Big Sky play arrives for volleyball team

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After four weekends of pre-league tournaments in Texas, Utah, Iowa and Illinois, the Montana volleyball team will open its Big Sky Conference schedule this week with matches at Eastern Washington and Idaho.

The Grizzlies (5-8) will face the Eagles (3-6) on Thursday at 7 p.m. (MT) in Cheney and the Vandals (5-6) at 8 p.m. (MT) on Saturday in Moscow.

Coverage: All of Montana's matches the rest of the regular season, home and away, can be viewed at WatchBigSky.com or through Pluto TV, channel 237. Links to viewing options and live stats for this week's matches can be found on the volleyball schedule page at gogriz.com.

What's at stake: The 12 teams of the Big Sky Conference have just 16 league matches to make their case to be included in the eight-team conference tournament, which will be hosted by ~~North Dakota~~ the regular-season champion the third weekend of November.

If the preseason coaches' poll has some legitimacy to it, all three teams are projected as bubble sitters to make the postseason. Idaho was picked seventh in the poll, Eastern Washington ninth and Montana 11th. You can even add in Montana State (10th), which is also making the trip to the Inland Empire.

Head-to-head results against fellow bubble teams will go a long way toward determining the eight-team field, putting extra significance on this week's matches.

And therein lies the challenge for first-year coach Allison Lawrence, who needs to operate each day with both macro and micro perspectives.

There are things she needs to create within this year's team that will be long-lasting and lead to future championships. But she also wants this year's team, all of whose contributors will be back in 2018, to experience the tournament, just not at the expense of bigger-picture things. Yes, it's complicated.

"We want to do two things once we get into conference. We want to handle the short-term pressure but also keep our loyalty and integrity to our long-term goals," she said. "Trying to balance those two goals is the challenge we face."

And so it gets serious now. Pre-league tournaments were about the process of building a program that can last. And that was fine for four weeks. That process will continue, but wins and losses just take on greater significance now.

Lose to Seattle in Edwardsville, Ill.? That's fine. Lessons were learned, things were taken from it. Results don't come with the same leniency going forward.

"You can't deny that there are outcomes now that will either limit us or get us to the conference tournament, which is one of our goals," said Lawrence. "There is no way around that. The stakes are way higher now.

"You can play preseason matches and win or lose, and you can always find value in what you're doing, but they don't have the win-loss pressure that league matches have. That's a real thing."

The hot meter:

Idaho (4 out of 5): After a 0-4 start to the season with a single set win, the Vandals are one of the hottest teams in the league. They have a win on the road over Illinois-Chicago, a team Montana lost to in four sets at a neutral site last weekend, and last weekend won 3-0 at San Jose State, a team that beat the Grizzlies in straight sets at Drake's tournament. In Idaho's most recent match, the Vandals lost to No. 9 Kansas 3-1. Two of the sets Idaho lost were by scores of 25-23 and 26-24. So, yeah, 18th-year coach Debbie Buchanan has her team rolling.

Montana (1.5 out of 5): Looking at the team's preseason through a historical prism, picking up five wins was a success, considering four of the last five seasons have ended with eight or fewer victories. But the Grizzlies still enter Big Sky play on a five-match losing streak, with just three set wins in those matches. During its losing streak, Montana is hitting .120 while allowing its opponents to hit .237. The Grizzlies hit better than .200 in four of their pre-league wins but have not come close to that mark since their win over Nebraska-Omaha on Sept. 9.

Eastern Washington (1.5 out of 5): The Eagles are mostly an unknown at this point, having played a schedule without any crossover opponents with Montana. Eastern Washington didn't play last weekend, meaning the Eagles will enter Thursday night's meeting riding a two-match winning streak, though those wins over Bucknell and Canisius in Buffalo, N.Y., came a long time ago. The team's other win came over Binghamton in five sets in Las Vegas. Like Montana, Eastern Washington's offense has held it back. The Eagles are hitting .134 for the season.

What to watch for on Thursday: How well does Montana slow down Ashley Seiler? The senior outside hitter -- who is from Cheney but first went to Casper College -- is averaging 4.27 kills per set, a number that leads the Big Sky by a wide margin. She is hitting a decent percentage (.187) and takes one out of every three swings for the Eagles.

