Tuesday, October 29
Bozeman, Mont.
7 PM
Montana
4-18, 3-8BSC
3
at
1
Montana State
10-10, 6-5BSC
1
2
3
4
F
Montana
25
10
25
25
3
Montana State
21
25
20
18
1
Griz shock Bobcats in Bozeman
10/29/2019 11:05:00 PM | Volleyball
BOZEMAN, Mont. – For the first time since 2014, Montana walked into Bozeman and came away with a win. Playing a Montana State team tied for third in the Big Sky Conference, the Grizzlies were dominant in three of four sets, leading to a strong 3-1 win over the Bobcats (25-21, 10-25, 25-20, 25-18).
The Grizzlies have now won back-to-back matches for the first time this season, and are 2-0 to begin the second half of Big Sky play.
"This team is so fun to celebrate with because we've been through it all and we've learned our hard lessons," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "The great thing is, we keep coming back and we keep growing. To do this, in Bozeman in front of that atmosphere, it doesn't get any better."
Grimsrud hadn't practiced in more than a week, but on Tuesday morning decided she didn't want to miss her final Griz-Cat rivalry. She heavily wrapped her hand, gave it a test run during warmups and was announced as a starter when the match began.
Grimsrud, who is far from 100 percent, finished with eight kills and three blocks. Huddleston, who remained in the middle along with Grimsrud, had 14 kills and eight digs, plus three blocks.
"With her injury, the barrier for her was pain, and she didn't want to miss her senior Griz-Cat in Bozeman," Lawrence said. "When given the chance to play when she didn't think she was going to, it was nothing but joy for her. She went in and scored points everywhere, and I didn't see her flinch once."
The seniors were set up by the third senior, Ashley Watkins, who totaled 47 assists and a career-high 19 digs and a service ace.
Her biggest impact, though, might have come from her timely attacking.
Montana pulled out a gutsy first-set win to quiet the near-capacity crowd before the Bobcats turned the tables with a dominant 25-10 win in the second set, holding the Grizzlies to -.176 hitting.
Things shifted back again in the third set when Watkins – who was playing in her 100th career match – took things into her own hands.
Tied at 10-10, Watkins gave the Griz the lead with a dump over the net. After fooling the Cats once, she immediately went back to the same play and caught Montana State off guard once again.
Montana never trailed for the remainder of the match.
"They weren't jumping with me the whole match, and Missy and Janna both had two blockers up on them at all times, so I kind of thought I would create some things for everyone else and get a little bit more offensive."
"I think we just reset our minds after the second set," Lawrence said. "Once we went point for point with them toward the beginning of the third set, I think that helped stabilize us and we went back to what was working for us in the first set.
While the seniors were instrumental in the victory, freshman Amethyst Harper was once again lights out. She tied a career high with 21 kills, doing so on a career-best .395 hitting. Of Harper's 43 swings, she made just four errors. She is now averaging 4.16 kills per set over her past eight matches.
Montana out-dug the Bobcats, 74-71, including 19 from Watkins and a career-high 19 from freshman Isabelle Garrido. The Grizzlies also out-hit the Bobcats and served tough all night, including three service aces from Elsa Godwin. After the Bobcats hit .362 against the Griz last month in Missoula, Montana held the Cats to .163 hitting on Tuesday.
"I can't even explain how good it felt," Watkins said. "It's always good to get a win against the Cats, especially on their home court. Conference is all over the place right now, and we're one of those wild cards. We're on the upward, and things are falling together at the right time."
(on the difference from Set 2 to Set 3)
"We just went back to that Set-1 mentality. In the second set, we had a couple bad passing streaks and we were hitting right into our line of approach, and then we became tentative and it kind of snowballed. We went back to resilient passing and really aggressive feet to the ball, and making our choice in the air as attackers. We went back to that, established our middles again and it worked."
(on the senior class)
"I think those three seniors were like, 'This is our last run. We're doing this.' They all had great matches."
(on Montana's dominance in Set 4)
"We got the jump on them early in the fourth set and forced them into some errors. It just felt like the momentum was completely in our favor. I think we felt the control around midway through the fourth set, and you could feel a shift in the whole gym."
(on when she became comfortable in the fourth set)
"There's never a point where I fully relax. It's never over until it's over, and they proved that in the second set, that they can go on monster runs. When we got to 24-14, though, I knew we were in a good spot."
