Sunday, February 28
Missoula, Mont.
4 PM
Montana
2-9, 2-9BSC
3
vs
2
Idaho
4-5, 3-4BSC
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho | 11 | 25 | 18 | 26 | 14 | 2 |
| Montana | 25 | 11 | 25 | 24 | 16 | 3 |
Photo by: Tommy Martino
Montana finally on winning end of 5-set match
2/28/2021 8:09:00 PM | Volleyball
MISSOULA, Mont. – After two weeks of five-set heartbreaks, Montana was on the winning end of a five-set match on Sunday, upsetting Idaho 3-2 (25-11, 11-25, 25-18, 24-26, 16-14). For Montana, it was just the program's third win over the Vandals in the past 21 seasons.
The Grizzlies' last three matches, and four of their last five, have gone five sets. Prior to Sunday, they had lost each time after holding leads. Feb. 14 vs. Montana State, Montana had a swing for the win, but couldn't convert and later lost 17-15. Last week vs. Eastern Washington, the Grizzlies held 2-1 and 2-0 match leads, before the Eagles came back to win on their home floor.
"Because we have come up short so much recently, when our moment finally happened it took me a moment to register that it was finally over instead of just almost over," head coach Allison Lawrence said. ""I'm just really proud of our team for so many reasons."
Four consecutive errors gave Idaho a 4-2 lead early in Set 5, but Montana jumped back in front, 5-4, behind a solo block from setter Carly Anderson and an ace from Sophia Meyers. After Idaho tied the set again at 5-5, Montana took a three-point lead, getting a kill from Peyten Boutwell before back-to-back blocks, with Madi Chuhlantseff being in the mix both times.
With Montana leading 8-5, Idaho called timeout. The Grizzlies maintained pressure, leading by as many as four points, 12-8, before Idaho worked back to tie the set at 13-13. Meyers picked up her career-best 18th kill on the next point, however, to put Montana back on top. Two points later, the Grizzlies again were serving for match point, when Chuhlantseff put down an Idaho overpass to set off the celebration.
"In another tight fifth set, thoughts ran through my head of 'What if we don't do this again?'" Lawrence said. "But I never saw that on our players' faces or in their eyes. The only things they were saying to each other was, 'We're having our breakthrough now' and 'We're going to take this now'. For them to be that relaxed, that composed, that aggressive, it just shows our maturity – which is a funny word to say with a team that has so little experience together."
The Grizzlies out-dug Idaho by 15 (season-high 74 to 59) and limited Idaho to .083 hitting – a season-low by a Griz opponent, by a wide margin. Contributing to the Vandals' low hitting percentage was Montana's block. Idaho entered the contest leading the Big Sky Conference and ranked 15th nationally for blocking, but was out-blocked by the Grizzlies 14.0 to 12.0.
Montana had five blocks in the fifth set alone, as the Grizzlies held the Vandals to a -.111 clip.
"Soph showed how resilient she is," Lawrence said of her freshman outside hitter. "She had stretches of points where she was going for it and not quite getting the kill, but then would always respond with another big swing. I think she passed and dug and served so, so well. Her whole game was so solid. We won the match because she dug No. 17 on that one ball; she stole the match right there."
"We've been putting a ton of pressure on Peyten to have a stat line like this, where she's really terminal and hitting at .300 or better," Lawrence said. "She was really dissatisfied with her execution at Eastern, and took it upon herself to get back in practice and attack this match with a mentality of ending play. She blocked really well, too, coming up with late closes, fills and touches."
"For Sarina's first match back, she dug unbelievably well and read really well," Lawrence said. "We had her in and out of the passing pattern quite a bit, and I think when she was in there she was nails and they didn't target her at all. She took control of that position really well, served well and played like an upperclassman."
Sophomore Amethyst Harper finished the day with nine kills and also added 13 digs.
"Am's kill total might be lower than she wanted, but I thought she had a nice night, and we both know there's more in the tank for her, which is exciting," Lawrence said. "I thought Am played well all-around. She passed and dug incredibly."
