Griz drop Big Sky opener to Eagles

Thursday, September 21

Cheney, Wash.

7:00 PM (MT)

Montana

5-9, 0-1BSC

Eastern Washington

4-6, 1-0BSC

Montana

Eastern Washington

9/21/2017 10:42:00 PM | Volleyball

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team lost its Big Sky Conference opener on Thursday night, falling 3-1 to Eastern Washington in Cheney, 22-25, 21-25, 25-19, 23-25.

The Grizzlies (5-9, 0-1 BSC) lost their sixth consecutive match, while the Eagles (4-6, 1-0 BSC) won their third straight.

Sophomore Missy Huddleston, who entered the match hitting .100, finished with a career-high 18 kills on .326 hitting, but it wasn't enough to overcome 30 kills by EWU's Ashley Seiler and Alexandra Espinosa.

Eastern Washington had 61 kills in the match to Montana's 43.

The match mirrored Montana's performance last weekend at Edwardsville, Ill., when the Grizzlies showed stretches of dominance but too often mixed it with erratic play.

"The story from last weekend kind of extended into this week," said first-year coach Allison Lawrence. "We have moments when we are in rhythm and connecting, and moments when we look really tentative.

"We've shown we can have some great things going on. We just have to find some consistency."

Montana fell behind 7-1 in the opener but fought back to three times even the score, the last at 22-22. But three straight points by the Eagles put them up 1-0.

It was more of the same in the second. The Grizzlies, who hit.194 through the first two sets, led 20-19, but once again Eastern Washington made the plays, scoring six of the set's final seven points to win 25-21 and take a 2-0 lead.

Montana showed its best form in set three. The Grizzlies hit .342 and never trailed to win 25-19.

"I thought after set three we were going to win the match," said Lawrence. "Okay, we found it. We know what we're going to do. We're going."

The teams were even at 5-5 in the fourth before Eastern Washington opened it up, taking a 17-9 lead.

"Then it's a few plays in a row and all of a sudden we don't know what's been working for us," said Lawrence. "Every conference match is going to be like this. We're going to have opportunities. We just have to put a whole match together."

Down big in the fourth, Montana still managed to make things interesting for Eastern Washington. The Grizzlies trailed 23-17 and 24-19 but fought back to within 24-23 before an attack error ended the match.

"I loved that we were facing match points and played with a confidence that I haven't seen a lot from these girls," said Lawrence. "But then we don't play with that same confidence at the start of the set or the middle of the set."

Mykaela Hammer and Cassie Laramee both had eight kills. It was an off night for Hammer, who had been Montana's offensive bellwether, averaging more than three and a half kills per set entering Thursday's match.

Huddleston's 18 kills eclipsed by one her previous career high, set against Tulsa earlier this season. Her kills came with just four attack errors on 43 swings.

"Mykaela wasn't terminating as much as she has been, but Missy stepped up," said Lawrence. "She's been struggling with her consistency, but she picked up her numbers.

"People are having these moments. It's just a matter of getting it all to work together."

Hammer and Baily Permann both had five blocks as the Grizzlies out-blocked their opponent for the eighth time this season. Shannon Casale finished with 16 digs, and Ashley Watkins totaled 25 assists and nine digs.

Montana will face a red-hot Idaho (6-6, 1-0 BSC) team at 8 p.m. (MT) on Saturday in Moscow. The Vandals swept Montana State on Thursday night, 25-19, 25-14, 25-12.

In other league matches, Portland State won 3-0 at home over Idaho State and Sacramento State won 3-1 at home over Weber State.

The league's preseason favorites both came through with road victories. North Dakota, which dropped the opening set, won 3-1 at Southern Utah, and Northern Colorado, down 2-1 and 23-21 in the fourth set, rallied back for a five-set win at Northern Arizona.