Two days, four matches upcoming for Montana

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The Montana volleyball team, already within two wins of matching last year's total, will play four matches in two days this week as the Grizzlies travel to Des Moines, Iowa, for the Drake Invitational.

Montana will face Southeast Missouri State, Nebraska-Omaha, San Jose State and Drake at DU's Knapp Center.

The schedule:

Friday, 10 a.m. (MT) -- vs. Southeast Missouri State (5-2)
Friday, 4 p.m. (MT) -- vs. Nebraska-Omaha (2-4)
Saturday, 10:30 a.m. (MT) -- vs. San Jose State (4-1)
Saturday, 2:30 p.m. (MT) -- at Drake (5-2)

Coverage: All four matches will have live stats, links to which are available at gogriz.com.

Montana at a glance: The Grizzlies are off to a 3-3 start, having gone 2-1 at North Texas's tournament and 1-2 at Utah Valley's. Montana defeated Long Beach State in Orem, Utah, on Thursday, then dropped 3-0 decisions to Utah Valley and No. 9 Kansas on Friday and Saturday.

Southeast Missouri State at a glance: The Redhawks are 5-2 and riding a four-match winning streak. They, too, are within two wins of matching last season's total of seven (7-23). Southeast Missouri State tied for eighth last year in the Ohio Valley Conference and was picked to finish ninth (of 12) this fall.

Nebraska-Omaha at a glance: The Mavericks are 2-4. They opened the season with four straight losses before picking up a pair of wins over Indiana State last weekend in Iowa City. UNO went 8-22 last year and finished seventh in the Summit League. It was picked fifth in this year's poll.

San Jose State at a glance: The Spartans are off to a 4-1 start, with only a 3-1 road loss at UC Riverside spoiling their record. San Jose State went 12-18 a year ago to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the Mountain West Conference. The Spartans were picked eighth this year.

Drake at a glance: The host Bulldogs are off to a 5-2 start. They are the only team in the tournament field coming off a winning record last season, finishing 17-15. Drake placed seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference last season and was picked sixth in this year's preseason poll.

History: Friday's matches will be the first ever between Montana and Southeast Missouri State and Nebraska-Omaha. The Grizzlies lost 3-1 at San Jose State in 1982 in their only previous meeting and knocked off Drake in straight sets in 2005 at Iowa State's tournament in their only other matchup.

Weekend Preview

After opening the season with tournaments at North Texas and Utah Valley, Montana will be off to Des Moines, Iowa, this week for pre-league tournament No. 3 of 4.

It was a tournament first-year coach Allison Lawrence had her eye on as one her team could challenge to win considering four of the five teams were coming off losing records, but that thinking came back in July.

Through two weekends of matches, only Nebraska-Omaha is below .500, and the Mavericks, the 1996 NCAA Division II national champions, will take a two-match winning streak to Des Moines.

None of the teams is No. 9 Kansas, which the Grizzlies faced on Saturday to close out Utah Valley's tournament, but the margin of error will likely be small. All are winnable, but so is the opposite result.

A 4-0 finish is possible, but so is a record with those numbers flipped, and that's what tournaments in September are all about.

"The initial goal of this tournament is that we could go in feeling like we could be a team to beat and that we could win all our matches, but that we would need to perform at a high level to be able to do that. I'm excited about that," said Lawrence.

Going against Montana -- in addition to the four opponents -- is a schedule that does not allow for a lot of down time between matches, different than three matches over three days, like the Grizzlies enjoyed at Utah Valley.

Saturday is particularly daunting, with a match against San Jose State, a one-match break, then a match against Drake in what will be the Bulldogs' only competition of the day.

"We're going to have to manage rest, and we're going to need everybody on the roster to contribute," said Lawrence.

"The tougher day is going to be Saturday just based on how both of those teams are playing and the physicality of both teams. The key will be: Can we do well on the first day without using everything in the tank?"

After going 2-1 at North Texas's tournament, Montana improved to 3-1 on Thursday with a 3-0 sweep of Long Beach State. Straight-set losses to Utah Valley and Kansas followed.

Ball control, or the lack of it, proved costly against the Wolverines. And the Jayhawks are one of the nation's 10 best teams according to the polls.

"I think it did more for us than our first tournament," said Lawrence. "We were pushed in different ways by teams that had better chemistry than we did in given moments. Being able to go through that taught us more than anything."

In Montana's 3-0 win over Long Beach, it was the play of freshman outside hitter Maddy Marshall that helped the Grizzlies pick up the sweep, an outcome -- a 3-0 win -- Montana experienced just three times over the three previous seasons.

Marshall finished off set two with a service ace, set three with three straight kills that turned a 24-23 deficit into a 26-24 victory. She finished with 10 kills on .429 hitting, nine digs, a service ace and a block.

But she would only put down two more kills the next two matches, despite getting her first collegiate start against Utah Valley.

