Griz enter final week of regular season

Fresh off a rivalry victory and having its best season since 1999, Montana volleyball hits the road this week for one last set of matches before the Big Sky Tournament. The Grizzlies (16-10, 9-5 BSC) have guaranteed a conference finish no lower than fifth place thanks to the win over Montana State last Friday night in front of a record crowd.

Montana takes on an Idaho State team that is currently tied in the final postseason spot and has lost consecutive matches. They wrap up the regular season against second-place Weber State, winners of five of their last seven and a team that swept Montana in Dahlberg Arena earlier this season.

There is so much to say about the season that Montana has been having, but the 16-10 record and the play on the floor speak for themselves. The postseason is already in the cards for a team that hadn't finished higher than seventh in the Big Sky since 2013, but there is still seeding and momentum to play for as they enter this final weekend. And despite all of the successes and achievements of this team, they are far from satisfied.

"I think as we've been finding more success it just keeps adding fuel to the fire. I don't know that we're all sitting there thinking, 'What's the next stat we can beat?' The momentum just keeps rolling," senior Alicia Wallingford said. "It's a great thing to finish a game and be able to say wow, we haven't done that since before any of us were on the team or before some of us were born, so it's kind of just a rolling thing."

They will look to keep it rolling as one of the hottest teams in the Big Sky Conference after winning five of the previous six matches. The run of play started at home against the same Idaho State team that they will face Thursday night, as they swept the Bengals at the midway point in the conference season and haven't let up since.

The signature win of Montana's recent run came on Friday night, as they defeated the rival Bobcats in front of a UM record crowd of over 2,000. It clinched the season sweep of Montana State for the first time in nine years and was the third consecutive win in the series.

It wasn't particularly close, as the Grizzlies again used a good service game and a balanced offensive attack to keep the Bobcats out of system. Montana had seven aces in the match and were able to limit the Bobcats to just .109 hitting, their lowest percentage in nearly a month.

Sarina Moreno had a match-high 17 digs, inching ever closer to the Montana program record. She now needs just 27 more digs to become the all-time leader in the category. She had help in ground defense from Jackie Howell (15) and Lexi Batezel (13) as Montana got to balls and extended rallies all night.

It allowed for the Montana offense to step up. The Grizzlies hit .209 as a team and finished with 17 more kills than the Bobcats. Paige Clark (15), Catie Semadeni (13) and Ellie Scherffius (10) all reached double-digit kills. Semadeni hit .286 for her highest total in the last six matches and Scherffius put together her fourth match this year with double-digit kills on at least .400 hitting.

Scherffius' play has been crucial coming down the stretch for the Griz. This was the third match out of four that she hit .400 with at least 10 kills, all of which have been Montana wins.

At the end, it was the senior Wallingford that recorded her third career kill to clinch the victory for Montana.

"I think their mindset going into that match was so crucial. There is a lot of potential distractions in being at home in the rivalry match," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "Over the last several years, the home team has lost, so I think that added pressure in front of your home crowd to beat the rivals is a weight. I love how physical we were, I love how confident we were, and just how we handled that and channeled it into productive points of focus mentally."

The playoff picture is starting to take full shape. Northern Colorado, winners of nine straight, appear to be on their way to the regular season championship. But Weber State may have a chance on Saturday evening against Montana to jump ahead of them depending on results.

Portland State and Sacramento State currently sit in a tie for third, but they each have just one remaining match. It comes against each other. The winner will likely finish third, while the loser will be in danger of dropping a spot.

That's where Montana enters the conversation. The Grizzlies have guaranteed at least a fifth place finish, but a 2-0 weekend would move them ahead of the PSU-SAC loser and into the fourth seed. Montana State has also clinched a tournament spot, while Idaho State and Eastern Washington are tied for the final two spots but not safe from Northern Arizona.

The success this season has been great already for Montana. There is a growing list of accomplishments not seen inside Dahlberg Arena for quite a few years, but it isn't something that the team is focusing on. Instead, they are taking it match by match. It starts with these final regular season road tests.

"I want us to be hungrier than ever," Lawrence said. "We aren't sitting around thinking, 'Let's just check things off a list.' I think this group understands that we get better every time we practice and every time we take the floor so let's see what we can do."