"You look at Elsa's stat line and it doesn't tell how excellent of a match she played," Lawrence said. "A lot of her swings that were continues gave us a free ball and allowed us to get kills later in the rally, and that's a sign of a player that is putting us in position to win points and executing her role. She blocked so well, held her serve and dug unbelievably well, especially against their right side, who has a lot of range. She had a big night,"
"Those stuff blocks late were such a momentum grab," Lawrence said of Anderson. "She was unbelievable and she's so sneaky. Not many people watching see everything she does, but she played phenomenal."
Freshman Ellie Scherffius and junior transfer Jordyn Schuette also earned praise, with Scherffius recording her first career kill and Schuette seeing her first action in more than a month as a serving specialist.
"And then there was our bench, who was loud and engaged and playing their part. Every person on this roster had an impact on this win."
After Idaho won the first point of the match, the Grizzlies scored the next seven points, burning an early Vandals timeout. With Godwin serving, Montana got kills from three different players, a theme for the set, in which Montana's top-four attackers combined to record 14 kills and zero errors. The Grizzlies never let Idaho back into the set, winning by a 25-11 margin – the widest set margin of the season for Montana. In the set, the Grizzlies hit .379 (14-3-29), compared to -.061 for Idaho, while siding out at a 75-percent rate.
"What we saw in the first set was fueled Wednesday through Saturday in practice," Lawrence said. "This was our best week of practice since we've been together in August and there was something about the way we prepared this week that when we took the court, I thought we had it. I haven't felt that confident going into a match all year, and it's because of the way we practiced and prepared."
The Vandals bounced back in the second set, reversing the statistics and winning by a 25-11 margin. Montana was held to -.172 hitting and a 33-percent side-out percentage.
Montana was back to its early form in the third set, though, again burning an early Idaho timeout after taking an 8-1 lead. Meyers had three of her kills during that stretch as Montana never trailed, leading by a hefty margin throughout.
Montana had ever opportunity to tie a bow on the match in Set 4, leading by scores of 10-5 and 18-11. After recording 12 kills and just two errors up to that point, however, Montana made seven errors down the stretch. Still, the Grizzlies held a match point at 24-23 and didn't trail for the first time until 25-24, with Idaho winning the set one point later.
Neither team played cleanly in the fifth set, but after a 5-5 tie, Montana was able to take control of the set with three consecutive points. The two teams would be tied at 13-13 and 14-14, but Montana never trailed after the first few points.
Despite Idaho winning 16 of the past 19 meetings in the series dating back to 2000, Montana has now won back-to-back matches over the Vandals for the first time since winning 12 straight from 1986-91. In November 2019, the Grizzlies overcame a 2-0 deficit to win in Moscow for the first time since 1991. The two teams will meet again on Monday night, with first serve coming at 7 p.m. The match can be streamed on (Pluto TV channel 1056).
The Grizzlies' last three matches, and four of their last five, have gone five sets. Prior to Sunday, they had lost each time after holding leads. Feb. 14 vs. Montana State, Montana had a swing for the win, but couldn't convert and later lost 17-15. Last week vs. Eastern Washington, the Grizzlies held 2-1 and 2-0 match leads, before the Eagles came back to win on their home floor.
"Because we have come up short so much recently, when our moment finally happened it took me a moment to register that it was finally over instead of just almost over," head coach Allison Lawrence said. ""I'm just really proud of our team for so many reasons."
Four consecutive errors gave Idaho a 4-2 lead early in Set 5, but Montana jumped back in front, 5-4, behind a solo block from setter Carly Anderson and an ace from Sophia Meyers. After Idaho tied the set again at 5-5, Montana took a three-point lead, getting a kill from Peyten Boutwell before back-to-back blocks, with Madi Chuhlantseff being in the mix both times.
With Montana leading 8-5, Idaho called timeout. The Grizzlies maintained pressure, leading by as many as four points, 12-8, before Idaho worked back to tie the set at 13-13. Meyers picked up her career-best 18th kill on the next point, however, to put Montana back on top. Two points later, the Grizzlies again were serving for match point, when Chuhlantseff put down an Idaho overpass to set off the celebration.
