Griz make home debut in big week

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The Montana volleyball team will make its home debut this week and two days later face its in-state rival on the road as the Big Sky Conference schedule continues for the Grizzlies.

Montana will host Sacramento State on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the West Auxiliary Gym. The Grizzlies will face Montana State at 7 p.m. in Bozeman on Saturday night.

Coverage: If you can't make it to Missoula or Bozeman, both matches will be streamed through WatchBigSky.com and Pluto TV. Thursday's match will be carried on channel 237, Saturday's on channel 238. Both also will have live stats. Links to all services can be found at gogriz.com.

Where they stand: After starting the season with five wins in its first eight matches, Montana has lost seven straight and enters Thursday's match at 5-10. The Grizzlies opened their Big Sky schedule with road losses last week at Eastern Washington, 3-1, and Idaho, 3-0.

Sacramento State, 11-7 overall, has won eight of its last 10 matches and enters play this week as one of five Big Sky teams to emerge from the start of league last weekend with a 2-0 record. The Hornets posted home wins over Weber State, 3-1, and Idaho State, 3-0.

Montana State, which like Montana is under a first-year head coach who was previously on staff, is 4-7 and also lost twice last week on the road, falling 3-0 at Idaho and 3-2 at Eastern Washington. The Bobcats, who host Portland State on Thursday, enter the week on a five-match losing streak.

The hot meter:

Montana: 1.1 out of 5.0 -- It was on Sept. 8 that the Grizzlies last won a match, sweeping Southeast Missouri State and Nebraska-Omaha in Des Moines, Iowa, to improve to 5-3. Montana has dropped seven matches since, with just four sets won while dropping 21.

Sacramento State: 4.3 out of 5.0 -- The Hornets have not been dominant -- the Grizzlies actually have more 3-0 wins this season -- but they've been winning while playing a busy schedule. Since enduring a four-match losing streak, Sacramento State has gone 8-2, with a dismantling of Idaho State on Saturday.

Montana State: 1.6 out of 5.0 -- The Bobcats had a four-match winning streak earlier this season, with victories over UC Santa Barbara, Utah State and Pacific (which won in four sets at Sac State) to win Utah State's tournament. MSU had a match-point in the fifth set in Saturday's 3-2 loss at Eastern Washington.

This week's three storylines:

1. Montana makes its home debut -- It's been 327 days (and 17 matches) since Montana last played at home, a 3-0 victory over Montana State at Dahlberg Arena last Nov. 4. Since that time the Grizzlies have let go of their previous coach and hired a new one.

And if that new coach is to be believed, the Grizzlies have remade themselves since February, and they are excited to show off what they've become to anyone who can make it to the West Auxiliary Gym on Thursday.

"We're really proud of what we've done the last several months," said first-year coach Allison Lawrence. "The team is proud of the way it's playing and the way they're good teammates, and all the character pieces we feel like we've put into place. They're excited to display that in front of a home crowd.

"Everyone in the program has this feeling that we've worked to prepare something we're really proud of. And it's fun when you get to share that with people you care about and who care about you. We are thrilled to finally be able to do that."

The West Auxiliary Gym has become the unfriendly confines -- unless you're speaking of the visiting team -- for Montana the last several years. Since the start of the 2014 season, the Grizzlies are 7-23 (.233) at home, winning less than one out of every four times they step on the floor in the WAG.

2. Griz try to cool off hot Hornets -- Sacramento State is one of five teams -- along with North Dakota, Northern Colorado, Portland State and Northern Arizona -- with a legitimate hope of winning the Big Sky Conference title and hosting November's eight-team tournament.

The Hornets opened league the way they needed to last weekend, taking out a pair of lightweights in Weber State and Idaho State at home to get off to a 2-0 start. Ahead of Saturday night's big matchup with Portland State on the road, the Hornets travel to Missoula.

On Montana's current seven-match skid, the Grizzlies have allowed 85 more kills than they've produced, and strong offense is Sacramento State's strength this season. But the bulk of the Hornets' offense goes through its left-side hitters -- Shannon Boyle and Mikaela Nocetti -- which is Montana's strength.

"They are athletic but in ways that I think mirror our athleticism," said Lawrence. "Our size at the pins matches up with them well. I think we can slow down their hitters with our blocking, and if we keep our eyes fast with their setter, I think good things can happen."

One area where the Hornets will have the advantage over most of their Big Sky opponents this season will be at setter. Senior Kennedy Kurtz leads the league in assists (10.68/s) and sets for one of just three Big Sky teams who average more than 13 kills per set, along with Portland State and North Dakota.

"They are very dynamic on offense because they have a dynamic setter," said Lawrence. "She runs the court well and is a great leader. She creates a lot of kills for her hitters and pushes the pace. We're going to have to read the game really well to keep up with her.

"We played against some fast, athletic setters in the preseason, so we feel ready for that type of challenge."

Thursday will match up the Big Sky's top two leaders in digs. Sac State senior Brigitte Murdock averages a Big Sky-leading 4.57 per set. Montana redshirt freshman Shannon Casale averages 4.40 per set.

