Montana shows strengths, inconsistencies in loss to top-ranked Northern Colorado

Friday, November 1

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

4-19, 3-9BSC

Northern Colorado

17-7, 11-1BSC

Northern Colorado

Montana

Photo by: Todd Goodrich

Montana shows strengths, inconsistencies in loss to top-ranked Northern Colorado

11/1/2019 11:01:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

MISSOULA, Mont. – Montana took a set off of Northern Colorado – the top team in the Big Sky Conference – on Friday night, but left the gym unsatisfied and a bit disappointed.

Consider it part of the frustrating yet beautiful growing process.

Five weeks ago, Montana considered it a small victory when the Grizzlies pushed the Bears to the brink in Set 1, before losing the frame, 25-23, and the match, 3-0. At that point, Montana had won just four sets all season, and closed the day with a record of 1-12.

Flash forward to Friday, when the Grizzlies had won six sets in the past two matches alone and were coming off of back-to-back victories, including a road win at Montana State.

Being competitive, even with a still very young group, is no longer the barometer. Montana wants to win, and felt like Friday – against the league's best team – was a winnable contest.

"Now, the expectation is that we're going to win sets and be in the match to win it," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "That's a big shift, and it's a great feeling, ultimately, but it also makes things more frustrating because the level of expectation is so much higher."

Locked in a tight battle in the second set, Montana turned the tide by closing the frame on an 11-3 run to tie the match at 1-1. The Grizzlies jumped out to an early lead in Set 3, leading by as many as three points and as late as 17-16, before the Bears responded with a run of their own.

Despite leading for 17 points in the third set, one bad rotation doomed the Grizzlies, as the Bears scored nine of the final 11 points.

Montana fell behind early in the fourth set, but was right there near the end, getting to within a point at 19-18, before the Bears finished off the match.

Montana asserted its dominance at the net, out-blocking the Bears 14 to 6. The 14 stuffs, including a career-high nine from new middle blocker Missy Huddleston, were a season most by the Grizzlies. Montana also won the serving game, finishing even (five aces and five errors) compared to four aces and seven errors for the Bears. UNC entered the match leading the Big Sky for aces – as well as hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, assists and kills.

"Missy is playing at an unreal level," Lawrence said. "She keeps bringing the fire, and she's an offensive weapon that's unstoppable when she's at this level. She's high, she's physical, she's fast on her block. This is her second week at this position and she keeps getting better."

While Montana did some nice things at the net and from the service line, the difference was on offense.

Northern Colorado had four players with at least nine kills – including two who hit above .450. As a team, the Bears totaled 63 kills compared to 44 for the Grizzlies. Huddleston was dynamite once again, recording a season-high-tying 16 kills to go along with her career-best nine blocks.

Aside from her, though, Montana struggled on offense. Freshman Amethyst Harper had 11 kills, but early in the fourth set was at just five kills and three errors. Montana's other three attackers combined for 16 kills at a .105 clip.

"When you compare our match from today to where we were when we played them in Greeley (Sept. 26), it's light years different. I'm proud of how far we've come. We're fighting to get better every second of every match because we don't want to be satisfied."

Gallery: (11/1/2019) VB: vs. Northern Colorado (11.1.19)

Match Notables

Northern Colorado improved to 11-1 in Big Sky Conference play, padding its lead atop the league standings. Six of the 11 wins have come in straight sets.
Montana recorded a season-most 14 blocks, including nine from Missy Huddleston (career high) and five from Ashley Watkins (season high). Over the past eight matches, Montana is averaging 2.53 blocks per set.
In addition to her nine blocks (the most by any Grizzly this season), Huddleston tied a season best with 16 kills. In her last three matches, Huddleston is averaging 3.83 kills per set, totaling at least 15 kills in all three matches.
- Huddleston had seven kills and two blocks during Montana's Set-2 victory. The Grizzlies took control of the set with a 6-1 run to turn a deficit into a 20-16 advantage and force a UNC timeout. During that run, Huddleston had three kills and two blocks.
- Trailing 11-9 in the third set, Huddleston gave the Griz the lead with a 3-0 mini run (two kills and a block).
Freshman Amethyst Harper reached double figures for kills for the seventh time in the past eight matches, finishing with 11. Six of them came in the fourth set, including four of Montana's final five points of the night. She helped the Grizzlies, who once trailed in the fourth set by eight, close to within a point at 20-19.
Sarina Moreno and Watkins each had a pair of service aces. Moreno's aces came during a 4-0 Griz run in the fourth set to force a Bears timeout. Moreno also added 23 digs while Watkins had 40 assists and five blocks.
Freshman Isabelle Garrido had Montana's other ace. She was nails at the service line, serving during a 5-0 run in the first set and four times during Montana's late rally to win Set 2. Garrido also tallied 10 digs, reaching double figures for the third match in a row.
Still nursing a broken finger, Janna Grimsrud finished the night with nine kills and four blocks. She had three kills and three blocks in Set 3, including two apiece during a 9-6 start to the set.

Quoting Lawrence
(on the difference overall between Montana and Northern Colorado)
"It felt like against MSU we had some long rallies and we kept establishing our physicality deep into the rally. Tonight, we got into transition with Northern Colorado and slowly started to lose the rally. They swing so aggressively and so well in transition. I don't think we full took advantage of our opportunities."

(on the point swings late in Set 3 and 4)
"There were a couple rotations where we got stuck for three or four balls, and it's so hard to feel in rhythm and so hard not to get patterned when you're doing that."

Looking Ahead
Montana will play four of its final six matches away from Missoula, beginning next week with a trip to Idaho (Thursday) and Eastern Washington (Friday). When the Grizzlies played those teams in early October, it sparked Montana's upward trajectory, with the Grizzlies sweeping the Eagles and taking the Vandals to five sets. Beginning with those results, Montana has won 16 sets and has taken at least one set off of nine of its past 10 opponents.