Sunday, February 14
Missoula, Mont.
4 PM
Montana
1-6, 1-6Big Sky
2
vs
3
Montana State
3-2, 3-2Big Sky
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montana State | 21 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 17 | 3 |
| Montana | 25 | 23 | 9 | 25 | 15 | 2 |
Photo by: Tommy Martino
Griz drop 5-set heartbreaker to Cats
2/14/2021 8:26:00 PM | Volleyball
MISSOULA, Mont. – For the third time in four seasons, the Brawl of the Wild played in Missoula went to five sets. Montana had a swing for the win, but Montana State scored the final three points to win the match, 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 25-9, 20-25, 17-15).
"There were things we celebrated and want to rally around, but also, there were extreme levels of dissatisfaction, as well," head coach Allison Lawrence said after the match. "We're evolving at an unbelievable rate, but we haven't got a reward for how much work we've put in."
Someday Lawrence will be able to look back at Sunday's match and see the growth her young team has made, taking an upper-tier Montana State team to the brink – and then some.
Montana held multi-point leads at 6-4, 8-6 and 10-8 in the shortened fifth set that goes to 15 points. From that point forward, the score would be tied at six consecutive points, with the set also featuring six lead changes down the stretch.
A Montana attack error gave Montana State its first match-point opportunity at 14-13, but Montana State's serve went long, tying the score at 14-14. Senior middle blocker Peyten Boutwell picked up her 18th kill of the night to give Montana a 15-14 lead and the Grizzlies a match-point opportunity, one point away from earning the win.
The Grizzlies had a swing for the win on the next point, but they was blocked, tying the set at 15-15, before Montana State won the next two points to win the match.
The 17-15 spread was Montana State's first multi-point lead of the set.
"I told the team that I'm really proud of them, and that we have to continue to trust the process," Lawrence said. "We've come up short a lot in the last four weeks. With such a young, inexperienced team, we need to be able to find our wins and find our growth in matches like this, even when we didn't win on the scoreboard."
Montana's five attackers all had nine or more kills, with Boutwell leading the charge with a career-high 18 kills, plus four blocks. Fellow middle blocker Madi Chuhlantseff was terrific, as well, recording nine kills on just 14 swings for a .500 hitting percentage, in addition to four blocks.
"Both middles, Peyten and Madi, had such huge nights," Lawrence said. "The fact that we were able to pass and defend well enough to have that piece of our offense to the degree that we did, it relieved a lot of stress from our pins and put MSU on their heels. Peyten was unstoppable, especially early on, and I thought Madi was so smart and so aggressive."
Entering the night with just two career sets played, Ashley filled in for injured Isabelle Garrido at defensive specialist. Then, in the fourth set, she took on an even bigger role, taking over the libero position after Sarina Moreno went down with an injury.
Ashley finished the night with a team-most 13 digs, but even bigger were her five service aces.
With Montana trailing the match 2-1 and tied in the fourth set at 12-12, Ashley went on a run at the service line, dishing out four aces during an 8-0 Griz run that helped send the match to a fifth set.
Ashley, a Helena native, filled in at libero despite being listed on the roster as an outside hitter. In high school, she set Helena Capital's all-time record for career kills.
"Our culture is 'Grit, gratitude, family', and Sarah is such a definition of doing family together," Lawrence said. "She's such a utility player that she rarely trains at left-back in practice, but she did the 'family' part of our culture by stepping up for our group and carrying that weight."
With Moreno out, Montana was primarily playing the final two sets with four freshmen on the floor. Moreno is Montana's only player with more than one season of experience under her belt.
Montana played one of its cleanest sets of the season to open the match, trailing at just two points – 1-0 and 2-1 – and hitting .385 in a Set-1 victory. Each time Montana State threatened, Montana had an answer.
After the Bobcats tied the set at 13-13, Montana won the next three points. The Bobcats then closed within a point, 22-21, but again Montana was strong, getting two kills from Amethyst Harper and another from Boutwell to close the set.
Montana State was dominant in the third set, holding Montana to -.107 hitting and using a 10-0 spurt to run away with the set, 25-9.
The Grizzlies didn't fold, however. The fourth set featured seven ties early, the last being at 12-12. The Grizzlies then got a kill from freshman Sophia Meyers, which sent Ashley to the service line. She recorded four aces on her first six serves, burning both of Montana State's timeouts and giving Montana a 20-12 lead that was out of reach.
The fifth set featured 11 ties, with neither team leading by more than two points. Both teams fended off match-point opportunities, before Montana State took advantage of a second chance at 16-15.
"I think the hardest part this year, for this group and myself, is to keep perspective in a year with an odd start and some odd circumstances," Lawrence said. "It's about building this program to be a championship program, and we have a core group of young players that want to do that and can do it. For how little reward we've gotten, we continue to stay incredibly poised and steady, which to me shows the future of Griz volleyball."
Round 2 of the Brawl of the Wild is slated for Monday night. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. The match can be streamed on Pluto TV (channel 1056).
"There were things we celebrated and want to rally around, but also, there were extreme levels of dissatisfaction, as well," head coach Allison Lawrence said after the match. "We're evolving at an unbelievable rate, but we haven't got a reward for how much work we've put in."
Someday Lawrence will be able to look back at Sunday's match and see the growth her young team has made, taking an upper-tier Montana State team to the brink – and then some.
Montana held multi-point leads at 6-4, 8-6 and 10-8 in the shortened fifth set that goes to 15 points. From that point forward, the score would be tied at six consecutive points, with the set also featuring six lead changes down the stretch.
