Montana ends West Coast swing with four-set loss to Portland State

Saturday, October 21

Portland, Ore.

8 PM (MT)

Montana

8-13,4-5Big Sky

Portland State

12-8,5-4Big Sky

Montana

Portland St.

Photo by: Tanner Ecker/UM Photo

Montana ends West Coast swing with four-set loss to Portland State

10/21/2023 10:47:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana had a long stretch of high-level play against Portland State on Saturday night, but a Viking comeback in a decisive third set opened the door for a 3-1 win for the hosts. They defeated Montana 25-15, 23-25, 27-25, 25-13.

There are plenty of positives for Montana to take home from the difficult West Coast road trip, including a set win inside Viking Pavilion for the first time since 2021. It seemed like things may tilt in Montana's favor at one point, but a comeback from Portland State provided them a momentum boost to close things out in four.

The loss drops Montana to 8-13 overall and 4-5 in league play.

"There were stretches of that match where we created enough opportunities to win sets and it was in our control in the third set," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "After that one slipped, it was really hard to recover mentally and emotionally. The momentum completely flipped and the match got away from us at that point."

Montana had a pair of strong sets, hitting .275 in the second set win and .227 in the third set. They had four more kills than the Vikings during that stretch and looked the better team at many times on the night. But in both the first and final sets Montana was held below .062 hitting as the consistency factor was missing in Portland.

The two middles were efficient in generating offense for Montana with 16 combined kills and just three errors. Madi Chuhlantseff hit .471 with nine kills to go with two blocks. Ellie Scherffius had seven kills on .294 hitting and four blocks.

Alexis Batezel had a match-high 17 digs and Carly Anderson had 37 assists. Paige Clark led the team with 13 kills and added 10 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Maddie Kremer also recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 14 digs.

The Vikings had 67 digs to Montana's 61, and outblocked the Griz 15-6. It's the most blocks by a Grizzly opponent this season.

The Vikings jumped ahead early, taking a 6-1 lead and then pushing it up to 10-3. The Grizzly offense was held to a .000 hitting percentage midway through the set and couldn't mount a comeback. The Griz trailed the whole way in a 25-15 set win for the hosts.

Portland State had another long run early in the second set, scoring six straight points to take a 9-5 lead. They built the lead up to five points at 13-8 before Montana started to climb back into it. The Grizzlies got four of the next five points, but still trailed as they neared the 20-point mark.

A balanced effort that included a Scherffius kill, a block from Clark/Chuhlantseff, and an ace from Maddie Pyles led to three straight Montana points that gave the Grizzlies a 19-18 lead. They rolled off three straight again moments later, taking six of seven points overall for a 22-19 lead.

The Vikings pulled back within one late, but a service error ended the set 25-23 in favor of Montana to tie the match up at one set apiece.

"I think we just settled down with passing and ball control," Lawrence said of the keys to the second set win. "Our efforts and our details both on defense and offense showed up together, and then there were sets where we really weren't competitive. It fell apart on all sides of the game."

There were chances for Montana to take the reins of the match in the third. They scored four straight points, capped by a Maddie Kremer ace. They continued to control the set, going ahead 12-6 after a Viking error.

The Vikings began to find some offensive momentum down the stretch, scoring four straight points with three kills and an ace to cut the Griz lead to 17-15. Montana disrupted the run with a dump from Carly Anderson, one of three kills for the setter on the night. But Portland State scored the next three to tie it at 18-all.

Credit to Montana for not giving in to the long run. They would get a kill from Scherffius, then another from Anderson as they started to stretch the lead back out. They went ahead 23-20 on the Vikings and looked set to take the always important third set.

Paige Clark had a back-row attack that gave the Grizzlies set point, but the Vikings closed out the set on a 4-1 run to swing the momentum all the way back in their favor.

Portland State scored nine straight early in the fourth set to take a 9-1 lead, and wouldn't allow the Griz back within four points the rest of the way. It's the seventh straight win in the series for the Vikings in Portland.

Montana has a chance to bounce back against Montana State next Friday on the road. The Bobcats were also swept on the West Coast road trip, setting up an important bounce back match for both sides. Montana swept the first meeting in Missoula at the end of September.