Montana-Eastern Washington history: Montana leads the all-time series with Eastern Washington 53-39. Since the Eagles won 24 of 25 matches in the series between 1996 and 2008, it's been mostly a back-and-forth rivalry, with the Grizzlies holding a 9-8 edge over the last 17 matches. The Eagles swept the series last year, winning 3-1 in Missoula and 3-0 in Cheney in what was former coach Brian Doyon's last match in that position.

What to watch for on Saturday: How does Montana handle Idaho's size? The Vandals are huge, their top five hitters standing 6-foot-1 or taller. That's led to one of the Big Sky's top offenses (.232 team hitting percentage) and one of the league's top-ranked teams in blocks (2.70/s). Get past the block and chances of success go up. Idaho's opponents are hitting a healthy .224 this season.

Montana-Idaho history: Idaho leads the series 33-27 in a rivalry that was the Big Sky's most heated in the 90s, before the Vandals left the league. In the five seasons between 1991 and 1995, either the Grizzlies or Vandals won the Big Sky regular-season title. In the years since Idaho left the league in 1996, they've won 12 of 14 matches over Montana. The teams split last year, with the Grizzlies winning 3-2 in Missoula, the Vandals 3-0 in Moscow.

Montana notes:

* Mykaela Hammer was named to the all-tournament team at SIU-Edwardsville after averaging 4.7 kills per set as Montana went 0-3 against Seattle, Illinois-Chicago and the host Cougars. Hammer matched her career high with 22 kills on .364 hitting against UIC. Hammer was named all-tournament in three of Montana's four pre-league tournaments. For the season she is averaging 3.53 kills on .200 hitting while adding 1.96 digs and 0.72 blocks per set. She ranks fourth in the Big Sky in kills.

* Libero Shannon Casale continues to total some huge dig numbers. She had 19 in just three sets against Seattle, then had 26 in four sets against SIU-Edwardsville, a career high. It was the third time this season she reached 20 digs. Her recent output has vaulted her up to second in the Big Sky rankings at 4.46/set, behind only Brigitte Murdock of Sacramento State, who is averaging 4.57.

* Montana had more blocks than its opponents last week at SIU-Edwardsville and continues to out-block its opponents for the season. Count it as one of this season's early wins, after getting out-blocked 190.0 to 127.5 last year.

Big Sky Conference pre-league outlook:

The team to beat: North Dakota. Until someone proves otherwise, the Fighting Hawks, at 15-2, with losses to Georgia Tech and Cal Poly, stand alone.

The challengers: Portland State and Northern Colorado. After a number of seasons hanging with the middle-of-the-pack riffraff, the Vikings are back to where they are accustomed. And the Bears will enjoy this classification as long as Lindsey Oates is coaching.

The wannabe: Sacramento State. The Hornets are 9-7 and will face Portland State on the road and North Dakota at home in back-to-back matches soon. Much will be learned from those meetings.

The chase pack: Northern Arizona and Idaho. The Lumberjacks had their moment in the sun in 2015 but were not able to sustain it. The Vandals have the type of roster makeup that will give most Big Sky teams a problem.

The head-scratchers: Chad Teichert didn't build a program that would be sitting 3-10, but that's where Idaho State is as league opens. And Weber State, a program that had sleeper status last month, is 2-10.

The bubble teams: Southern Utah, Montana State, Montana and Eastern Washington. Unlike other seasons, there isn't a team that stands out as a lock to miss the tournament. And that makes for a fun regular season.

Thursday's schedule: UM at EWU, MSU at UI, UNC at NAU, UND at SUU, ISU at PSU, WSU at SAC

Non-Montana match to monitor: Northern Colorado at Northern Arizona. The Bears, who haven't missed the Big Sky tournament since joining the league in 2006, picked up the two first-place votes North Dakota didn't receive in the preseason poll. The Lumberjacks, last year's preseason favorite, lost to North Dakota in last year's Big Sky tournament championship match.

Saturday's schedule: UM at UI, MSU at EWU, WSU at PSU, ISU at SAC, UND at UNC, NAU at SUU

Non-Montana match to monitor: North Dakota at Northern Colorado. The Fighting Hawks lost in Greeley 3-0 during last year's opening weekend of matches, then won 17 of their next 18, with just 11 sets lost.

Upcoming: Montana makes its home debut, hosting Sacramento State on Thursday, Sept. 28, then travels to Bozeman to face Montana State on Saturday, Sept. 30.

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Players Mentioned

Shannon Casale

Mykaela Hammer

University of Montana Athletics