Griz fall twice at Cougar Invitational

Friday, September 15

Edwardsville, Ill.

10:00 AM (MT)

Montana

5-6

Seattle

4-7

Montana

Seattle

9/15/2017 7:01:00 PM | Volleyball

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team dropped a pair of matches on Friday as the Cougar Invitational got underway at Edwardsville, Ill.

The Grizzlies (5-7) lost to Seattle (4-7) in straight sets, 24-26, 28-30, 20-25, then fell to Illinois-Chicago (8-3) in four, 18-25, 21-25, 25-22, 20-25.

In the two matches, junior right-side hitter Mykaela Hammer totaled 37 kills on .350 hitting.

"We're still fighting. As someone watching these girls grow and change, the fight is there and the mentality is different," said first-year coach Allison Lawrence.

"Whether we come up short or not, we are a different team than we have been in the past and different competitors, and I'm proud of that. We're still learning how to get the outcome we want, but we're learning and fighting, so it's all positive."

In the opener, Seattle took away one of Montana's strengths, its left-side attack, and the Grizzlies were unable to come up with enough offense to make up the difference.

Hammer had 15 kills on .333 hitting on the right side, but the four hitters on the left that Lawrence tried hit a negative percentage.

"Seattle really keyed in on our left-side hitters, and we struggled to find some consistency," said Lawrence. "We subbed a lot. We used a lot of different players, but we weren't able to move the ball around that well, so we were pretty high-error."

And still it was a tight match through the first two sets. The opener was tied at 24 before Seattle ended it with consecutive points. Montana had a pair of set points in the second but couldn't close it out. All while the Grizzlies were hitting .084 through those sets.

"When you're hitting less than .100, the odds are you're not going to win a set, much less a match," said Lawrence. "We were encouraged that we were hitting so poorly and still point-for-point with them.

"We knew if we could add some offense, we could win some sets, because we were in the first two without any."

But it wasn't to be. Seattle jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the third set, and Montana hit .098 to finish at .089 for the match.

Hammer had nearly half of Montana's 33 kills. Ashley Watkins added five from her setter position. McKenzie Kramer had four blocks and three service aces. Shannon Casale totaled 19 digs, the third time this season she's had 19 or more digs in a three-set match.

"We weren't able to get our middles going either. Other than Mykaela, there wasn't a lot of consistent attacking when we were hitting," said Lawrence.

In the second match, the Flames' six-foot middle blockers, Sarah Daneliak and Nicole Johnson, combined for 22 kills on .428 hitting and nine blocks.

Despite increased production from the outside -- Hammer matched her career high with 22 kills on .364 hitting on the right and Cassie Laramee and Missy Huddleston both had 10 from the left -- it wasn't enough.

"We attacked better against Chicago," said Lawrence. "No one was able to contain Mykaela all day, and Cassie stepped up and played like a captain. Missy was able to terminate as well.

"What consistently wore us down were their middles. We just could not block or dig them. They were quick and really hitting smart shots."

Lawrence found a spark off the bench when she went to Janna Grimsrud, a middle who hadn't gotten much of a look since the team's season-opening tournament at North Texas.

She didn't have any kills, but Grimsrud finished with a career-high six blocks.

"Without a major amount of playing time since UTEP, Janna came in and got some big blocks for us and did a really good job," said Lawrence.

After dropping the first two sets to UIC, Montana held the Flames to .147 hitting in the third, and that was enough to pick up its first and only set victory of the day.

The Grizzlies got out to a 7-3 lead in the fourth, but the Flames broke free from a 16-16 deadlock and pulled away for the win.

Watkins totaled 41 assists and five blocks. Kramer also had five blocks.

Montana will face host SIU-Edwardsville at 10 a.m. (MT) on Saturday. The Cougars improved to 8-2 on the season with a 3-1 victory over Seattle on Friday night in their only match of the day.