Coming off of a victory, Montana now faces challenging test

Montana at Montana State / Tuesday / 7 p.m. / Bozeman, Mont.
TV: SWX Montana
Video: Pluto TV (ch. 538)
Stats: Live Stats

Montana vs. Northern Colorado / Friday / 7 p.m. / Missoula, Mont.
Video: Pluto TV (ch. 537)
Stats: Live Stats
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Fresh off of a win over Portland State to begin the second half of Big Sky Conference play, Montana now turns its attention to one of its most challenging weeks remaining on its schedule. The Grizzlies left on Monday for Bozeman, for a rare Tuesday match against rival Montana State, before returning home to face conference-leading Northern Colorado.

Both teams swept Montana last month, but the Grizzlies are a different team than they were a month ago (see 'Improvements All Around' note below), and they hope to show that as they take on two of the better teams in the league, as well as over the final month of the season.

"We get hungrier and hungrier, regardless of our results, and as we continue to gel great things continue to happen," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "I feel like we're in a good place right now."

It's easy to feel that way coming off of a strong win, but it was also felt last Thursday, following a 3-1 road loss at Sacramento State.

"There were some things we were doing that were so encouraging. We wanted to go straight into our match against Portland State, because we were feeling confident in who we are and who we're becoming," Lawrence said. "We have to keep that mindset going into this week."

Tuesday's rivalry match vs. Montana State will be broadcast statewide on SWX Montana, as well as streamed on Pluto TV and WatchBigSky.com.

SCOUTING MONTANA STATE

Just past the midway point of the conference season, Montana State sits in a good spot with a 6-4 league record (10-9 overall). The Bobcats are looking to make the conference tournament for the second year in a row and just the fourth time since 2005.
The Bobcats bounced back from a surprising loss at Portland State last Thursday – a team the Griz beat in four sets – with a five-set victory over Sacramento State. The fifth set featured a score of 19-17.
MSU sports a 4-1 home record during Big Sky play, with its lone loss coming to Weber State. The Bobcats have home victories over Eastern Washington, Idaho, Idaho State and Sacramento State.
MSU ranks in the top 80 nationally for two defensive categories. They rank 56th with 2.39 blocks per set and 77th with 15.72 digs per set.
The Bobcats rank in the upper-half in Big Sky play for four statistical categories, including second with 2.39 blocks per set. The Cats have two players who are averaging more than 1.00 blocks per set. Junior MB Kelsie White (1.16) and freshman MB Emma Pence (1.16) trail only Idaho's Kyra Palmbush for the league lead.
Earlier this month, senior libero Allyssa Rizzo became MSU's all-time career digs leader. Rizzo, who last year earned second-team All-Big Sky recognition, has three times been named the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week this fall, including on Monday.
Rizzo currently ranks fourth nationally with 5.96 digs per set. She has been in double figures in all but one match this season (nine) and has at least 25 in three consecutive matches and 10 overall.
During Big Sky play, senior MB Evi Wilson (3.39, eighth) and freshman OH Kira Thomsen (3.14, 10th) rank among the league's top attackers.
MSU was picked to finish seventh in the Big Sky Conference preseason poll. The team returned 11 letterwinners and four starters plus its libero from last year's squad that finished eighth in the Big Sky, one spot behind Montana.
MSU is coached by Daniel Jones, who is 31-43 in two-plus seasons at the helm in Bozeman.

