Montana transitions to 3rd phase of spring; competition schedule includes scrimmages in Bozeman, Spokane, Helena and Missoula

In the early-morning hours of winter in Missoula, snow settles outside the Adams Center. Indoors, before the sun has risen, the Montana volleyball team is hard at work. The team is working on a continuous drill in which an attacker has to get 10 kills in a row.

It's a physically demanding drill, one in which the player has to dig, approach and hit several times in a row. The player is rotating on the fly, from one side of the net to the other, at a fast pace. If the player makes a mistake, the drill starts over, and it doesn't end until she gets 10 kills in a row.

The drill is both mentally and physically exhausting.

"I love that drill," second-year head coach Allison Lawrence said. "The player hits a wall and you can see it in their faces and in their performance.

"I love seeing the frustration, because then you start to see the confidence grow. You're forced to mature in it. I think, during those moments of practice, it's really obvious to see that we're in the midst of the grind, and you can see how much we're improving."

The Grizzlies began spring workouts in January, elevating to 20-hour-per-week, six-on-six play in late February. Now, after a week off for the university's spring break, they're back in the gym to prepare for the final phase of spring camp.

Montana will travel to Bozeman this weekend for its first of four competition dates of the spring. The Grizzlies will be at Gonzaga on April 14, Carroll on April 21 and home for an intrasquad scrimmage open to the public – along with a free youth clinic beforehand – on Friday, April 27.

"When you transfer from small group and individual training to six-on-six live play, you never know how much the skill breakdown is going to translate and how much change they're going to hold," Lawrence said, referencing the team's transition from January and February to the work over the past month. "It's always more fun when you have more people in the gym working together."

The team has been able to build off of each phase, spending the first hour or so of practice doing individual training before progressing to team drills over the next 60 to 90 minutes. In addition to its traditional strength and conditioning work in the weight room, the team has been practicing four to five times per week on the court.

"To see the maturity while we're competing is really nice," Lawrence said. "It's really noticeable to see how far we've come, even from the end of the season."

Perhaps more so than the on-court improvement, however, Lawrence is most excited for the unspoken transformation.

A year ago, she was in her first weeks as permanent head coach and was tasked with not only developing volleyball players, but also changing the team's culture. A year later, the difference is drastic.

"Last spring we really needed to get our system in place and have a little bit of a restart," she said. "We needed to reestablish who we were, and that's a slow, clunky process.

"I trust the process that we've been through to get here, and I think the girls do too. So much of your culture is unsaid, and when you start a new phase you have to say it all. Now it's established, we don't have to speak about it. It's just there."

Montana will play its first spring competition on Saturday, and while there will now be six players across the net wearing a different color jersey, the approach remains the same.

"So much of spring, whether competing against another team or not, is about ourselves," Lawrence said.

Sure, the team wants to win each match, but the focus will be less about the opponent and more on itself. Just like it will be less on Montana's weaknesses, and instead more on capitalizing off of its strengths.

And the freeing part is that the players can just play. During spring scrimmages there are fewer subs and less concern about making errors. There's little tactical coaching, and instead, the players get to work out of their own spots and make adjustments on their own.

"Your biggest opponent is you," Lawrence said. "It's more of an internal battle of mastering your own game, and the better you can do that in the spring, the better player you're going to be in the fall."

In addition to Montana State, the Grizzlies will also face MSU-Billings and Montana Tech this weekend in Bozeman. While the results may not officially count, and the goal is improvement rather than results, Montana definitely knows what's at stake.

"We're playing Montana State," Lawrence said with a smile. "There's no time, ever, that you want to come up short against them."

University of Montana Athletics

Montana transitions to 3rd phase of spring; competition schedule includes scrimmages in Bozeman, Spokane, Helena and Missoula

Related News

Related Videos