Week 12 Montana Grizzly Volleyball Press Conference https://t.co/DkRq4a4NU1
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) November 14, 2022

GRIZ BITS

Montana is currently having its best season in 23 years. At 16-10, Montana has its best winning percentage (.615) since going 18-9 in the 1999. They are now tied with the 2000 and 2013 teams for the most in a single season since 1999.
This is the most Big Sky wins for Montana since 2013 (12-8). They have clinched a finish of no worse than fifth in the Big Sky, which matches the highest a Griz team has finished since 2013.
The .643 winning percentage in Big Sky play is the highest for a Montana team since the 1994 squad went 13-1 and tied for the conference championship.
Friday night's win against Montana State was the seventh home victory of the season for the Grizzlies. It is the most since the 2010 team won eight matches at home.
Montana has put together multiple winning streaks of 3-plus matches in Big Sky play this season. It is the first time since 2009 they have recorded multiple streaks of at least three wins against Big Sky opponents.
Montana has one of the best offenses in the Big Sky. The Grizzlies are third in hitting percentage (.212), third in assists (11.86/set) and third in kills (12.69/set).
The Grizzlies have a great ground defense, ranking third in the Big Sky in digs/set (15.21).
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 12 consecutive matches. On Friday, she reached 400 digs for the season. It is the third season she has reached that milestone in her decorated career.
Moreno ranks second in school history with more than 1,800 for her career (27 shy of Montana's school record). At her current pace, she will become Montana's all-time leader on Saturday.
Sophomore outside hitter Paige Clark is one of the league's top attackers, leading the Big Sky in both kills (3.86) and points (4.50). She has been in double figures for kills in 24 of 26 matches, including nine straight. She has 15-plus kills in seven of the last nine 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 10.13 assists per set. The versatile setter has seven double-doubles (assists-digs) and has been one of the best attacking setters in the league with 38 kills and just seven errors in Big Sky play.
Anderson has 2,493 career assists and ranks 8th in program history, despite being just a junior.
The Griz rank third in the Big Sky in aces and have three players among the Big Sky's leaders. Clark (0.37, fifth), Anderson (0.33, eighth), and Elise Jolly (0.32, ninth) have led a Montana service game that has at least eight aces in three of the last four matches.
Senior middle blocker Elise Jolly is sixth in the Big Sky with 1.03 blocks per set. She also has an ace in the previous six matches.
Junior middle blocker Ellie Scherffius ranks seventh in the Big Sky with a .311 hitting percentage. She has hit above .400 in a match 11 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 six of the previous nine matches and is two digs away from reaching 250 on the season.
Senior right-side attacker Catie Semadeni has recorded at least eight kills in eight of Montana's 14 conference matches and recently recorded her 500^th career kill.
Montana will finish as the fourth seed in the Big Sky tournament with a weekend sweep. The Grizzlies haven't been the higher seed in a conference tournament match since 2008, when the fourth-seeded Grizzlies lost to No. 5 Weber State.

SERIES HISTORY VS. IDAHO STATE
Montana leads the all-time series vs. Idaho State 44-39. The Griz have a seven-game advantage at home and are undefeated against the Bengals on neutral courts, but ISU does have a winning record at home against Montana. The Bengals have won 24 of 42 meetings against the Grizzlies in Pocatello.

In the last meeting, Montana swept Idaho State at home in late October. The Grizzlies hit .288 as a team and held the Bengals under .100 hitting. Sarina Moreno had 22 digs in just three sets of action.

SERIES HISTORY VS. WEBER STATE
The Grizzlies have the all-time lead in the series 48-37, but it has been dominated in recent years by the Wildcats. Weber State have won eight straight matches against the Grizzlies, not allowing Montana to win multiple sets in any of them. Overall, the teams are .500 in Ogden through 36 total matches.

In the first meeting this year, Weber State swept Montana in Missoula in a match that was much closer than the final score suggests. The Griz were able to hit .214 in the match, had eight more kills, 10 more assists and six more digs than the Wildcats. They just couldn't get the clutch points down the stretch in a tight loss.

UPCOMING
The Grizzlies have already clinched a spot in the Big Sky Tournament, beginning Wednesday, November 23 in Ogden, Utah. The first match time will be determined by Montana's final seedings and the scheduling of the event.

Players Mentioned

Carly Anderson

Alexis Batezel

Paige Clark

Jackie Howell

Elise Jolly

Sarina Moreno

Ellie Scherffius

Catie Semadeni

Alicia Wallingford

University of Montana Athletics