri State through the first two sets, outscoring the Redhawks 50-33 and holding SEMO to a negative hitting percentage. Easy win, right? Not so much.

It was a different story in sets three and four, with Southeast Missouri, which had an 11-to-14 kills-to-error ratio in the first two sets, putting down 26 kills while only committing seven errors. All of a sudden it was a five-set match.

Finishing teams off when Montana has the chance is one thing Lawrence will be looking for this weekend.

"I'd love to see us turn the corner on that," she said. "We have momentum and we're controlling and winning the long rallies. Now let's completely dominate them and to finish this out. If that's in place going into conference, then we'll be in a really good spot."

If that was a critique of the tournament opener, the story of the second match, Montana's 3-0 sweep of Nebraska-Omaha, was the Grizzlies' ability to finish off sets like a veteran program.

The opening set was tied 20-20 before Montana finished it off 25-23. The Grizzlies trailed in the second set 23-21 but scored the final four points to win 25-23.

"In practice we try to create the type of pressure that simulates matches," said Lawrence. "My hope is that when we're down 19-21 or 21-23, we're not thinking, Oh my gosh, I can't do this.

"We're getting to a point where we're thinking, I can't wait to be in that situation because I know I'm going to execute. Our athletes are really taking responsibility for their part in that, and I'm proud of them for that. There is a resiliency that is happening with them internally."

On Saturday Montana lost 3-0 to tournament champion San Jose State, a team currently sporting a 7-1 record. The Grizzlies followed with a 3-1 loss to host Drake, a team playing its first match of the day and its fourth over three days. Montana was playing its fourth in two days.

"We played really well for about 80 percent of the tournament. The other 20 percent I think some fatigue set in," said coach Allison Lawrence. "And we met some teams who played better at given moments than we did.

"Even though we didn't win a match on Saturday, I still think we have a lot of momentum."

Montana will take that into this weekend's tournament, which features two teams -- SIU-Edwardsville at 7-2 and Illinois-Chicago at 6-3 -- who are off to winning starts.

Based on crossover matches against common opponents and other results from matches against Big Sky teams, it should be a field with a similar makeup to last week. If it plays well, Montana could go 2-1 or 3-0.

"My expectations for the coming weekend are to arrive confident, play our game from the beginning and have the belief that we can execute," said Lawrence. "I'm not so focused on the outcomes as I am on our execution.

"And I want us to have the mentality that we're a team to beat, no matter what gym we're in. I can't tell you the last time we felt like that as a program. Our players are carrying themselves differently."

The goal for Lawrence this weekend is to bookend her opponents. As mentioned earlier, she wants her team to learn how to finish off opponents when the Grizzlies have them down. As sweep of Southeast Missouri on Friday morning would have gone a long way to having fresher legs for Saturday's matches.

And then there is the start of matches. In seven sets played on Saturday against San Jose State and Drake, Montana held a lead 10 points in just once. It was the set the Grizzlies won, No. 2 against the host Bulldogs.

"The thing we're focusing on for this tournament based on our results last weekend is starting well," said Lawrence, whose team fell behind 10 points in just once in eight sets in Friday's two wins. "And that means winning the game to 10 points.

"That's a big thing for us. And when we get to the point when we can really take control of a match, we need to take control."

Montana Notes

* Junior Mykaela Hammer made the all-tournament team at Drake. Over four matches she averaged 3.33 kills and 2.53 digs.

Hammer had 33 kills over eight sets on Friday as the Grizzlies picked up wins over Southeast Missouri State and Nebraska-Omaha. Her 22 kills against the Redhawks, on .312 hitting, were a career high.

She had a pair of double-doubles at the tournament: 22 kills and 12 digs against Southeast Missouri State and 11 kills and 14 digs versus Drake.

Hammer also was voted all-tournament at North Texas.

* Montana hit .209 in its wins last week over Southeast Missouri and Nebraska-Omaha. That dropped to .112 in Saturday's losses. The Grizzlies had 24 attack errors against San Jose State in just three sets.

* Sophomore McKenzie Kramer has taken over the second middle blocker position behind Baily Permann. Kramer hit .258 in four matches at Drake and totaled a team-high 13 blocks.

* Hammer carried a big offensive load at Drake. Her 50 kills over four matches were 23 more than any teammate. She also finished second on the team in digs (2.53/s) and third in blocks (8).

* Redshirt freshman Shannon Casale had 67 digs at Drake, the second-highest total at the tournament among liberos. She had 23 of those against Nebraska-Omaha in just three sets. She also had 19 in four sets in the team's loss to Drake.

* Montana ranks in the top half of the Big Sky statistics in just one category. The Grizzlies are sixth in service aces at 1.39/set.

Individually Ashley Watkins ranks sixth in the league in assists at 8.88/set and Shannon Casale ranks third in digs at 4.26/set.

* Junior Alexis Urbach made her season debut on Friday and had six kills on .308 hitting in her first match back against Nebraska-Omaha.

* Ashley Watkins had 35 assists and 12 digs against Drake, her fourth double-double of the season. Mykaela Hammer and Maddy Marshall both have two.

Around the Big Sky Conference

* It's the final weekend prior to the start of Big Sky play next week, and teams are taking different approaches to scheduling.

Eastern Washington is not playing. Some teams are playing one or two standalone matches. Others are in tournaments near (Northern Colorado is hosting) and far (Northern Arizona is traveling to Hawaii).

* The weekend will provide some comparison results, in particular Idaho, which Montana faces next week. The Vandals play both San Jose State and Kansas this weekend in Milipitas, Calif. In two others, Montana State plays at Long Beach State and Portland State hosts UTEP.

And then there is this: Idaho State will face the nation's top-ranked team, Minnesota, in Boise.

* In its final season in the Big Sky, North Dakota is laying ruin to almost everything in its path. The Fighting Hawks are 13-1, their only loss a 3-0 setback at Georgia Tech, which came the day after North Dakota played four matches in two days in Oxford, Miss.

Since that solitary loss, nine straight wins, the last seven by 3-0 sweep. UND is at Wisconsin-Green Bay's tournament this weekend.

* League play opens next week, with six matches on Thursday, six on Saturday. Conference matches continue until Saturday, Nov. 11. The next week the eight-team league tournament will be hosted by the regular-season champion.

Montana hasn't made the Big Sky tournament since 2014.

Upcoming: Montana will open league next week with the Eastern Washington-Idaho road trip. The Eagles, who won't play again until hosting the Grizzlies next Thursday, are 3-6. The Vandals are 4-4, with four straight wins. They face a tough field of Santa Clara, San Jose State and Kansas this weekend.

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Players Mentioned

Shannon Casale

Mykaela Hammer

McKenzie Kramer

Maddy Marshall

Baily Permann

Alexis Urbach

Ashley Watkins

University of Montana Athletics