Montana opens UND Classic with another 5-set win

Friday, September 10

Grand Forks, N.D.

3:30 PM (MT)

Montana

3-4, 0-0Big Sky

Green Bay

3-6, 0-0Horizon

Montana

Green Bay

Photo by: Derek Johnson

9/10/2021 6:54:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Montana Sports Information

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Montana opened the UND Classic with a 3-2 win over Green Bay on Friday afternoon (25-20, 11-25, 25-16, 21-25, 15-10), picking up its third five-set victory of the season.

"I think today was a really big team win," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "We had a lot of players step up and do big things, and we continued to get better as the match progressed."

Montana out-hit (.257 to .232) and out-blocked (9.0 to 4.0) the Phoenix and were led by sophomore middle blocker Ellie Scherffius, who totaled 15 kills on .520 hitting, in addition to six blocks.

Scherffius was good throughout the match, but was at her best in the fifth set.

Montana won the first and third sets while Green Bay took the second and fourth. The Grizzlies left no doubt in the fifth set, however, never trailing in a 15-10 win, with Scherffius accounting for nearly half of Montana's points in the set.

She started the frame with back-to-back kills as Montana scored the first four points and burned an early Phoenix timeout. While Montana never trailed in the fifth set, Green Bay did work back to briefly tie the score at 8-8, with the tying point coming on one of Scherffius' lone mistakes of the day.

After an attack error, the Grizzlies went right back to Scherffius, who responded with a big kill. Two points later, she was in on a block. And then another. And then another kill.

The Grizzlies scored five points in a row after Green Bay tied the set, with Scherffius accounting for four of the five points.

"She's such a competitor, and I think she was really mad from last weekend, when she wasn't as offensive as she wanted to be," Lawrence said of Scherffius. "She came into this match really focused, and when she feels confident, she can get hyper-aggressive and take over."

Montana never let Green Bay get closer than four points from that point forward, as the Grizzlies hit .500 as a team in the fifth set.

"One of the coolest things from today – and really something we've been seeing a lot this season – is how we're playing in the fifth set," Lawrence said. "In the highest-pressure situations, that's when you're seeing our team at its best.

"You're starting to see us really understand how to take control after we have a setback. Now, the next step is how can we have that level of execution without it having to be a response?"

With the win, Montana improved to 3-4 on the young season, with all three of its wins coming in five sets. In fact, the Grizzlies' last win that didn't extend to five sets came back in November 2019.

While the tight matches has added stress to Lawrence and her staff, the thing she is encouraged by is that Montana is often playing its best volleyball in those deciding sets. Out of 104 total points played in the fifth set this season, Montana has trailed for just 14 of those. In all four matches, the Grizzlies have been the first team to eight and 12 points, and have won three of the matches.

How about a #GrizWin to start the weekend?!?#GrizVB #BigSkyVB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/xHFvS4JCc1
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) September 10, 2021

Montana won the opening set on Friday, 25-20, scoring nine of 10 points at one point after falling behind by as many as three points early on. The Phoenix rallied to take a brief lead midway through the set, but senior middle blocker Peyten Boutwell got hot – scoring four of six Montana points during a 6-1 run – to put Montana back in front.

After Montana limited Green Bay to .051 hitting in the opening set, the Phoenix found its groove in the second, hitting a scorching .500 with zero attack errors (14-0-28). The 25-11 loss was the Grizzlies' largest set loss of the season – by five entire points.

Montana bounced back in a big way, however, posting its most-lopsided set win of the season. The Grizzlies scored the first three points of the third set and never trailed, winning 25-16.

Green Bay used a 10-2 run to open up an 11-6 advantage in the fourth set, and while Montana got within two points a couple of times – including late at 21-19 – the Grizzlies could never recover.

In addition to Scherffius' big match, junior Catie Semadeni totaled nine kills and three blocks from the right side (.240 hitting). While their numbers might not show it, Lawrence was quick to praise her left-side attackers, as well.

Senior Elsa Godwin finished with nine kills on .139 hitting, while junior Jackie Howell added four at a .000 clip. The impressive part wasn't the final numbers but how they got there.

Through two sets, the duo had more errors (four) than kills (three). In the third set, though, Godwin totaled three kills, two aces and a block. In the fifth set, the two combined for three kills and zero errors.

"Their stats don't jump out at you as being especially dominant, but by them doing their jobs, that allowed other players to terminate in ways that they needed to," Lawrence said. "We ran our offense through our right side and middles today, meaning the lefts got a lot of the bad balls. Instead of trying to do too much, they managed their games really well, and I thought that really kept us in it."

Freshman left-side attacker Maddie Kremer also had a role off the bench. Initially coming in during a Set-2 blowout to try and provide a different look, by the end of the match, she was playing a key role, finishing with two kills and two blocks and starting the fifth set.

"Having that type of depth, where we can sub someone in and have them fill a hole or create a spark, is something we've been missing in the past, and I thought Maddie did a good job of forcing her way into plays as the match went on."

In addition to Godwin's nine kills, she also added three service aces, three blocks and a match-high 19 digs. Senior libero Sarina Moreno totaled 16 digs and two aces. As a team, six players accounted for nine aces.

Running the offense, sophomore Carly Anderson finished with 33 assists as Montana hit .257 and six different players recorded five or more kills. Anderson was one of them – five kills on eight attempts – also adding eight digs and an ace. Freshman Paige Clark had five kills, a block and an ace, while also adding six assists.

The Grizzlies will now try to get some rest before playing a double-header on Saturday. Montana will play a Drake team that beat Green Bay in four sets (12:30 p.m. MT), before facing host North Dakota (6 p.m. MT).