Griz aim to build on first half success

Montana at Eastern Washington
Thursday, Oct. 27 / 7 p.m. / Cheney, Wash.
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Montana at Idaho
Saturday, Oct. 29 / 2 p.m. / Moscow, Idaho
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Montana volleyball has followed an interesting, if not wholly unusual, pattern to begin the Big Sky Conference season in 2022. The Grizzlies, who sit in the middle of the conference standings at 5-4 (12-9 overall), have not yet defeated a team above them in the league's hierarchy. On the flip side, they are undefeated in five matches against teams below them in the conference standings.

It is part of what makes the upcoming weekend, when Montana travels to take on Eastern Washington and Idaho, so intriguing. The Grizzlies will have a chance to continue their trend, but will have to do so on the road in a couple of tough environments at Eastern Washington and Idaho.

The Grizzlies are coming off a weekend where they split results right down the middle, suffering a 3-0 defeat against second-place Weber State before bouncing back with a sweep of their own against Idaho State on Saturday. The win got Montana above .500 in conference play, and also brought their total wins this season to 12.

It's the most wins for this Grizzly program since 2013, when they finished 16-15 overall and 12-8 in the Big Sky. The Griz finished in fifth place that year, the highest standing Montana has closed a season with since 2010. It's the same position they currently occupy in the standings.

"It's like putting money in the bank over years and years of building this, and I think you're seeing older players in our program that have been trusting the process for a really long time, in offseason and in the season, and you never know when it will pay you back but it does," head coach Allison Lawrence said.

There may have been some anxiety after the loss to the Wildcats, the second consecutive match in which they came out on the wrong end of the sweep, but any doubts were answered in resounding fashion on Saturday.

Thursday's result against WSU was particularly frustrating as Montana finished with eight more kills and six more digs than the Wildcats. It was some uncharacteristic mistakes, combined with a passing game that was just enough out of sorts, that led to the sweep. Lawrence and her team watched the film and spent Friday and Saturday morning's practices trying to lock in and correct the mistakes.

Boy did they ever. The win against Idaho State was one of the more dominant performances of the year. They jumped out to a 25-11 win in the opening set, which matched the largest set victory of the year for the Grizzlies. Idaho State was able to reach the 20-point mark in the next two sets, but the Grizzlies never trailed past the media timeout in any of the three sets.

Montana swept an opponent for the seventh time this season, which is also the most in a single season since 2013. The Griz set a goal at the start of the season to focus in on the first half of the conference season and get off to a good start. At 5-4 past the midway point, they've hit that target.

"It is pretty exciting to have accomplished that goal," defensive specialist Sarah Ashley said at this week's press conference. "On the first day of fall camp we knew that's what we wanted to do and we approached every day wanting to get better and wanting to gain new skills and work through the issues from the past years and take that into preseason.

"I feel like we established what kind of team we could be in the preseason and then just heading into conference, we talk a lot about taking each game one at a time and focusing on this match. It doesn't matter who we're playing next, who we played last week, we're just focusing on this match."

Montana Grizzly Volleyball Weekly Press Conference https://t.co/ffaf1OycHj
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) October 24, 2022

Paige Clark had a dominant performance on Thursday with 20 kills, the third time in four matches that she reached that number. It brought her atop the conference leaderboard in kills/set with 3.79. The Grizzlies have had just one player in program history (Lizzie Wertz, 2002) lead the conference in that category.

The win on Saturday came from a collective effort, as six different Grizzlies finished with at least five kills. Montana also had three players record double-digit digs as things were clicking on both sides of the ball.

"We're a really physical team when we choose to be, meaning we jump high and hit hard. When we make big decisions, we take up big space, and so I think we wanted to show up in that way and we did," Lawrence said. "That's a deliberate decision and a mindset you have to play in."

Statistically, Montana is hanging in the top five of most major categories. They are 4^th in hitting percentage (.213) while also ranking 5^th defensively (.198). This weekend sets up the chance for Montana's offense to reach even higher.

Plenty of reasons to celebrate on Saturday!

📰https://t.co/D1gJPtySpm #GrizVB #BigSkyVB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/apjxewgsGr
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) October 23, 2022

Eastern Washington and Idaho are tied for last in the Big Sky, allowing opponents to hit .249 against them this season. The ground game for both also ranks 9^th and 10^th in the conference, as EWU averages 12.54 digs and Idaho just 11.88 per set.

