Bears sweep Grizzlies

Saturday, October 15

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

11-8, 4-3Big Sky

Northern Colorado

10-8, 4-3Big Sky

Northern Colorado

Montana

Photo by: Derek Johnson

10/15/2022 10:12:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

MISSOULA, Mont. – The Northern Colorado volleyball team has been up and down throughout the first half of the 2022 volleyball season, but on Saturday night, the Bears showed why they are the defending Big Sky Conference champions and were picked by the league's coaches to repeat as champs this November.

Northern Colorado swept Montana inside Dahlberg Arena (25-14, 25-17, 25-8), handing the Grizzlies their first home loss since Aug. 27.

"We knew that in order to be in the match, we would have to put a lot of pressure on them from the service line and defensively, and we didn't do that," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "It felt like we weren't applying pressure anywhere, and that was really stressful for our first contact."

Gallery: (10-15-2022) VB: vs. Northern Colorado (10.15.22)

Lawrence knew that a team like Northern Colorado would pose challenges, but the most frustrating part was the Grizzlies' lack of competitiveness.

Northern Colorado used a 6-0 scoring run in the first set to take a 10-3 lead and out-hit the Grizzlies .407 to .071. Montana held a couple of early leads in Set 2, but a 9-8 advantage turned to a 16-9 deficit after an 8-0 scoring run for the Bears. In the third set, UNC scored the first four points, eight of the first 11 and held a 14-4 lead following a 6-0 scoring run.

Overall, Montana hit just .099 while allowing the Bears to hit .398, a season high for a Griz opponent. UNC had 26 more kills than Montana (48 to 22), four more service aces and two more blocks.

"We had moments of resiliency with our floor defense, but without aggressive serving, and with the number of weapons that they have on offense, our block couldn't slow them down. Offensively, we were too one-dimensional"

Paige Clark goes with the soft touch to pick up her 4th kill of the opening set! pic.twitter.com/zeTQpDIRUt
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) October 16, 2022

Montana's 22 kills were a season low, with half of them coming from sophomore outside hitter Paige Clark (11). The only other attacker with more than two kills was senior outside hitter Jackie Howell, who totaled five kills on seven swings.

Meanwhile, UNC had three players in double figures for kills, led by Maddie Davies, who had 14 on 18 swings, hitting .778.

The Grizzlies' most competitive stretch came early in Set 2, with Howell twice giving Montana multi-point leads (7-5 and 8-6) and Clark putting Montana on top at 9-8. A scoring run with Kailey Jo Ince at the service line put the set out of reach, however.

Jackie Howell's at it again, picking up her 4th kill on 5 swings! pic.twitter.com/tZYHuoW2Nj
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) October 16, 2022

Montana – which is tied for fourth in the Big Sky at 4-3 – will be back in action next week at home, hosting Weber State and Idaho State, two teams with winning records on the season.

"Our goal is to be competing with the top of the conference, and tonight we didn't do that," Lawrence said. "UNC is a really good team, and I think a match like this can light a fire for us to get back in the gym and work on things that were exposed.

"Nights like tonight are frustrating, but we want to be playing our best in November, so we have time to address the adjustments that we need to make and dig deeper."

Ellie Scherffius and Catie Semadeni build the wall and shut down the Bears! pic.twitter.com/AjZZlYNpzl
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) October 16, 2022