"In another tight fifth set, thoughts ran through my head of 'What if we don't do this again?'" Lawrence said. "But I never saw that on our players' faces or in their eyes. The only things they were saying to each other was, 'We're having our breakthrough now' and 'We're going to take this now'. For them to be that relaxed, that composed, that aggressive, it just shows our maturity – which is a funny word to say with a team that has so little experience together."
Montana's offense was clicking on the day, recording 54 kills and hitting above .333 in two different sets. The Grizzlies hit .379 in the opener (14-3-29), leading to a 25-11 win, and hit at a .333 clip (14-3-33) in a Set-3 victory. Even bigger than Montana's offense, though, was its defense.The winning point!#GrizVB #BigSkyVB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/VT1q8W4XDr
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) March 1, 2021
The Grizzlies out-dug Idaho by 15 (season-high 74 to 59) and limited Idaho to .083 hitting – a season-low by a Griz opponent, by a wide margin. Contributing to the Vandals' low hitting percentage was Montana's block. Idaho entered the contest leading the Big Sky Conference and ranked 15th nationally for blocking, but was out-blocked by the Grizzlies 14.0 to 12.0.
Montana had five blocks in the fifth set alone, as the Grizzlies held the Vandals to a -.111 clip.
Lawrence was quick to praise the entire team for the victory, and for good reason. Meyers led all players with 18 kills, but even bigger were her 12 digs, particularly one late on Idaho's Kennedy Warren, which set up a crucial point for the Griz. It was Meyers' third consecutive double-double.The Griz start set 5 off strong with a block!#GoGriz #GrizVB #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/jge0sE465S
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) March 1, 2021
"Soph showed how resilient she is," Lawrence said of her freshman outside hitter. "She had stretches of points where she was going for it and not quite getting the kill, but then would always respond with another big swing. I think she passed and dug and served so, so well. Her whole game was so solid. We won the match because she dug No. 17 on that one ball; she stole the match right there."
Boutwell also had a match to remember, recording 15 kills on .375 hitting, in addition to five blocks.17 kills for Meyers tonight!#GoGriz #GrizVB #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/DriQ0BPESz
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) March 1, 2021
"We've been putting a ton of pressure on Peyten to have a stat line like this, where she's really terminal and hitting at .300 or better," Lawrence said. "She was really dissatisfied with her execution at Eastern, and took it upon herself to get back in practice and attack this match with a mentality of ending play. She blocked really well, too, coming up with late closes, fills and touches."
Junior Sarina Moreno – who had been sidelined with an ankle injury since Feb. 14 – returned to the lineup, starting at libero and recording 20 digs.Boutwell now has 12 kills!#GoGriz #GrizVB #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/r6yiU0XkeZ
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) March 1, 2021
"For Sarina's first match back, she dug unbelievably well and read really well," Lawrence said. "We had her in and out of the passing pattern quite a bit, and I think when she was in there she was nails and they didn't target her at all. She took control of that position really well, served well and played like an upperclassman."
Sophomore Amethyst Harper finished the day with nine kills and also added 13 digs.
"Am's kill total might be lower than she wanted, but I thought she had a nice night, and we both know there's more in the tank for her, which is exciting," Lawrence said. "I thought Am played well all-around. She passed and dug incredibly."
Sophomore Elsa Godwin was held to just two kills, but added 17 digs and five blocks, plus a service ace.Harper!! 💪#GoGriz #GrizVB #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/n0yluNY2RQ
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) February 28, 2021
"You look at Elsa's stat line and it doesn't tell how excellent of a match she played," Lawrence said. "A lot of her swings that were continues gave us a free ball and allowed us to get kills later in the rally, and that's a sign of a player that is putting us in position to win points and executing her role. She blocked so well, held her serve and dug unbelievably well, especially against their right side, who has a lot of range. She had a big night,"
Similar to Godwin, Chuhlantseff had just four kills on negative hitting, but came up big in the biggest moments. Two of her career-high seven blocks came in the fifth set, as did two of her kills, including the winning point.Godwin with the hammer! 🔨#GoGriz #GrizVB #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/Ongw1kUv6x
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) March 1, 2021
Setter Carly Anderson did what she does best, which is a little bit of everything. The freshman dished out 41 assists while also adding nine digs, five kills, one service ace and four blocks. Two of the blocks were solo stuffs, including a big one in the fifth set that propelled Montana to victory.Chuhlantseff finishes off the point!#GoGriz #GrizVB #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/FZGw4XGroR
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) March 1, 2021
"Those stuff blocks late were such a momentum grab," Lawrence said of Anderson. "She was unbelievable and she's so sneaky. Not many people watching see everything she does, but she played phenomenal."