SERIES VS. THE BOBCATS

The two teams have played each other at least twice every season since 1975.
Montana State holds a slight 58-56 lead in the series, winning the two most-recent meeting after Montana tied the series in September 2018 with a five-set win in Missoula.
Montana has a strong 24-25 mark against the Cats in Bozeman. The Griz haven't won on the road since 2014, however, dropping the last four contests in Bozeman.
Over the past decade, Montana is 11-7 against Montana State, but the Griz are looking to avoid their first three-game losing streak in the series since they lost four in a row in 2004 and 2005.
Over the past seven meetings, nearly half of the sets (11 of 26) have been decided by three points or fewer.
Last month in Missoula, Montana State won in straight sets, hitting .362.
Amethyst Harper was Montana's leading attacker, totaling nine kills on .333 hitting. Elsa Godwin had seven kills at a .417 clip.
Last year in Bozeman, the Cats swept Montana. Two of the sets were close, with Montana unable to hold a 23-20 lead in the second set. The Bobcats out-hit Montana, .301 to .185, and led in blocking (10-5) and service aces (5-1).
In one of Montana's most exciting matches in recent memory, the Grizzlies earned a thrilling victory over Montana State last September in Missoula. The Grizzlies trailed the match 2-1, and faced match point in Set 4, before rallying to win the fourth frame, 27-25, and the fifth, 15-11. The two teams were tied at 8-8 in the final set before Montana scored seven of the final 10 points. The game was played in front of more than 1,300 fans – the 10th largest crowd in school history.
Nearly half of Montana State's wins in the series came before Montana got its first. From 1975-80, the two teams played 24 times, with the Bobcats winning each time. Since Montana got its first win in 1981, Montana holds a 56-34 advantage.
The series was one-sided from 1988-95, with the Grizzlies winning 17 consecutive matches over Montana State.
From 2006-12, Montana won 12 of 13 in the series. Prior to that, from 2001-06, Montana State won nine of 10.
Senior Missy Huddleston has had several strong performances against the Cats, totaling 12 kills and eight digs in 2016 in Missoula and recording a double-double with 11 kills and 16 digs in 2017 at home.
Senior Ashley Watkins has played in seven matches vs. Montana State, as both a setter and a setter/attacker combo. She has two double-doubles.

SCOUTING NORTHERN COLORADO

Northern Colorado sits atop the Big Sky standings with a 9-1 record entering its match vs. Montana State on Thursday.
The Bears won their first eight league matches before losing at Northern Arizona last Thursday. Of UNC's nine conference wins, six have come in straight sets.
It's easy to see why UNC leads the Big Sky. Through five weeks of conference play, the Bears rank first for hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, kills, assists and service aces.
Defense is UNC's weakness, with the Bears ranking last in Big Sky play for digs and 10th for blocking.
As a team, UNC ranks 23rd nationally with 1.71 service aces per set. The Bears two players – sophomores Kyndall Feather and Laura Katarzynski – with more than 30 aces on the season, and six with at least 13. Both Feather and Katarzynski rank in the top 60 nationally.
Junior Daisy Schultz sets up a high-powered offense. Her 10.76 assists per set at the setter position rank 32nd nationally. Schultz, a second-team All-Big Sky pick last season, has upped that number to 12.17 during Big Sky play.
Sophomore OH Kailey Jo Ince is averaging 3.51 kills per set, leading a quartet of Bears who average at least 2.00 kills per set. During conference play, Ince ranks second with a 4.10 kills-per-set average, while junior OH Taylor Muff is averaging 3.43 (seventh).
Ince had 12 kills on .400 hitting last month vs. the Griz and was named the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week the following week.
Junior MB Lauren Hinrichs, the 2018 Big Sky Newcomer of the Year, ranks second in Big Sky play with a .341 attack percentage. She had 12 kills and zero errors (.571) last month vs. the Griz.
UNC advanced to the Big Sky semifinals last season before qualifying for the NIVC postseason tournament. The Bears returned 10 letterwinners from that roster.
Lyndsey Oates has been the head coach at UNC since 2005, where the three-time Big Sky Coach of the Year has compiled more than 250 career wins. The Bears have advanced to the NCAA tournament four times under her leadership.

SERIES VS. THE BEARS
Montana is 9-20 all-time vs. Northern Colorado, and is looking for its first win in the series since 2013. The Bears have won 10 in a row in the series. In Missoula, Montana holds a 7-6 advantage, but has lost five straight, including last season's five-set heartbreaker after holding a 2-1 lead.

