Grizzlies return home looking to extend winning streak

Montana vs. Portland State
Thursday, Nov. 3 / 7 p.m. / Missoula, Montana
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Montana vs. Sacramento State
Saturday, Nov. 5 / 12 p.m. / Missoula, Montana
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EVENT PARKING
Fans attending Saturday's match will be asked to park in Lot P in front of the Adams Center. Vehicles will need to be moved from the lot at the conclusion of the match to clear the lot for football game day parking. Staff will be on hand to assist with this process and answer any questions.

TITLE IX CELEBRATION
Montana Volleyball is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX with discounted tickets to Thursday night's match vs. Portland State. Fans can get two tickets for $9 by purchasing tickets at the following link.

MATCH PREVIEW

The final home stretch of the year is upcoming for a Montana volleyball team that is off to its best conference start in over a decade. The next three matches will all be played at home, starting with a chance for revenge against a Portland State and Sacramento State.

The Grizzlies (14-9, 7-4 BSC) were swept on the west coast road trip, falling 3-1 to the Hornets and 3-0 to the Vikings in the first meeting between the schools this year. A Grizzly team that is 5-3 at home has a chance to use the home court advantage to try to hang around in the Big Sky championship hunt.

Montana's 7-4 conference record is its best at this stage in the season since 2006, and is tied for the most Big Sky wins since the 2013 season. In a year full of unexpected results and wild finishes in the Big Sky, Montana has been the metronome that beats right on time. The Grizzlies – with two come from behind wins last weekend – remained a perfect 7-0 against teams below them in the conference standings and 0-4 against teams above them.

"All of these things that we're able to accomplish this year that we haven't done before feel really good. It's fun for us to celebrate together, and we just kind of look at each other like, we just did that," senior outside hitter Catie Semadeni said. "It's really fun and we still have so much more to do."

A road trip that has consistently haunted the Grizzlies over the years looked like it might do so again in 2022. Eastern Washington and Idaho both won the first set against Montana, dropping the Grizzlies to just 8-15 in opening sets this season.

But a resilient Grizzly team would not be denied. They rallied against Eastern Washington for a four-set win and went the distance with Idaho, coming back from down 0-1 and 1-2 to win it in the fifth. It improved Montana to 4-0 in five set matches this year.

Paige Clark had a big week offensively and continues to lead the conference in kills (3.82/set). Clark put together a nine-kill set against Eastern Washington to close the match and followed it up with a 15 kill performance on .371 hitting against Idaho. In two matches versus the Vandals this year, Clark totaled 30 kills and hit over .400.

It was enough to get her Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season.

"It was truly a team weekend. Everybody played so well and that's so fun to see when we win and get them together," Clark said. "Against Idaho it was so even and it's so fun to see everybody working together to come out with a whole team effort. It's fun to see how far in the season we are and we're gelling really well."

The league leader added 36 kills to her season total this weekend and led us to a road sweep. It has earned her Big Sky Player of the Week honors for the second time this year!

📰 https://t.co/nm6urTt5BO #GrizVB #BigSkyVB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/9YXm15676N
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) October 31, 2022

A balanced game plan overall helped the Grizzlies to the road sweep. They hit .309 against Idaho, the highest in a Big Sky match this year, and are now second in the conference at .217 for the season. Defensively, Montana maintained it's 2.00 blocks per set average and dug effectively.

The service game is where Montana has controlled matches in recent weeks. The Grizzlies had 19 aces over the weekend, their most in a two-match stretch this season. They have now recorded at least nine aces in three consecutive matches.

The Grizzlies are currently tied for fourth with one team and just two games back from the league leaders. They have a chance against both of those teams this weekend. It starts with 9-2 Portland State, who are coming off a loss to Northern Colorado but still lead the Big Sky by a game. Prior to the loss, Portland State had won seven consecutive matches and had dropped just a single set in their previous five.

The Vikings were swept by Northern Colorado in both meetings this year. Outside of that, they are 9-0 with a 27-6 set advantage over Big Sky opposition. They have three players in the top 10 in kills and Ellie Snook leads a stellar unit in ground defense. She tops the Big Sky with 4.56 digs/set. They are also aggressive in serving, leading the league with 1.77 aces/set.

Sacramento State started Big Sky play at 5-1 but have dropped three of the previous five matches. The Hornets and Grizzlies are tied for fourth in the conference standings. As we gear up for the end of the season, this match could go a long way in deciding who gets a top four finish and a higher seed at the Big Sky tournament. It could also potentially be a preview of a first round postseason match, as the two sides would meet were the season to end today.

