Griz relying on returners as volleyball season nears

A new season of Montana volleyball unofficially began on Tuesday, with the first team practices of the 2022 season.

Griz fans will have plenty of opportunities to watch Montana compete over the coming weeks. In addition to a home exhibition match vs. Carroll College (Tuesday, Aug. 23 at 6 p.m.), Montana will open its 2022 campaign with a home, round-robin tournament against North Dakota, UC Davis and UT Arlington (Aug. 26-27). Single-match and season tickets are currently on sale.

During the 2019 and 2020 seasons, true freshmen accounted for 149 total starts, more than 50 percent of Montana's starting lineup over those two seasons. A season ago, Montana began to see the rewards of some of those 2019 and 2020 freshmen maturing into upperclassmen.

In the first month of its 2021 season, Montana posted its best non-conference winning percentage in 16 seasons, including its first tournament title since 2006 (UND Classic champions after a 3-0 weekend in North Dakota). The Big Sky slate included a 4-2 record against regional rivals Montana State, Eastern Washington and Idaho, including a road win in Bozeman and a season sweep over the Vandals for the first time since 1991.

The Grizzlies qualified for the Big Sky tournament after being picked to finish last in the preseason coaches' poll. The end result was the program's most wins and best winning percentage in nearly a decade.

"I think there's a lot of calm and comfort in the fact that returners know what it takes and that they've been tested on the court for multiple years now," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "Seeing what we did from the back-half of conference play last year into the spring, and then what we sustained through the summer, I think gives us a confidence and belief that is higher than it's ever been.

"We feel like the pieces are in place in ways that we haven't seen before."

Lawrence knows that there is still plenty to improve upon while taking the next steps toward building a sustainable program that can compete for conference championships. But she also believes the Grizzlies are on the right track, and that starts with who returns to the court.

Missoula native Sarina Moreno has more experience at the libero position than anyone in the Big Sky Conference, returning for a fifth season after starting 94 matches over the past four seasons and currently ranked third in school history for career digs. Last season, her digs-per-set average ranked third in the Big Sky.

Joining Moreno are a handful of additional returning upperclassmen, including junior setter Carly Anderson, junior middle blocker Ellie Scherffius , senior right-side attacker Catie Semadeni and senior outside hitters Jackie Howell and Elise Jolly, both who transferred into the program a season ago.

That group of six upperclassmen accounted for 122 starts in 2021.

"When you're young there are a lot of question marks, and I think now our question marks are about how far we push this group now that we know what they bring and what their strengths are," Lawrence said. "There's less anxiousness at this point of year and just more excitement to go make things happen."

Anderson has started every match at setter over the past two seasons and in 2021 ranked second in the Big Sky with 9.90 assists per set. Scherffius also started nearly every match last season, being named the UND Classic tournament MVP and leading the Grizzlies for blocking and hitting (eighth in the Big Sky). Semadeni had a breakout junior season on the right side, leading the Grizzlies for kills and ranking third in the Big Sky for hitting percentage among pin hitters. Howell ranked second on the team for digs while also serving and attacking as a versatile, six-rotation player. Jolly earned starts at both outside hitter and middle blocker, coming through in several big moments and being named the team's most-improved player.

That group doesn't even factor in sophomore outside hitter Paige Clark, who was named an all-conference selection as a true freshman, despite starting the year as a backup setter. After making the move to the left pin in early October, she ranked second in the Big Sky for kills and third for total points from that point forward.

In total, for the first time in a long time, Montana returns the majority of its production from last season.

"I see a ton of leadership in our upperclassmen, and the fun thing is that the leadership comes in different ways," Lawrence said.

From Semadeni, it's the traditional on-court mentorship.

"She's really welcoming to our younger players and provides a sense of stability to that group that they can look to in tough moments," Lawrence said of Semadeni. "I think she's giving a percentage of her energy this season to guiding that group, because all of her goals are wrapped up in how she's influencing those around her."

From Anderson, the leadership is through quarterbacking the team's offense over the past two years.

"She leads the team by what she does on the court, and the statistics back her up," Lawrence said.

From Jolly, it was seen in the progress she made in the offseason, and the fact that she's willing to adapt to any position.