Missy Huddleston has been in double figures for kills twice in her career against UNC. Last month in Greeley, the Grizzlies were led by 10 kills on .429 hitting from Janna Grimsrud and 10 kills at a .333 clip from Amethyst Harper. No other attacker had more than three kills, although Montana did hit .209 as a team and tied the Bears for blocking. The Griz lost in straight sets, including a narrow defeat in Set 1 (25-23).

SEVERAL PROMOTIONS SET FOR FRIDAY
Fans can take advantage of several promotions for Friday's home match vs. Northern Colorado. The first 250 fans in the doors will receive a free rally towel. Fans can also take advantage of a ticket package for $25 that will get them four tickets, four hot dogs and four soft drinks. Following the match, fans are invited to a meet-the-team event on the court.

Week 10 Press Conference with Volleyball Head Coach Allison Lawrence https://t.co/U3jRYACDxj
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) October 28, 2019

IMPROVEMENTS ALL AROUND
Montana has made drastic improvements over the past month, increasing in every statistical category. Entering October, the Grizzlies ranked last in the Big Sky every statistical category except for blocking (eighth). Now, Montana has moved up to fourth in blocking and doesn't rank last in a single category.

Below is a look at Montana's non-conference numbers compared to its conference figures:

Category	Non-Conference	Conference
Hitting Percentage	.118	.181
Opponent Hitting Percentage	.298	.224
Kills Per Set	9.58	11.49
Assists Per Set	8.59	10.84
Service Aces Per Set	0.97	1.14
Digs Per Set	11.60	14.65
Blocks Per Set	1.86	2.19

Four weeks ago, Amethyst Harper was the team's leading attacker at 2.35 kills per set. She's now averaging 3.00 kills per set. Ashley Watkins was averaging 8.06 assists per set – up to 9.06 now – while Sarina Moreno led the team with 2.54 digs per set, which is now up to 3.23.

Additionally, Montana has won at least one set in seven of the past eight matches after doing so just twice through the first 13.

HATS OFF FOR HARPER
Freshman Amethyst Harper continues to develop into Montana's go-to attacker, ranking fourth in the Big Sky with 3.73 kills per set. She has totaled at least 15 kills in six of the past seven matches, averaging 4.00 kills per set on .206 hitting, in addition to 2.82 digs per set, during that span.

Her best performance came earlier this month vs. Idaho (Oct. 4), when she became just the third Montana freshman to tally 21 kills in a match since set scores dropped from 30 to 25 in 2008. She's the only one to do so in four sets. Harper is the only Big Sky freshman to reach 20 kills in a match this season and the only player overall to reach 21 kills in a four-set match.

MISSY IN THE MIDDLE
Being without its leading point-scorer Janna Grimsrud (injury), Montana moved senior right-side attacker Missy Huddleston to the middle last week, a position she hadn't played since doing so off and on during high school. Through two matches, Huddleston has excelled, tallying a career-high six blocks at Sacramento State (Oct. 24) and posting 15 kills on .438 hitting two nights later vs. Portland State (Oct. 26). Against the Vikings, she had just one error on 32 swings, with the lone mistake coming after she had already tallied 14 kills.

Huddleston has tallied 10 or more kills in three of the past five matches and has recorded double figures for digs in three straight. Over the past seven matches, she has 24 blocks, after posting 16 through the first 14 contests, and has led the Griz in that category three times. Overall in October, Huddleston is averaging 2.39 kills per set, 2.52 digs per set and 0.85 blocks per set, in addition to eight service aces.

GO TO GRIMSRUD
Janna Grimsrud is making the most of her senior season. After playing sporadically through her first three seasons, including just nine matches in 2018 (six kills), Grimsrud was Montana's leading point-scorer before her injury prior to last week. She has led Montana for blocking 14 times, kills on nine occasions and in hitting percentage seven times.

