Griz aim to extend rivalry streak to five

Montana at Montana State
Friday, Oct. 27 / 7:00 p.m. / Watch / Live Stats

The Main Line Trophy is once again on the line as the Montana volleyball team heads to Bozeman for round two of the Brawl of the Wild rivalry. Montana is looking for its fifth straight win in the series, but will have to earn it in front of a large crowd in Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

Last year, Montana played the role of spoiler as they defeated the Bobcats in front of a Big Sky record crowd of nearly 6,500 people. It's part of a winning streak for Montana that has evened the overall rivalry at 61 wins each.

The Grizzlies took the first meeting this year in dominant fashion, dispatching the Bobcats in three sets. The 25-11 score in the third is the largest set win for Montana this season, as the Grizzlies left no doubt on their home floor.

The result stood out for Montana State, who began the Big Sky season 6-0 outside of the match. But now both the Griz and the Bobcats enter Friday night needing a result after both teams were swept on the Sacramento State/Portland State road trip.

The rivalry brings extra attention and more fans into the arena, but head coach Allison Lawrence knows that her team is going to arrive in Bozeman ready to go.

"There is a lot of extra distractions this week, but this group is really good at setting that aside and focusing on what matters," Lawrence said. "I think this group loves playing in that environment."

Montana sit at 4-5 in Big Sky play and tied for sixth in the conference after dropping both matches last week. The league has been highly competitive, with several surprising results over the past few weeks leading to a jammed middle portion of the standings.

The Portland State match pushed Montana into the second half of the season, and as they prepare for the final seven matches the Grizzlies find themselves in the thick of it in the Big Sky.

"I think we're in a great spot. I think the conference is crazy, as ever," Lawrence said. "We've seen a lot of upsets and a lot of unpredictability from teams. It's an exciting place to be. We've had our ups and downs and inconsistencies as well, but we're ready to continue hitting our stride but also find new levels to our game as we hit this back half."

Montana's goal all season has been to compete with the top of the league. Friday night provides an opportunity to do that, and the Grizzlies are coming off a couple of matches filled with learning moments.

They won the first set against Sacramento State in very impressive fashion, but couldn't maintain the offensive consistency to see out the lead for the rest of the match. In Portland, the Grizzlies had big losses in sets one and four, but were able to get a 25-23 second set win and they led for much of the third before falling 25-27.

Lawrence is hoping that the team that she has seen many glimpses of is able to maintain that level of play for an entire match. The chance to get plenty of time in their home gym this week with only the single match on the schedule should have them at 100 percent going into the rivalry.

"We feel rested, we feel ready to go. We want to be measured against the top of the conference and we want to be executing consistently," Lawrence said. "We left feeling really hungry to be a better team and a different team in certain moments, but I think we feel at our core that we know what we're good at and we're ready to bring it."

After this match, Montana will play four of the final six at home. The top eight teams in the league make the Big Sky Championships, and with how competitive the Big Sky has been this year there is not a lot of room for error. A win on Friday would propel Montana into the final stretch with some confidence and momentum.

"It's a big one in terms of getting us in rhythm as we head back home and spend more time at home," Lawrence said. "But also just every win in the conference right now is key to positioning in the conference tournament and just making it into the conference tournament."

FILLING THE STANDS
Montana set a program record for attendance in the Brawl of the Wild in Missoula earlier this season with 2,237 fans taking in the Grizzly sweep over the Bobcats. It's part of an increased interest in volleyball in Missoula this fall.

The Grizzlies currently average 945 fans per contest, which would be the second-highest season average in program history. Montana averaged over 1,000 fans during the 1991 season where they finished 26-4 overall, 16-0 in Big Sky play and 12-0 at home.

ANDERSON CLIMBING THE RANKS
Carly Anderson eclipsed 750 assists on the season over the weekend and has increased her career total to 3,372. She moved into seventh place in program history earlier this year and is now just 39 assists away from passing Ashley Watkins (2016-19) for sixth place all-time.

Anderson likely will end the year in sixth place, but is returning for one more season in 2024 and will have a chance to set the all-time Montana record. Ann Schwenke currently holds the school record with 4,650 career assists from 1988-91.