"She attacked the spring and summer and showed up to fall camp ready to go," Lawrence said.

And from Moreno, it's in the fact that, after going through a Senior Night ceremony in November, she still changed her mind so that she could go through the grind for one more year.

"When she chose to come back, I think that instilled another level of belief in our team: 'If Sarina is fighting for more time, then she knows how good we can be'. The team looks to her a lot for guidance and confidence, just from having four years of experience," Lawrence said.

Back in the gym! 🙌#GrizVB #BigSkyVB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/ZisfiH06uU
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) August 9, 2022

Graduated are starters Peyten Boutwell (second on the team for blocking, third for kills) and Elsa Godwin (third on the team for service aces and digs), but returning are eight of the 10 players who earned starts in 2021, including 97.5 percent of the team's assists, 82.2 percent of its digs, 76.1 percent of its kills, 71.5 percent of its aces and 46.7 percent of its blocks.

The biggest loss was defensively at the net, but while Boutwell is gone, joining Scherffius back in the middle is Madi Chuhlantseff, who missed last fall while recovering from an ACL tear. As a true freshman the previous season, Chuhlantseff started 14 of the team's 16 matches while ranking second on the team for blocking. That duo is also joined in the middle by Missoula product Sierra Dennison, who redshirted last year, in addition to returner Alicia Wallingford.

Montana also brings back defensive specialist Sarah Ashley (125 digs, 10 service aces across 89 sets and nine starts in 2021) and outside hitter Maddie Kremer (41 kills in 30 sets as a true freshman).

New to the court are five players.

Olivia Boulding is a 6-1 outside hitter from British Columbia, who has a wealth of experience with the National Excellence Program and Team British Columbia systems in Canada. Fellow outside hitter Maddie Pyles holds Kennedale High School's (Texas) career kills record with more than 1,500.

Lexi Batezel is a defensive specialist from Las Vegas, where she earned all-state honors. Fellow defensive specialists Jena Kelly and Ginny Pace started practicing with the program in January. Kelly is a Baylor transfer, training with a Bears team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation for six weeks in 2019 and advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament. Pace, of North Carolina, was a three-time all-conference selection while winning back-to-back league titles.

Also joining the program in the offseason was assistant coach Annika Albrecht, who was an All-America player and two-time national champion at Nebraska.

First day ✅#GrizVB #BigSkyVB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/UmRihNrHtN
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) August 10, 2022

Tuesday was just the first day of two-a-day practices. Intensity will continue to ramp up as the season nears, which is now just over two weeks away.

Unlike many sports, in volleyball, coaches can have no on-court contact with players from May until the first day of fall camp.

"It's a whirlwind getting up to speed, but what's been really fun is that the players have brought the level of energy that doesn't require the coaches to pull it out of them," Lawrence said. "They bring it and the coaches are there to organize and teach structure.

"The returners have done such a good job of coming in ready to execute our system in ways that make sense to our new players. Our biggest goal is our own organization and system before we go play."

Present and accounted for! 🫡#GrizVB #BigSkyVB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/3uB29iu7gy
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) August 9, 2022

Griz relying on returners as volleyball season nears

Players Mentioned

Carly Anderson

Sarah Ashley

Alexis Batezel

Olivia Boulding

Peyten Boutwell

Madi Chuhlantseff

Paige Clark

Sierra Dennison

Elsa Godwin

Jackie Howell

Elise Jolly

Jena Kelly

Maddie Kremer

Sarina Moreno

Ginny Pace

Maddie Pyles

Ellie Scherffius

Catie Semadeni

Alicia Wallingford

University of Montana Athletics

Griz relying on returners as volleyball season nears

Related News

Players Mentioned

Carly Anderson

Sarah Ashley

Alexis Batezel

Olivia Boulding

Peyten Boutwell

Madi Chuhlantseff

Paige Clark

Sierra Dennison

Elsa Godwin

Jackie Howell

Elise Jolly

Jena Kelly

Maddie Kremer

Sarina Moreno

Ginny Pace

Maddie Pyles

Ellie Scherffius

Catie Semadeni

Alicia Wallingford

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