Grimsrud ranks sixth in Big Sky with 1.10 blocks per set (1.06 overall), in addition to 2.29 kills per set on a team-best .253 hitting. Grimsrud has hit above .500 in three matches this season, in addition to a 19-kill performance on .462 hitting at Northern Arizona (Oct. 12). No other Big Sky player this season has as many kills while hitting that high. Grimsrud was named to the all-tournament team of three of four preseason tournaments.

ELSA'S ACES
During a three-match stretch from Sept. 26 through Oct. 4, redshirt freshman Elsa Godwin served up 12 service aces across nine sets. She had five in a three-set win over Eastern Washington, and four the follow night in a four-set match vs. Idaho. The five-ace performance against the Eagles is the most in a three-set match this season by a Big Sky athlete.

During Big Sky play, Godwin ranks second in the league with 15 service aces (0.43 per set). She also is averaging 1.68 kills (fourth on the team) and 1.61 digs (sixth), including 13 kills at Sacramento State (Oct. 24) and 11 on .429 hitting vs. Idaho State (Oct. 17). Over the past four matches, Godwin is averaging 3.00 kills per set.

WATKINS' MILESTONE
Senior setter Ashley Watkins will play in her 100th career match on Tuesday. She enters the match with exactly 3,000 career assists, becoming the seventh player in school history to reach that mark.

We're once again in the mix for the #NCAAVB Photo of the Week! Cast your vote, #GrizNation!#GrizVB #BigSkyVB #GoGriz https://t.co/IlN78xSCzr
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) October 28, 2019

STRONG AT THE NET
Montana's best statistical category has been blocking, with the team averaging 2.19 blocks per set through 10 conference matches. The figure ranks fourth in the league. Montana has been out-blocked just eight times in 21 matches this season.

Montana had at least 10 blocks in both matches last week, and has done so in four of its past six matches. At Sacramento State (Oct. 24), the Grizzlies posted a season-high 13, with three different players setting career highs.

REVERSING THE TREND
Montana out-dug Portland State, 71-60, on Saturday, which was particularly impressive considering the Vikings entered the match leading the Big Sky and ranked in the top 25 nationally for the category. The total was Portland State's lowest in a four-set match this season and 21 digs fewer than the Vikings had two nights prior, in a four-set match vs. Montana State. It was the first time this season that Portland State had been out-dug by at least 11.

RACKING UP DIGS
Over the past month, Montana has increased its digs-per-set average by three, jumping from 11.64 to 14.65. The jump has been reflected in matches as well, with the Grizzlies being out-dug just one time in the past eight matches (by three at Sacramento State).

Five different Grizzlies are averaging at least 1.90 digs per set, led by Sarina Moreno's 3.23.

YOUTH ON DISPLAY
Montana has been forced to rely heavily on freshmen, with nine of the 13 players on roster never before playing in a collegiate match prior to the start of the season.

Not only have the freshmen played, but they have played key roles. Eight freshmen have played, with all eight earning a set start and seven starting a match. The Grizzlies have started at least three freshmen in every match this season, including four each of the past two matches.

Freshmen have made 74 of 126 starts (58.7 percent), and are led by Kelly Horning (19 at middle blocker) and Amethyst Harper (18 at outside hitter).

Complete match notes in PDF format, including charts, tables, player pages and more

On the road! We're coming for you, Bozeman! #GrizVB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/wPgGm6kk2i
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) October 28, 2019

Coming off of a victory, Montana now faces challenging test

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Players Mentioned

Elsa Godwin

Janna Grimsrud

Amethyst Harper

Kelly Horning

Missy Huddleston

Sarina Moreno

Ashley Watkins

University of Montana Athletics

Coming off of a victory, Montana now faces challenging test

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Elsa Godwin

Janna Grimsrud

Amethyst Harper

Kelly Horning

Missy Huddleston

Sarina Moreno

Ashley Watkins

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