"She had an amazing, break-out match against Long Beach," said Lawrence. "She started the next match, but within the first five points, there were a few moments when as a group we got away from the scouting report and things we knew we needed to do.

"So I made the decision to put (sophomore outside hitter Missy Huddleston) in to kind of reinforce that we have to stick with our game plan and can't miss assignments. It was a quick sub to get a quick momentum change without having to call a timeout."

The two outside hitters split time against Utah Valley and Kansas. Marshall didn't repeat the same offensive numbers against the Jayhawks that she produced against Long Beach, but she made an impact.

"I was really impressed with Maddy when we played Kansas," said Lawrence. "They went after her, and she passed near perfectly.

"She did her other roles other than attacking really, really well. She dug well. She passed well and made our team function at a higher level. She was a big part of why we had some success against Kansas."

One other reason Montana bounced back from a 25-9 loss in set one against Kansas and had a 21-20 lead in set two and 10-6 lead in set three was the play of junior setter Brittany Gay.

Getting her first considerable court time in place of sophomore setter Ashley Watkins, Gay totaled 13 assists and eight digs, and added a block and five kills on just eight swings to hit .625.

"Most of the time you sub out a setter it's because of the setter's choices or execution. Ashley wasn't making poor choices or setting poorly. We were so outmatched, it got us kind of timid and hesitant," said Lawrence.

So in went Gay.

"Brittany is one of those competitors that no matter who is across the net from her, she will fight, and she will get her teammates to play like that as well," said Lawrence.

"It wasn't that we needed Ashley off the floor. We just needed Brittany's mentality on the floor. She's a setter, so we had to make the switch. She brought to that match exactly what we needed in that moment."

That is just another of the set of players who are in competition with one another to get on the court. There was Marshall and Huddleston last weekend on the outside. Baily Permann and Karlee Robison at the service line. And two weeks ago, Janna Grimsrud and McKenzie Kramer at middle blocker.

"We've had a lot of good relationships develop between two people who are fighting for the same spot but also supporting each other, and as a coach, I'm really proud of that," said Lawrence.

"When we've needed someone to go in and make a change, it's been immediate and something we can depend on, which has been really nice."

Montana notes:

* Freshman middle blocker Baily Permann was voted to the all-tournament team at Utah Valley by the other teams' coaches. She averaged 1.56 kills on .278 hitting and added seven blocks. Mykaela Hammer and Ashley Watkins were named all-tournament at North Texas.

* Two other underclassmen had nice showings at Utah Valley. Redshirt freshman libero Shannon Casale averaged 5.11 digs per set to up her season average to 4.10, and sophomore middle blocker McKenzie Kramer had seven kills and no errors on 22 swings to hit .318. She also led the team with 10 blocks.

* Steady junior outside hitter Cassie Laramee averaged 2.67 kills on .203 hitting at Utah Valley, an impressive percentage considering Montana was limited to .139 for the three matches. She also led the team with four service aces and was the top-blocking outside hitter, coming up with five.

* Montana out-blocked its three opponents last week, totaling 18.0 to Long Beach, Utah Valley and Kansas's 17.0. The Grizzlies ranked last in the Big Sky last season in that category by a wide margin. Through two weekends of matches this season, they rank fifth in the league.

* Montana ranks third in the Big Sky in service aces at 1.71 per set. That was another weak area for the Grizzlies last season. They had just 89 all year, an average of less than one per set. League leader Northern Arizona served up 226 aces last fall.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

Team of the Week (North Division): At 9-1, North Dakota, last year's regular-season and tournament champion, is simply rolling behind senior middle blocker Faith Dooley and senior setter Sydney Griffin. The Fighting Hawks went 5-0 last week on the road at Las Cruces, N.M., and El Paso, Texas.

Team of the Week (South Division): Portland State. The Vikings went to Gonzaga's tournament last weekend and went home with the first-place trophy, thanks to wins over Nevada, Arizona State and Gonzaga. PSU is hitting .279 for the season.

Coach of the Week: Daniel Jones, Montana State. He led the Bobcats to three wins and a tournament title last weekend at Utah State, picking up victories over UC Santa Barbara, the host Aggies and Pacific, and has MSU off to a 4-2 start. He's making a push to have his interim title shortened to just head coach.

Player to make plans to see: Portland State sophomore Caitlin Bettenay. The Australia native leads the Big Sky at more than four kills per set and was named MVP at Gonzaga's tournament. But she won't be coming to Missoula. Montana plays at Portland State in the teams' only matchup this season.

Upcoming: Montana will head back to the Midwest next week for Southern Illinois-Edwardsville's tournament. The Grizzlies will face Seattle, Illinois-Chicago and the host Cougars.

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Players Mentioned

Shannon Casale

Brittany Gay

Janna Grimsrud

Mykaela Hammer

Missy Huddleston

McKenzie Kramer

Cassie Laramee

Maddy Marshall

Baily Permann

Karlee Robison

Ashley Watkins

University of Montana Athletics