Griz drop finale at SIUE

Saturday, September 16

Edwardsville, Ill.

10:00 AM (MT)

Montana

5-8

Southern Illinois-Edwardsville

9-2

Montana

SIU-Edwardsville

9/16/2017 1:35:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score PDF Box Score PDF Season Stats

By: Montana Sports Information

Her team's pre-Big Sky Conference schedule was never about wins and losses, not last weekend when the Montana volleyball team was riding high at 5-3 or this weekend when the Grizzlies went 0-3 at the Cougar Invitational in Edwardsville, Ill.

For first-year coach Allison Lawrence, bigger, more important, things were at stake. So even though Montana lost 3-1 on Saturday morning to host SIU-Edwardsville, it still felt like a four-week goal had been accomplished as the start of league play arrives next week.

"I didn't think we'd go 0-3 this weekend and I didn't want us to, but the whole point of preseason for us was to find an identity, and I think we found that despite our outcomes," she said. "That's going to serve us greater than wins or losses as we move forward, so I'm proud of this team."

The opening set against the now 9-2 Cougars showed Lawrence just what kind of team her players have started to develop into.

Montana (5-8) fell behind 9-3, but there was no quit in the Grizzlies. They steadily fought back, first tying the match at 20, then fighting off a pair of set-point opportunities for the Cougars before winning 31-29.

"To me that opening set was such a great sign of how healthy we are mentally. I was really proud of how we battled back," Lawrence said. "Whether it leads to a win or not, we're really making teams have to fight to the end, and that's the team we want to be. That's something we set out to become."

It would be the only set Montana would win as Edwardsville took the next three 25-22, 25-10, 25-17.

SIUE broke free from an 18-18 deadlock in the second set with three consecutive points, then used strong finishes in sets three and four to win its fourth consecutive match.

"Our passing got a little shaky later in the match, which meant we had fewer options in where we were setting," said Lawrence. "We'd have a bad pass, then a set without a lot of options and an attack that was either an error or a controlled play that wasn't aggressive.

"It was frustrating to watch it slip away and it wasn't the outcome we wanted, but I really loved this match. We made them work a lot harder than they're used to working."

Mykaela Hammer added to her big weekend with 15 more kills and was named to the all-tournament team, the third time in four pre-league tournaments she's been so honored.

Shannon Casale recorded a season-high 26 digs, Ashley Watkins had a 39-assist, 17-dig double-double, and Cassie Laramee finished with 11 kills.

At middle blocker, Bailey Permann had seven kills and McKenzie Kramer finished with five kills on .500 hitting and a team-high five blocks.

The Cougars hit .253 and had 17 more kills than the Grizzlies. Taylor Joens had 18 kills and no errors on 32 swings to hit .562. Emily Harrison added 15 kills on .414 hitting.

"What we celebrated after the match and after the tournament was that no matter how far off track we might have gotten for whatever reason, whether it be errors or timidness, we always were able to fight back to who we want to be," said Lawrence.

"That's what preseason is for, figuring out who we are, then figuring out how to be us no matter the situation."

Montana will open Big Sky play next week with road matches at Eastern Washington on Thursday and Idaho on Saturday.