Anderson with the dump kill!#GoGriz #GrizVB #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/HAOlRPAHx3
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) March 1, 2021
Freshman Ellie Scherffius and junior transfer Jordyn Schuette also earned praise, with Scherffius recording her first career kill and Schuette seeing her first action in more than a month as a serving specialist.
"Jordyn, going in as a serving sub and playing left-back, I've never had her play left-back in practice ever. She has a really nice short serve that's really effective in practice. I told her I was going to put her in and told her to serve short, which is so hard to do, and she nailed it. I'm really proud of Ellie, a freshman who hasn't had playing time, coming in at a time where her job was to disrupt their momentum. You have to go in and get a kill right away, and that's a really hard job, when you're cold, to be fast and explosive as a middle and get a kill, and she did it.Scherffius gets the first kill of her college career!#GoGriz #GrizVB #BigSkyVB pic.twitter.com/NaGHgZxHdr
— Montana Griz VB (@MontanaGrizVB) February 28, 2021
"And then there was our bench, who was loud and engaged and playing their part. Every person on this roster had an impact on this win."
After Idaho won the first point of the match, the Grizzlies scored the next seven points, burning an early Vandals timeout. With Godwin serving, Montana got kills from three different players, a theme for the set, in which Montana's top-four attackers combined to record 14 kills and zero errors. The Grizzlies never let Idaho back into the set, winning by a 25-11 margin – the widest set margin of the season for Montana. In the set, the Grizzlies hit .379 (14-3-29), compared to -.061 for Idaho, while siding out at a 75-percent rate.
"What we saw in the first set was fueled Wednesday through Saturday in practice," Lawrence said. "This was our best week of practice since we've been together in August and there was something about the way we prepared this week that when we took the court, I thought we had it. I haven't felt that confident going into a match all year, and it's because of the way we practiced and prepared."
The Vandals bounced back in the second set, reversing the statistics and winning by a 25-11 margin. Montana was held to -.172 hitting and a 33-percent side-out percentage.
Montana was back to its early form in the third set, though, again burning an early Idaho timeout after taking an 8-1 lead. Meyers had three of her kills during that stretch as Montana never trailed, leading by a hefty margin throughout.
Montana had ever opportunity to tie a bow on the match in Set 4, leading by scores of 10-5 and 18-11. After recording 12 kills and just two errors up to that point, however, Montana made seven errors down the stretch. Still, the Grizzlies held a match point at 24-23 and didn't trail for the first time until 25-24, with Idaho winning the set one point later.
Neither team played cleanly in the fifth set, but after a 5-5 tie, Montana was able to take control of the set with three consecutive points. The two teams would be tied at 13-13 and 14-14, but Montana never trailed after the first few points.
Despite Idaho winning 16 of the past 19 meetings in the series dating back to 2000, Montana has now won back-to-back matches over the Vandals for the first time since winning 12 straight from 1986-91. In November 2019, the Grizzlies overcame a 2-0 deficit to win in Moscow for the first time since 1991. The two teams will meet again on Monday night, with first serve coming at 7 p.m. The match can be streamed on (Pluto TV channel 1056).
Team Stats
UI
UM
Kills
44
54
Errors
31
33
Attempts
157
162
Hitting %
.083
.130
Points
64.0
72.0
Assists
39
48
Aces
8
4
Blocks
12.0
14.0
Game Leaders
Kills
18
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
15
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
5
Aces
1
Blocks
4
Players Mentioned
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