Saturday, September 14
Missoula, Mont.
12 PM
Montana
0-7
0
vs
3
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UTEP
5-5
1
2
3
F
UTEP
25
25
25
3
Montana
15
18
20
0
Photo by: Derek Johnson
Montana comes up empty vs. Miners
9/14/2019 5:36:00 PM | Volleyball
MISSOULA, Mont. – Montana closed the Farmers State Bank Invitational with a loss to UTEP, falling in straight sets (25-15, 25-18, 25-20). The Grizzlies were rarely competitive through the first two sets before showing some fight in the final frame.
Down two sets and facing an early 6-1 deficit in the third, it would be easy to throw in the towel. Instead, Montana battled back to tie the score at 11-11. The Grizzlies took their first lead of the set three points later, and led by two points on multiple occasions.
In a back-and-forth set, Montana was within a single point at 21-20, before the Miners closed the match on a 4-0 run.
Montana couldn't do much of anything through the first two sets, being out-hit .415 to .000, while being out-blocked 5 to 0. Montana was able to hit .235 in the final set while recording two blocks.
"We've been talking all preseason about the importance of where we put our focus," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "Each time there's a moment where the momentum swings away from us, we have to be resilient. I do think we're doing that, but it's sporadic and inconsistent and not always immediate."
Match NotablesGallery: (9/14/2019) VB: vs. UTEP (9.14.19)
Quoting Lawrence
(on lacking rhythm on Saturday)
"We got frazzled and then we'd lose track of what rotation we were in. There didn't seem to be a lot of awareness of what our immediate focus was. We'd push and the score would get close, but we couldn't feel like we were in control because we were constantly behind in the play."
(on serving tough)
"I thought we served better today. We started to serve short, we drop-served and we hit our zones. It didn't necessarily show up in the box score with aces, but I thought we held our serve well, and we served tough."
(on staying motivated despite the start to the season)
"The thing that keeps us motivated is getting back to practice and training. If we're going to get it done, it's going to happen in practice. We're past the point as a program of being half in. I think we're all in, and we need to be to push through this and work out of it. I do think we can."
(on the potential of this team)
"We are a really physical team, and when we put things together and we're in rhythm, it's impressive and intimidating. We're just in that zone so few of times right now that we can't even gain confidence from it. We have the ability to be really terminal, which is why it's been so frustrating that we haven't been. We need to draw confidence from that place."
Looking Ahead
Montana has one week remaining in non-conference play, traveling to the Rocky Mountains to play in a tournament co-hosted by Air Force and Denver. The Grizzlies will also play Santa Clara.
Down two sets and facing an early 6-1 deficit in the third, it would be easy to throw in the towel. Instead, Montana battled back to tie the score at 11-11. The Grizzlies took their first lead of the set three points later, and led by two points on multiple occasions.
In a back-and-forth set, Montana was within a single point at 21-20, before the Miners closed the match on a 4-0 run.
Montana couldn't do much of anything through the first two sets, being out-hit .415 to .000, while being out-blocked 5 to 0. Montana was able to hit .235 in the final set while recording two blocks.
"We've been talking all preseason about the importance of where we put our focus," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "Each time there's a moment where the momentum swings away from us, we have to be resilient. I do think we're doing that, but it's sporadic and inconsistent and not always immediate."
Match Notables
- Redshirt freshman Elsa Godwin had a strong weekend, being named to the all-tournament team. She had 12 kills across the two matches, doing so on .200 hitting while adding 12 digs, five blocks and a service ace. In six career matches entering the weekend, the outside hitter had 12 kills, three digs, two blocks and one service ace.
- Freshman Isabelle Garrido had a pair of service aces in the match, to go along with a third on Friday.
- Four Grizzlies had five kills in the match, including senior Missy Huddleston, who also added 10 digs and a service ace.
- Montana had beat UTEP each of the past two seasons, but unlike a young Grizzlies squad, UTEP returned a large percentage of its roster from a year ago and has already matched last year's win total.
- Montana State went 2-0 in the Farmers State Bank Invitational, beating CSU Bakersfield (3-0) and UTEP (3-1). CSU Bakersfield went 2-1, UTEP went 1-2 and Montana went 0-2. The Grizzlies and Bobcats did not play each other since the two teams will meet in the Big Sky Conference opener on Sept. 24.
- All six front-row players had at least one kill in the opening set.
- The Grizzlies fell behind early in Set 2, 7-1, but worked their way back to 9-6 following a Godwin ace. Montana trailed 16-12, forcing a UTEP timeout, before the Miners responded by winning seven of the next 10 points.
- Down 6-1 early, Montana used a 4-1 run to tie the set at 11-11 and took the lead three points later. During the run, Godwin had two kills and a block. Two points later, Janna Grimsrud had back-to-back kills during a 3-0 Griz run to take a 14-12 lead.
Quoting Lawrence
(on lacking rhythm on Saturday)
"We got frazzled and then we'd lose track of what rotation we were in. There didn't seem to be a lot of awareness of what our immediate focus was. We'd push and the score would get close, but we couldn't feel like we were in control because we were constantly behind in the play."
(on serving tough)
"I thought we served better today. We started to serve short, we drop-served and we hit our zones. It didn't necessarily show up in the box score with aces, but I thought we held our serve well, and we served tough."
(on staying motivated despite the start to the season)
"The thing that keeps us motivated is getting back to practice and training. If we're going to get it done, it's going to happen in practice. We're past the point as a program of being half in. I think we're all in, and we need to be to push through this and work out of it. I do think we can."
(on the potential of this team)
"We are a really physical team, and when we put things together and we're in rhythm, it's impressive and intimidating. We're just in that zone so few of times right now that we can't even gain confidence from it. We have the ability to be really terminal, which is why it's been so frustrating that we haven't been. We need to draw confidence from that place."
Looking Ahead
Montana has one week remaining in non-conference play, traveling to the Rocky Mountains to play in a tournament co-hosted by Air Force and Denver. The Grizzlies will also play Santa Clara.
Once down 6-1, Montana has worked all the way back. We're tied at 11-11 after an Elsa Godwin solo block! pic.twitter.com/ysteEdjTYX
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) September 14, 2019
Montana has the lead! Back-to-back kills from senior Janna Grimsrud put the Grizzlies on top! pic.twitter.com/hT80fs9uZJ
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) September 14, 2019
Elsa Godwin finds the floor from the back row! The redshirt freshman also has an early block for the Griz! pic.twitter.com/5UgyBvGJaQ
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) September 14, 2019
Team Stats
UTEP
Mont
Kills
45
26
Errors
10
18
Attempts
89
87
Hitting %
.393
.092
Points
56
32
Assists
40
24
Aces
3
4
Blocks
8
2
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
5
Aces
1
Blocks
0
Kills
5
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballOPP/MB
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