Looking Ahead
Montana has now won two consecutive matches against teams ranked higher than the Griz in the conference standings. Its next match, though, will be an even bigger challenge, as the Grizzlies host conference-leading Northern Colorado on Friday. The first 250 fans will receive a Griz rally towel. Fans can also take advantage of a $25 package that includes four tickets, four hot dogs and four soft drinks.
The Grizzlies have now won back-to-back matches for the first time this season, and are 2-0 to begin the second half of Big Sky play.
"This team is so fun to celebrate with because we've been through it all and we've learned our hard lessons," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "The great thing is, we keep coming back and we keep growing. To do this, in Bozeman in front of that atmosphere, it doesn't get any better."
Montana seems to be finding its rhythm after moving senior Missy Huddleston to the middle blocker position three matches ago. The move was in response to fellow senior Janna Grimsrud missing back-to-back matches with a broken finger.Griz fans, you'll want to watch this clip on repeat!#GrizVB #GRIZcat #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/76kMkTDFGB
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) October 30, 2019
Grimsrud hadn't practiced in more than a week, but on Tuesday morning decided she didn't want to miss her final Griz-Cat rivalry. She heavily wrapped her hand, gave it a test run during warmups and was announced as a starter when the match began.
Grimsrud, who is far from 100 percent, finished with eight kills and three blocks. Huddleston, who remained in the middle along with Grimsrud, had 14 kills and eight digs, plus three blocks.
"With her injury, the barrier for her was pain, and she didn't want to miss her senior Griz-Cat in Bozeman," Lawrence said. "When given the chance to play when she didn't think she was going to, it was nothing but joy for her. She went in and scored points everywhere, and I didn't see her flinch once."
The seniors were set up by the third senior, Ashley Watkins, who totaled 47 assists and a career-high 19 digs and a service ace.
Her biggest impact, though, might have come from her timely attacking.
Montana pulled out a gutsy first-set win to quiet the near-capacity crowd before the Bobcats turned the tables with a dominant 25-10 win in the second set, holding the Grizzlies to -.176 hitting.
Things shifted back again in the third set when Watkins – who was playing in her 100th career match – took things into her own hands.
Tied at 10-10, Watkins gave the Griz the lead with a dump over the net. After fooling the Cats once, she immediately went back to the same play and caught Montana State off guard once again.
Montana never trailed for the remainder of the match.
"They weren't jumping with me the whole match, and Missy and Janna both had two blockers up on them at all times, so I kind of thought I would create some things for everyone else and get a little bit more offensive."
In the third set, Montana created separation with a 4-0 run to build a 20-15 advantage. With the momentum back, Montana left no doubt in the fourth set. The Grizzlies scored seven of the first nine points to force Montana State to use its first timeout. The Bobcats used their final timeout after falling behind 13-6, a deficit that extended to as many as 11 points.Fool me once, shame on you.
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) October 30, 2019
Fool me twice, shame on me. pic.twitter.com/soS0fX9gMt
"I think we just reset our minds after the second set," Lawrence said. "Once we went point for point with them toward the beginning of the third set, I think that helped stabilize us and we went back to what was working for us in the first set.
While the seniors were instrumental in the victory, freshman Amethyst Harper was once again lights out. She tied a career high with 21 kills, doing so on a career-best .395 hitting. Of Harper's 43 swings, she made just four errors. She is now averaging 4.16 kills per set over her past eight matches.
Montana out-dug the Bobcats, 74-71, including 19 from Watkins and a career-high 19 from freshman Isabelle Garrido. The Grizzlies also out-hit the Bobcats and served tough all night, including three service aces from Elsa Godwin. After the Bobcats hit .362 against the Griz last month in Missoula, Montana held the Cats to .163 hitting on Tuesday.
"I can't even explain how good it felt," Watkins said. "It's always good to get a win against the Cats, especially on their home court. Conference is all over the place right now, and we're one of those wild cards. We're on the upward, and things are falling together at the right time."
Match NotablesLET'S GO!!!#GrizVB #GRIZcat #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/Ent2Pa51rB
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) October 30, 2019
- Montana won in Bozeman for the first time since 2014. Montana is now 25-25 all-time against the Cats in Bozeman, and overall in the past decade, holds a 12-7 advantage over MSU.
- Montana out-dug (74 to 71) and out-served (5 aces to 2) MSU, but most impressive was that the Grizzlies held the Bobcats to a .163 hitting percentage, after MSU hit .362 against the Griz last month in Missoula. Montana hit .176 on Tuesday, including .284 over the final two sets.