Murdock has eight times dug 20 or more balls, with 38 coming in a five-set victory over Bowling Green.

"Their libero covers a lot of court. She not only controls easy balls, she controls tough, hard-driven swings," said Lawrence. "She's the type of player you want to limit the number of times she's contacting the ball."

3. Two first-year coaches lead their teams into rivalry match -- Former Montana coach Brian Doyon stepped down on Nov. 15. He was replaced by one of his assistant coaches, Allison Lawrence, on Jan. 17.

Montana State coach JJ Riley surprisingly stepped down on May 24. Daniel Jones, an assistant under Riley for two seasons, was immediately named interim head coach for the 2017 season.

Montana has missed the Big Sky tournament four of the last six years. Montana State has made the tournament just once in the last 10 years.

"I feel like it's two teams meeting at similar points," said Lawrence. "They are playing with the same amount of fight we are. Both programs are ready to prove that we're tournament teams and that we're ready to turn things around and be better than our histories."

For teams meeting for the 110th time on Saturday, the series couldn't be any tighter. Montana has 55 wins over the Bobcats to Montana State's 54 victories over the Grizzlies.

"This match always means a lot. I think we root for each other when we're travel partners, like last weekend, but when you go head-to-head, it's a very exciting match that means a lot to our state. You want to go into it feeling like you're playing your best volleyball," said Lawrence.

Montana State opened the season with a pair of losses at home, then knocked off Gonzaga in five sets, which fed into the Bobcats' three-match sweep at Utah State.

Three losses in Southern California followed, including a 3-2 setback to a Long Beach State team that Montana swept in Orem, Utah, the second weekend of the season.

Going strictly by scores, Montana played a more competitive match against Idaho last week, while Montana State had the better showing against Eastern Washington. Neither the Grizzlies nor the Bobcats stand out in any statistical way.

"Because of the nature of the rivalry, it's going to be a fight regardless, but Montana State is also playing in a very organized way that makes them difficult to score on," said Lawrence. "They are in system a lot, and they are efficient and organized, so it's hard to find ways to break them down."

One player to keep an eye on for the Bobcats will be 6-foot-4 middle blocker Kelsie White, a freshman. She is only averaging 1.40 kills on .182 hitting, with 1.22 blocks per set, but she has the type of size that Idaho used to its advantage in sweeping Montana on Saturday night.

"She is going to be a top player in our conference over the years," said Lawrence. "She's 6-4 and a good blocker. She has done a lot for them offensively and defensively."

Montana vs. Sacramento State history: The Hornets lead 29-13 and are 12-9 against the Grizzlies in Missoula, though Montana has won the last seven meetings between the teams in the West Auxiliary Gym.

Montana won the last matchup in Missoula, winning 3-1 in 2014. The teams met just once in 2015 and '16, both 3-0 wins for Sacramento State at the Nest.

Montana vs. Montana State history: Montana leads 55-54 in a series that dates back to 1975 and is 24-23 in matches at Bozeman. The Grizzlies won nine straight on the Bobcats' home floor from 2006-14, but Montana State has won the last two in Bozeman.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Five teams opened league 2-0 last weekend: North Dakota, Idaho and Eastern Washington in the North Division, Portland State and Sacramento State in the South. UND's was the only 2-0 record that came on the road, with wins at Southern Utah and Northern Colorado.

* True contenders will start to emerge this weekend, as Idaho and Eastern Washington make the North Dakota-Northern Colorado road trip, and Sacramento State pays a visit to Portland State on Saturday night.

* North Dakota dropped its opening set of league play at Southern Utah, then stormed back to beat the Thunderbirds in four and two days later post an impressive 3-0 win over Northern Colorado in Greeley.

* Idaho State, the Big Sky regular-season champion as recently as 2014, which was Chad Teichert's last year coaching the Bengals, saw its losing streak reach 10 last week. The Bengals didn't reach 20 points in any of the six sets it played while getting swept on the road by Portland State and Sacramento State.

* Thursday in the Big Sky: SAC at UM, PSU at MSU, UI at UND, EWU at UNC, NAU at ISU, SUU at WSU

* Non-Montana match to monitor: Idaho at North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks have just two losses this season, to Georgia Tech and Cal Poly. The Yellowjackets have a roster with 10 players six feet or taller. The Mustangs have 11. Size is Idaho's strength as well, but will that be enough?

* Saturday in the Big Sky: UM at MSU, EWU at UND, UI at UNC, SUU at ISU, NAU at WSU, SAC at PSU

* Non-Montana match to monitor: Sacramento State at Portland State. If both teams win on Thursday, a follow-up victory on Saturday will give one team an important head-to-head victory and a lead in the standings through two weeks of league play.

Upcoming: Montana is back on the road next week, with matches at Idaho State and Weber State. After that, the reward arrives: Four straight matches at home and seven of 10 at the West Auxiliary Gym to close out the regular season.

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Players Mentioned

Shannon Casale

University of Montana Athletics