The Eagles come into Thursday's meeting having lost back-to-back matches, but have been very good on their home court this season. Eastern Washington is 2-2 on Reese Court, beating both Idaho schools while also dropping a five-set decision to Portland State. They are one of just three teams to win multiple sets against the league leaders.

Sage Brustad will provide a difficult test for Montana. She is third in the Big Sky in both attacking (3.43 kills/set) and in the service game (.41 aces/set). She has the most total points in the Big Sky, but is second to Montana's Clark in average per set (4.09).

Idaho began conference play with seven consecutive losses, but momentum may be shifting for the Vandals after a five-set win against Northern Arizona on Saturday. It was the first time all conference season that Idaho had won multiple sets in a match.

Taryn Vrieling leads the team with 278 K/S and is 10^th in the conference. Travel Morris is 8^th in the Big Sky, averaging exactly one block per set, and was named the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. Aine Doty is 9^th in digs (3.68/set).

Regardless of records, the road trip is one that has proved difficult for Montana in the past. Since Idaho rejoined the Big Sky in 2014, Montana has not won both matches of the weekend. They have been swept three times and split matches on the other four occasions. The Grizzlies haven't swept the road trip since Idaho's first stint in the conference back in 1991.

GRIZ BITS

Montana has won 12 matches in a season for the first time since 2013, when they finished 16-15. The Grizzlies have 23 wins since 2021, the best two-year stretch since they won 24 over the 2010-11 seasons.
Montana is balanced on both offense and defense, ranking fourth in the Big Sky in hitting percentage (.213) and fifth in opponents hitting percentage (.198). The Grizzlies also rank third for assists (11.93 per set) and kills (12.63), and are second for digs (15.47).
Sophomore outside hitter Paige Clark is one of the league's top attackers, leading the Big Sky in both kills (3.79) and points (4.47). She has been in double figures for kills in 18 of 21 matches, including four straight. She has 20-plus kills in two of the last four matches.
Clark was name Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 5 after averaging over four kills per set at the Hampton Inn Invitational, where Montana went 2-1.
Setter Carly Anderson has had a fantastic start to her junior season, earning Big Sky Conference Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors in September and ranking second in the league with 9.90 assists per set. The versatile setter has seven double-doubles (assists-digs), is among the team's top servers and is totaling 29 kills compared to five attack errors during league play. Late last month, she earned her 2,000th career assist and ranks 9th in program history for career assists, despite being just a junior.
Both Clark (0.38 per set, fifth) and Anderson (0.36 per set, sixth) are among the league leaders for service aces. Clark set a new career high with four aces in the win against Idaho State.
Senior libero Sarina Moreno ranks third in the Big Sky for digs (4.19 per set). She has been in double figures for digs in . She ranks second in school history with more than 1,700 for her career (114 shy of Montana's school record).
Senior middle blocker Elise Jolly is tied for seventh in the Big Sky with 1.00 blocks per set. She has at least five blocks in four of Montana's conference matches this year, including a career-high eight against Montana State.
Junior middle blocker Ellie Scherffius ranks tenth in the Big Sky with a .296 hitting percentage. She has hit above .400 in a match seven times this season, and earlier this year became the first Grizzly in 15 years to total 20 kills at a .500 clip.
Senior outside hitter Jackie Howell has started every match this season and leads the Grizzlies for reception percentage. Known more for her defense, she has double digit digs in three of the previous four matches.
Senior right-side attacker Catie Semadeni has recorded at least eight kills in six of Montana's nine conference matches. She needs just eight more kills to reach 500 for her career.

SERIES HISTORY VS. EASTERN WASHINGTON

Montana holds a 58-44 advantage all time against Eastern Washington. The Eagles have the advantage in Cheney, however, as Montana is just 18-27 in road matches in the series. The Griz won four consecutive against the Eagles from 2017-19. After that, EWU won four straight, all of which were five set matches.

The Grizzlies swept the previous meeting between the two in Missoula last November.

SERIES HISTORY VS. IDAHO

The Vandals lead the all time series 40-31, and have a 17-12 advantage over the Grizzlies in games played in Moscow. Montana has had the edge recently, winning four of the last five meetings including a sweep in 2021.

LOOKING AHEAD

Montana has perhaps the toughest home weekend of the season next week as they take on league-leading Portland State (8-1) and fourth-place Sacramento State (6-3). The Griz took just one set against the two on the road trip in early October.

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Players Mentioned

Carly Anderson

Sarah Ashley

Paige Clark

Jackie Howell

Elise Jolly

Sarina Moreno

Ellie Scherffius

Catie Semadeni

University of Montana Athletics