The Hornets are second in points (16.11/set), blocks (2.51/set) and opponents hitting percentage (.176). They rank in the top five in several other statistical categories, including aces. This weekend will feature three of the top four teams in the Big Sky in serving.

"It's really important," Allison Lawrence said of this week. "We want to be a team that is not only separating ourselves into the top half, but also a team that's beating the top half of the conference. The first half of the season we didn't take too many sets off of teams ahead of us. The goal isn't to take sets only, but to keep evolving into a team that is competing point for point in those matches against teams ahead of us. I know our confidence is there to do that."

GRIZ BITS

This is the best start to conference play for Montana since the 2006 season. That year, Montana started 8-4 in Big Sky play but would lose their final five matches of the season to go 9-7 overall.
The Grizzlies have their most total wins (14) in a season since the 2013 team finished 16-15. One more win would give Montana the third most by the program in a season since 1995 and its first winning season since 2013.
Montana 5-3 at home and 6-4 on the road this season. It is the most wins, in both categories, since the 2013 season.
This is the second three-match winning streak for Montana in Big Sky play already this season. It is the first time since 2009 they have recorded multiple streaks of at least three wins against Big Sky opponents.
Montana is balanced on both offense and defense, ranking second in the Big Sky in hitting percentage (.217) and sixth in opponents hitting percentage (.200). The Grizzlies also rank third for assists (11.93 per set) and kills (12.70), and are fourth for digs (15.28).
Sophomore outside hitter Paige Clark is one of the league's top attackers, leading the Big Sky in both kills (3.82) and points (4.49). She has been in double figures for kills in 21 of 23 matches, including six straight. She has 20-plus kills in three of the last six matches.
Clark was named Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season on Oct. 31. She had 36 kills, averaging 4.0 per set in a road sweep of Eastern Washington and Idaho. She was also the POTW 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 10.00 assists per set. The versatile setter has eight double-doubles (assists-digs), is among the team's top servers and is totaling 33 kills compared to six attack errors during league play.
Anderson has 2,361 career assists and ranks 8th in program history, despite being just a junior. She passed Wendy Hoyt (1980-82) in the match against Idaho.
Both Clark (0.39 per set, fourth) and Anderson (0.34 per set, seventh) are among the league leaders for service aces. Clark has at least one ace in 19 of 24 matches this season.
Senior libero Sarina Moreno ranks third in the Big Sky for digs (4.26 per set). She has been in double figures for digs in nine consecutive matches. She ranks second in school history with more than 1,700 for her career (78 shy of Montana's school record).
Senior middle blocker Elise Jolly is ninth in the Big Sky with 0.99 blocks per set. She has at least five blocks in five of Montana's conference matches this year, including a career-high eight against Montana State.
Junior middle blocker Ellie Scherffius ranks eighth in the Big Sky with a .315 hitting percentage. She has hit above .400 in a match eight 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 five of the previous six matches. She had a career high 13 kills against Eastern Washington (10/27) and recorded her third double-double of the season.
Senior right-side attacker Catie Semadeni has recorded at least eight kills in seven of Montana's 11 conference matches and passed 500 career kills on Saturday. She matched her season high with 14 kills against the Vandals.

SERIES HISTORY VS. PORTLAND STATE
Portland State leads the all-time series against Montana 63-18. The Grizzlies have seen most of their wins come at home, as they are 13-16 against the Vikings in matches played in Missoula. The Vikings are currently on a five-match winning streak against the Grizzlies.

SERIES HISTORY VS. SACRAMENTO STATE

Sacramento State leads the all-time series against Montana 35-15. Again, Montana has been much better at home with an 11-15 record in Missoula. The Griz swept the last meeting in Missoula, but have dropped six of the last seven overall.

UPCOMING

Montana will have just a single match next week, a Friday night showdown at 7 p.m. with rival Montana State. The Grizzlies won the first meeting between the two schools in Bozeman this year.

Grizzlies return home looking to extend winning streak

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Carly Anderson

Paige Clark

Jackie Howell

Elise Jolly

Sarina Moreno

Ellie Scherffius

Catie Semadeni

University of Montana Athletics

Grizzlies return home looking to extend winning streak

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Carly Anderson

Paige Clark

Jackie Howell

Elise Jolly

Sarina Moreno

Ellie Scherffius

Catie Semadeni

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