Griz come out flat vs. Roadrunners

Saturday, September 18

Cheney, Wash.

11 AM (MT)

Montana

5-5, 0-0Big Sky

CSU Bakersfield

7-1, 0-0Big West

Montana

CSU Bakersfield

9/18/2021 5:31:00 PM | Volleyball

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By: Montana Sports Information

CHENEY, Wash. – Montana completed its non-conference slate on Saturday, falling to CSU Bakersfield in straight sets (26-24, 25-20, 25-12). Facing a CSU Bakersfield team that is now 7-1 on the season, the Grizzlies had moments in the neutral-site match, but struggled to get much going consistently, playing from behind nearly the entire match.

On defense, Montana had a hard time containing the Roadrunners' offense, which hit .311. The Grizzlies, though, had limited weapons at their disposal offensively. Junior right-side attacker Catie Semadeni (10 kills on .350 hitting) and sophomore middle blocker Ellie Scherffius (10 kills on .368 hitting) were fantastic. Aside from those two, however, Montana's other five attackers combined for more errors (14) than kills (11).

That led to a .129 team hitting percentage, uncharacteristic for a group that entered the week leading the Big Sky and ranked in the top 20 percent nationally at .248.

"I'm really frustrated by how our offense showed up today," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "Because we've relied so much on hitting at a high percentage, when that piece was struggling, and then I made some subs and that didn't lead to any changes, it felt like we were on our heels from that point forward. When things got tough, I didn't think we were willing to fight for kills the way we have been the past several matches."

One positive from Saturday was the Grizzlies' serving, which put pressure on the Roadrunners and was part of several of the Grizzlies' scoring runs. Junior outside hitter Jackie Howell recorded three aces, while senior outside hitter Elsa Godwin added a pair. In addition to leading Montana's attack, Scherffius (four) and Semadeni (three) led Montana defensively, while senior libero Sarina Moreno added 14 digs in the back row.

Montana's best set was the first, which the Grizzlies held several leads in.

After falling behind 13-9 and calling timeout, Montana then rattled off five consecutive points to take a 14-13 lead. Howell served during the run, posting an ace, while Godwin and Scherffius each had a kill and a block.

Following an 18-18 tie, CSU Bakersfield then scored four of the next five points to push Montana to the brink, 23-19. The Grizzlies weren't done, though, tying the score at 23-23 after getting four consecutive kills with sophomore setter Carly Anderson serving. The two teams were again tied at 24-24, before CSU Bakersfield scored the final two points of the extended set.

Montana's streakiness was exasperated in the second set, with both teams going on multiple 5-0 scoring runs. The Grizzlies fell behind early 7-2 and trailed 12-6 before going on a run with Godwin serving. Starting with an ace from the senior and then consecutive kills from junior outside hitter Elise Jolly and Semadeni, Montana tied the score at 13-13 – only to surrender the next six points, and 10 of the next 11, to fall behind 23-14.

This time with Howell serving, Montana scored six straight points – including two aces from Howell and two kills and a block from senior middle blocker Peyten Boutwell – to make the score 23-20 and force the Roadrunners to use a timeout.

"We knew that if we could gain some momentum we could take control of the whole set or match," Lawrence said, "but we'd gain control for moments and then end our own run on an error or missed assignment. From that point, it was too easy for them to keep pressure on us."

After finishing off the second set, CSU Bakersfield then scored the first three points of the third, before taking leads of 9-2, 14-5 and the final margin of 25-12.

Montana will now travel home where it will host rival Montana State in the annual Brawl of the Wild (Tuesday at 7 p.m., with fans encouraged to wear maroon). Despite Saturday's performance, there is plenty of optimism for this Griz team that posted its best non-conference record in 16 seasons, including a tournament championship last weekend in North Dakota.

"Today was super frustrating, and I think that's mostly because we've shown signs of what we are capable of doing," Lawrence said. "We've had the best preseason since I've been here, and not just wins and losses, but statistically we're doing things that we haven't done in years. That piece is really encouraging, so we need to take the momentum we've built and let that launch us in really good ways into the regular season."