- Freshman Amethyst Harper has reached 15 kills in seven of the past eight matches, but Tuesday was by far her most impressive performance. The outside hitter tied a career high with 21 kills while hitting a career-best .395 (21-4-43). Harper had seven kills on eight swings in the first set alone.
- Over her past eight matches, Harper is averaging 4.16 kills per set.
- Playing with a broken finger, Janna Grimsrud returned to the lineup after missing the past two matches. She had eight kills and a team-high-tying three blocks.
- Senior setter Ashley Watkins had 43 assists and a career-best 19 digs, in addition to a service ace and five kills. Three of the kills – all dumps – came during a five-point stretch to take command of Set 3.
- Senior Missy Huddleston totaled 14 kills, in addition to eight digs and a team-high-tying three blocks. She has been in double figures for kills in four of her past six matches.
- Redshirt freshman Elsa Godwin, who ranks second in the Big Sky for service aces, added three more on Thursday.
- Godwin was part of several runs from the service line, turning an 11-10 deficit into a 14-11 advantage in Set 1. She also served during a 5-0 run in Set 3 that gave Montana the lead for good, and had an ace in the fourth set to bring the score to 18-9.
- Godwin struggled early on offense, recording errors on seven of her first eight swings. She responded by totaling five kills and just one error down the stretch, including a kill on the final point of the match.
- Freshman Isabelle Garrido had a career-high 19 digs. The defensive specialist has been in double figures for digs in three consecutive matches.
- Set 1: Montana took control of a tight first set with a 9-3 run to force an MSU timeout (19-13). During the run, Harper had four kills and a block while Huddleston added three kills. Montana held MSU to .163 hitting and led by as many as seven points.
- Set 2: MSU flipped the script and dominated the Griz, 25-10. Montana hit -.176, recording 12 attack errors, and was blocked five times. MSU led 18-3 and by as many as 16 points.
- Set 3: Trailing 10-7, Montana used a 5-0 run to take command of the set. The run featured a Godwin ace and back-to-back dumps from Watkins. The senior nearly had a double-double in that set alone, with 11 assists and eight digs, plus three kills.
- Set 4: Montana never trailed in the fourth set, jumping out to leads of 7-2, 15-6 and 20-9. In the set, Huddleston had five kills and zero errors, plus all three of her blocks.
Quoting LawrenceHow can you not be entertained? Missy Huddleston ends the long rally with a big kill past the double block! pic.twitter.com/OHEKOA4WYU
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) October 30, 2019
(on the difference from Set 2 to Set 3)
"We just went back to that Set-1 mentality. In the second set, we had a couple bad passing streaks and we were hitting right into our line of approach, and then we became tentative and it kind of snowballed. We went back to resilient passing and really aggressive feet to the ball, and making our choice in the air as attackers. We went back to that, established our middles again and it worked."
(on the senior class)
"I think those three seniors were like, 'This is our last run. We're doing this.' They all had great matches."
(on Montana's dominance in Set 4)
"We got the jump on them early in the fourth set and forced them into some errors. It just felt like the momentum was completely in our favor. I think we felt the control around midway through the fourth set, and you could feel a shift in the whole gym."
(on when she became comfortable in the fourth set)
"There's never a point where I fully relax. It's never over until it's over, and they proved that in the second set, that they can go on monster runs. When we got to 24-14, though, I knew we were in a good spot."
Following last night's #GRIZcat win, the @VoiceoftheGriz caught up with one of the stars! #GrizVB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/FJv0JDRooG
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) October 30, 2019
Looking Ahead
Montana has now won two consecutive matches against teams ranked higher than the Griz in the conference standings. Its next match, though, will be an even bigger challenge, as the Grizzlies host conference-leading Northern Colorado on Friday. The first 250 fans will receive a Griz rally towel. Fans can also take advantage of a $25 package that includes four tickets, four hot dogs and four soft drinks.
Let the celebration begin!#GrizVB #GRIZcat #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/IvMoIFIfNI
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) October 30, 2019
For the first time since 2014, Montana has gone into Bozeman and come away with a win!#GrizVB #GRIZcat #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/iRM2Rr29Wo
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) October 30, 2019
Team Stats
UM
MSU
Kills
58
46
Errors
28
21
Attempts
170
153
Hitting %
.176
.163
Points
70.0
61.0
Assists
56
42
Aces
5
2
Blocks
7.0
13.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
21
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
14
Aces
1
Blocks
3
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
5
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
DS
/ Volleyball
OH
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballOPP/MB
/ VolleyballS
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