Week Ten Montana Grizzly Volleyball Press Conference withAllison Lawrence https://t.co/VrjQjxD5ji
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) October 23, 2023

GRIZ NOTES

Montana have won 12 straight matches against their three regional rivals (Montana State, Eastern Washington, and Idaho). They haven't lost to any of the teams since October of 2021.
This is the longest winning streak for Montana against Montana State since they won five consecutive from 2010-12.
The Grizzlies have struggled away from home this season. They are 4-2 in neutral sites, 3-4 at home, but just 1-7 in road matches.
The first set has been a good indicator of how the rest of the match will go all season. Montana is 8-3 when winning the first set but 0-10 when dropping the opening set.
Montana are 6-2 this year when holding opponents under .200 hitting.
The eight wins this year are tied for the fourth-most by Montana since 2015.
The third set has been a strength for Montana this year. The Griz outscore opponents 465-464 in the set. They are tied with opponents (45-45) in the fifth set and trail in the other three.
When outhitting opponents this year, Montana are 7-2. The Grizzlies are 1-11 when opponents hit a higher percentage than them.
Montana are ranked 192^nd in the latest RPI rankings. They are sixth among Big Sky teams and trail Montana State by five spots.
The Grizzlies are second in the Big Sky in both total attacks (2,718) and total kills as a team this year (973).
The .202 hitting percentage is sixth in the conference and 191^st in the NCAA. The number has increased to .212 against Big Sky teams, which ranks fourth in the league.
The rotation has been very consistent this season for Montana with five players appearing in all 81 sets and three others appearing in at least 79 sets.

INDIVIDUALLY SPEAKING

#2 Paige Clark leads Montana with 3.26 kills/set. She has improved her numbers in conference play to 3.44 per set, which ranks 7^th in the league. Clark has 825 kills in her career and is 44 away from cracking the top 20 in program history. She is also 7^th in the league with 3.88 points/set.
Clark has seven double-doubles this season, including two in the last three matches.
#4 Carly Anderson is 3^rd in conference play with 9.44 assists/set. She has seven double-doubles this year and has a season-high of 52 assists in a win against Binghamton.
Anderson is also 10^th in the league with 11 service aces, and she has recorded at least one ace in four straight matches.
#5 Madi Chuhlantseff is hitting .347 in conference play to rank 4^th in the league. She has 77 kills compared to just 17 errors and has at least eight kills in eight of the last nine matches. She has hit over .350 (min. 5 kills) on eight different occasions this season.
#7 Alexis Batezel has been fantastic defender for Montana this year out the libero position. She is 3^rd in the Big Sky with 4.35 digs/set and has recorded double-digit digs in all but one match this season.
Batezel had a streak of nine consecutive matches without a receiving error broken at Portland State, but she still leads the team in that category with a .939 receiving percentage.
#8 Maddie Pyles has appeared in 46 sets this year, mostly in the back row of the rotation. She has five kills and 30 digs.
#10 Ellie Scherffius is 3^rd in the Big Sky with 1.26 blocks/set in conference play. She has 90 total blocks this year and is 22 away from entering the top 20 in program history. She has multiple blocks in 20 straight matches.
Scherffius is also hitting .306 this year with 133 kills. Her career hitting percentage of .294 is currently tied for the best in school history with Karen Goff. (min. 1,000 attempts).
#12 Sarah Ashley has been a key part of Montana's rotation this season. She has four matches this year with at least three aces, including a five-ace performance against Sacramento State (10/19). Her 27 aces are second-most on the team, and she's also 4^th on Montana with 2.08 digs/set.
#16 Catie Semadeni has appeared in every set for Montana this year and averages 1.67 kills/set on .203 hitting for the season. She has three matches with double-digit kills, most recently doing it on the road against Boise State.
#22 Maddie Kremer recorded double-digit kills for the eighth time this season last Saturday, and also picked up her fourth double-double in the process. Her 2.46 kills/set are second-most on the team, and she is also 2^nd with 2.18 digs/set.

SCOUTING MONTANA STATE (13-6, 6-3 Big Sky)

The Bobcats opened league play 6-1 with the only loss coming at Montana. They struggled on the difficult West Coast road trip much like the Griz, dropping both matches to fall to 6-3 in league play. They are still 3^rd in the conference standings.
Head coach Matt Houk is in his first season at Montana State after spending nine years as an assistant at the University of Minnesota.
Kira Thomsen leads the Big Sky Conference this year with 3.96 kills/set. She's also the league leader in points with a 4.52 average. She had just eight kills in the first meeting against Montana, but has reached double-figures in every match since including a couple of 20-kill performances.
Jordan Radick is 6^th in the Big Sky this year with 1.10 blocks/set. Lauren Lindseth is 7^th with 3.89 digs/set, and Jourdain Kamps is 10^th in points with 3.47/set.
Setter Nellie Stevenson averages 7.94 assists/set to rank fourth in the Big Sky. The number has dropped to 7.66 in Big Sky play.

SERIES HISTORY
The all-time series record is evenly split between the two schools at 61 wins each. Montana have the lead in the Big Sky Conference era with a 46-27 record since 1988.

The Griz have the advantage in Bozeman as well with a 27-25 overall record on the road in the series. The most memorable win came last season in front of a Big Sky record crowd. Montana won the match 3-1.

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Players Mentioned

Carly Anderson

Sarah Ashley

Alexis Batezel

Madi Chuhlantseff

Paige Clark

Maddie Kremer

Maddie Pyles

Ellie Scherffius

Catie Semadeni

University of Montana Athletics