A Montana attack error gave Montana State its first match-point opportunity at 14-13, but Montana State's serve went long, tying the score at 14-14. Senior middle blocker Peyten Boutwell picked up her 18th kill of the night to give Montana a 15-14 lead and the Grizzlies a match-point opportunity, one point away from earning the win.
The Grizzlies had a swing for the win on the next point, but they was blocked, tying the set at 15-15, before Montana State won the next two points to win the match.
The 17-15 spread was Montana State's first multi-point lead of the set.
"I told the team that I'm really proud of them, and that we have to continue to trust the process," Lawrence said. "We've come up short a lot in the last four weeks. With such a young, inexperienced team, we need to be able to find our wins and find our growth in matches like this, even when we didn't win on the scoreboard."
Montana hit a season-high .196 in the match, and out-dug and out-blocked the Bobcats – a team that ranks 18th nationally for blocking. The Grizzlies were hindered by 15 service errors, but their service pressure also helped keep them in the match, tallying nine aces in addition to several serves that took the Bobcats out of system.BOUTWELL! Clutch point in the fifth set!#GrizVB #GoGriz #GrizCats #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/v9J6E0ZezJ
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) February 15, 2021
Montana's five attackers all had nine or more kills, with Boutwell leading the charge with a career-high 18 kills, plus four blocks. Fellow middle blocker Madi Chuhlantseff was terrific, as well, recording nine kills on just 14 swings for a .500 hitting percentage, in addition to four blocks.
"Both middles, Peyten and Madi, had such huge nights," Lawrence said. "The fact that we were able to pass and defend well enough to have that piece of our offense to the degree that we did, it relieved a lot of stress from our pins and put MSU on their heels. Peyten was unstoppable, especially early on, and I thought Madi was so smart and so aggressive."
Another bright spot for Montana was the play of freshman Sarah Ashley.Chuhlantseff gives the Griz the lead in the fifth set!#GrizVB #GoGriz #GrizCat #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/D0RibJcxZK
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) February 15, 2021
Entering the night with just two career sets played, Ashley filled in for injured Isabelle Garrido at defensive specialist. Then, in the fourth set, she took on an even bigger role, taking over the libero position after Sarina Moreno went down with an injury.
Ashley finished the night with a team-most 13 digs, but even bigger were her five service aces.
With Montana trailing the match 2-1 and tied in the fourth set at 12-12, Ashley went on a run at the service line, dishing out four aces during an 8-0 Griz run that helped send the match to a fifth set.
"She opened the match up with her serve, and I was so happy for Sarah," Lawrence said. "She studies the game, she waits and she stays ready, and you saw immense maturity from her tonight. That is a really, really hard thing to do, going in as libero."Ashley with back-to-back aces for the Griz!#GrizVB #GoGriz #GrizCat #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/whnsKcT2Hh
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) February 15, 2021
Ashley, a Helena native, filled in at libero despite being listed on the roster as an outside hitter. In high school, she set Helena Capital's all-time record for career kills.
"Our culture is 'Grit, gratitude, family', and Sarah is such a definition of doing family together," Lawrence said. "She's such a utility player that she rarely trains at left-back in practice, but she did the 'family' part of our culture by stepping up for our group and carrying that weight."
With Moreno out, Montana was primarily playing the final two sets with four freshmen on the floor. Moreno is Montana's only player with more than one season of experience under her belt.
Montana played one of its cleanest sets of the season to open the match, trailing at just two points – 1-0 and 2-1 – and hitting .385 in a Set-1 victory. Each time Montana State threatened, Montana had an answer.
After the Bobcats tied the set at 13-13, Montana won the next three points. The Bobcats then closed within a point, 22-21, but again Montana was strong, getting two kills from Amethyst Harper and another from Boutwell to close the set.
In a tight second set, neither team held more than a one-point lead until Montana State went on a 5-0 run to turn an 11-10 Griz lead into a 15-11 deficit. Montana got within one point a handful of times, but the visitors won the set, 25-23.Harper finds the line and the Griz have a set-point in the opener!#GrizVB #GoGriz #GrizCat #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/QfFThHPQFv
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) February 14, 2021
Montana State was dominant in the third set, holding Montana to -.107 hitting and using a 10-0 spurt to run away with the set, 25-9.
The Grizzlies didn't fold, however. The fourth set featured seven ties early, the last being at 12-12. The Grizzlies then got a kill from freshman Sophia Meyers, which sent Ashley to the service line. She recorded four aces on her first six serves, burning both of Montana State's timeouts and giving Montana a 20-12 lead that was out of reach.
The fifth set featured 11 ties, with neither team leading by more than two points. Both teams fended off match-point opportunities, before Montana State took advantage of a second chance at 16-15.
"I think the hardest part this year, for this group and myself, is to keep perspective in a year with an odd start and some odd circumstances," Lawrence said. "It's about building this program to be a championship program, and we have a core group of young players that want to do that and can do it. For how little reward we've gotten, we continue to stay incredibly poised and steady, which to me shows the future of Griz volleyball."
Round 2 of the Brawl of the Wild is slated for Monday night. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. The match can be streamed on Pluto TV (channel 1056).
DENIED AT THE NET! Meyers and Chuhlantseff with the big block!#GrizVB #GoGriz #GrizCat #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/9cG6PJt8jH
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) February 14, 2021
Team Stats
MSU
UM
Kills
58
56
Errors
21
25
Attempts
147
158
Hitting %
.252
.196
Points
72.0
73.0
Assists
53
53
Aces
8
9
Blocks
6.0
8.0
Game Leaders
Kills
18
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
9
Aces
1
Blocks
4
Players Mentioned
OH
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
DS
/ Volleyball
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/ VolleyballOH
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