A change of course

She won't lie. It was a tough winter for Baily Permann, those dark days between early November and March, when she lost her coach and later had to hang out on the sideline watching her teammates, a setback brought on by a case of mono.

The speed and complexity of the college game had her head spinning. Classes were doing the same thing. Meanwhile, back in her hometown of Pocatello, her former classmates at Century High were living the good life that is unique to high school seniors in their final months together.

Had she made the right decision to stick with Montana after it had let Brian Doyon go as its volleyball coach? Was it the right move to graduate early and join the Grizzlies for the spring semester?

In theory it sounded so perfect. Get a jump on your career! Train at the collegiate level before any of your future freshman classmates! Put a semester of classes in the bank! Hop on the expressway!

There were a few practices last February, then mono arrived. She had arrived early to Montana expressly for the advantages that would come from practicing with her teammates. Now even that was taken away from her for an entire month.

So, yeah, no one saw this coming, not hitting .400 with 12 kills in her first collegiate match, a victory over UTEP two weeks ago at North Texas. Or getting voted last week to the all-tournament team at Utah Valley, meaning Ray Bechard, coach of then No. 9 Kansas, had likely taken notice.

It leads to a simple question: Where, exactly, did that come from? Her coach and Permann herself are not as interested in the answer as much as they are in offering up another: Where, exactly, might this lead?

"I want to be the best middle (blocker) in our conference," says Permann, whose newfound confidence isn't at all simpatico with her soft-spoken nature. "What can I not do? I just want to work really hard to be the best I can be."

It's all been quite a turn of events for Permann, as it has been dating back to the seventh grade, when she was cut after trying out for her middle-school team. It wasn't a big blow. Basketball was her first love anyway, the sport she wanted to play in college. No volleyball just meant more basketball.

She made the team in eighth grade, then joined Pauline Thiros's club program, the side job the coach held when she wasn't leading Century High to state championships. That's when everything changed.

Her family lived two minutes from Highland High, but Permann only had eyes for Century, even though it was clear across town. It was worth the small sacrifice. State titles as a freshman, sophomore and junior, and interest from multiple Division I programs.

Then came early November, less than a year ago now but feeling like ages. She had let her phone go dead that day, so she had to hear the news from her mom. I have bad news, Lena Permann told her daughter. Brian got fired. They don't know who the next head coach is going to be.

"I talked to (Doyon) later, and he said, 'I'm sure you still have a place there. If not, I can help you look into other places,' " Permann says.

She reached out to hometown Idaho State. They had their signing class set. Sorry. She reached out to Montana State. They had a girl who was still debating whether to sign or not. If she didn't, Permann was their girl. Feelers, both of them, arising from a mix of hurt, confusion, anger, fear.

Then she remembered why she'd committed to Montana in the first place. "It was a scary time. I decided to stick with Montana, because deep down it's where I wanted to be." She signed in November.

The first step toward things going her way was when Allison Lawrence was named Doyon's replacement in mid-January. She had been the program's recruiting coordinator under the former coach and had been all in on Permann as a future Grizzly.

Unlike other athletes, who sign a National Letter of Intent, then have to wait for months and months before finally becoming a collegiate volleyball player, Permann was in Missoula less than three months after putting pen to paper, an early enrollee in January.

Being the only freshman newcomer was hard enough. Things got even more challenging when she developed mono and had to be held out of practice for a month. She could watch from the sideline, but it was doing nothing to get her ready for volleyball at the Division I level.

"When she returned, the speed of the game compared to high school, the different blocking responsibilities and how a middle blocker's eyes need to function were all pretty overwhelming for her," says Lawrence.

"If you ask her, she would say she had a rough spring, but she did some good things. She wasn't able to train at the consistency that would have really benefitted her, but it helped her get better and helped her get a running start into this fall."

With an experienced crew of outside hitters returning and two talented outside-hitting newcomers joining Permann in the freshman class in August -- Brooke Foster and Maddy Marshall -- Lawrence went into her first season as coach feeling confident in her team's ability to be competitive at the pins.

Her concern came from the team's middles. Mykaela Hammer had played the position in 2016, but Lawrence (and Hammer) wanted her back on the outside this season. The other returning middle blockers -- McKenzie Kramer and Janna Grimsrud -- combined for 51 kills last year on .157 hitting.

Lawrence needed a true M1, not just a body at the position but a threat. If no one stepped forward, Montana would be lucky to improve on last year's total of five wins, because outside hitters can only carry so much of the load if there isn't balance across the face of the attack.

"That was a big concern heading into fall camp," said Lawrence. "Without it, without a middle who can hit the slide behind the setter, your offense is using half the net instead of the whole thing, and you can't get that one-dimensional."

Permann had only been able to practice for a portion of the spring season, so she was part of the great unknown for Lawrence. And there was this: Montana was going to change completely some of its blocking components, things it didn't use in the spring. A reset for all of them.

Slowly Permann started to emerge from the group of middles and separate herself. Maybe, just maybe, Lawrence had found her M1.

"A good middle processes the game quickly and makes decisions really efficiently. I wasn't sure if Baily was ready to do that, but she has," says Lawrence.

But it always came in short bursts, in flashes. A play here. Wait. A play there. Wait. Coaches love definites and the confidence of having brings-it-every-single-point players. Lawrence would convince herself she had found her middle. A play or two later she would wonder again if she truly had.

"Baily is very hard to read, even as a coach," says Lawrence. "She worked hard during the preseason, but she was still a little uncomfortable with everything she was learning."

Then came the match against UTEP. Permann opened her collegiate career with nine kills before she committed her first hitting error. And she helped Montana out-block its opponent, something the Grizzlies did just five times all of last season.

"She's a gamer. She's done things in matches we haven't seen her do in practice," says Lawrence.

"She can read the offense coming at us, stay patient while reading the setter, then make a block move that allows our defense to play behind it. That's really hard to do, especially for a player who hasn't seen a lot of college-level offenses and styles of play. Baily has stepped up."

She hit .400 or better in four of her first five collegiate matches. She had seven blocks against Tulsa, five against North Texas and four more against Long Beach State as Montana got off to a 3-1 start, its best since 2008.

Then there was last weekend, when three opposing coaches voted her all-tournament, the ultimate tip of the cap according to Lawrence.

"When I vote for another player, I look at someone we have to devote the most resources to as blockers and defenders," she says. "Who are we basing our game plan around?

"To me, if coaches are voting for Baily, she is one of those players for us. Teams are going in thinking, okay, we need to slow her down or else we can't win this match. That's a big deal."

Missing the final half of her senior year at Century High? That's old news now. Losing the coach she originally committed to? Same. And that mono? A mere bump in the road.

She admits she's not the practice player she needs to be, but that's part of the intoxicating alchemy of Permann's potential at this point. Because what if she's only getting started?

"I know I can give more," she says. And that which is music to her coaches' ears serves as a warning siren to coaches everywhere else, for this season and beyond.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Brooke Foster

Janna Grimsrud

Mykaela Hammer

McKenzie Kramer

Maddy Marshall

Baily Permann

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