Griz fall to defending champs in four

Thursday, October 5

Greeley, Colo.

6 PM

Montana

6-10,2-2Big Sky

Northern Colorado

8-7,3-1Big Sky

Montana

Northern Colo.

Photo by: Tanner Ecker/UM Photo

10/5/2023 8:48:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana's offense continued its impressive stretch of play on Thursday night in Greeley, but the Grizzlies struggled to hold the defending Big Sky champions in check in a 3-1 loss. Northern Colorado hit .360 to take the match 25-16, 25-16, 20-25, 25-19.

The Grizzlies (6-10, 2-2 Big Sky) hit .300 for the third consecutive match, and they did so with contributions from all across the court. Montana hadn't hit .300 entering the Eastern Washington match two weeks ago but have found a new rhythm. They couldn't put together the complete performance, however.

"I think there were many parts of our game that showed up that were really fun to see, but I think ultimately we have to be grittier against top teams and be able to hold consistent pressure with execution," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "We knew that match would be point-for-point. We knew they would hit with a high efficiency and we knew we would too. We have to be tougher and compete with a higher gear against these top teams."

The middles found success early, and that opened up lanes on the outside. Paige Clark led the Grizzlies with 13 kills on .312 hitting. A trio of Grizzlies finished with nine kills. The two middles Madi Chuhlantseff (.571 hitting) and Ellie Scherffius (.467 hitting) had very efficient nights. It is Chuhlantseff's third straight match with at least 8 kills on .400 hitting or better.

Maddie Kremer also had nine kills. The third set saw Montana hit well over .500, and it came behind seven kills from Clark. Outside of that set, the Grizzlies were still above .200 in two others and ended the night with 47 kills and just 14 errors.

Northern Colorado (8-7, 3-1 Big Sky) hit above .300 in three of the four sets and had four different players finish with 10-plus kills. All-American Syd Cole orchestrated the Bears offense to near perfection with 47 assists.

Despite the big offensive numbers, the Grizzlies found some success at the net. They had 11 total blocks, and Scherffius set a new career-high with nine blocks, all of which were assisted. Clark also added five.

Carly Anderson had 37 assists for Montana and Alexis Batezel had 11 digs.

"When we were in rhythm and on the net we were pretty unstoppable," Lawrence said. "It was just our ability to consistently get our first contact up to the net. There were moments that UNC made it hard to do that, it's obviously why they are at where they are at, but I think there were moments when we earned some advantages and weren't able to ball control."

The Bears jumped out to a fast start, opening an early 6-2 lead. Montana's offense actually had a good beginning stretch, cutting the lead to just a single point at 8-7 thanks to .667 hitting in the early-going.

There were just too many big runs by the Bears to overcome. They went on a 5-0 streak to jump ahead 13-7. Scherffius would end the run, and Montana would shortly after go on a 3-0 run to get back within a few points. Clark's third kill made it 18-16. Chuhlantseff also had three kills at the time as the Griz were hitting .400.

But Northern Colorado went on one more run, this time closing out the set with the final seven points. Montana hit .250 in the opening set but allowed the Bears to hit over .500 in the 25-16 set win.

Denied at the net and Montana start the second set with the first three points! #GrizVB | #BigSkyVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/s9YewkQwFO
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) October 6, 2023

Montana started the second set with the first three points and led early on. Northern Colorado took the first lead at 9-8 after a 3-0 run. It was a bit of an improbable score as Montana were outhitting the Bears .429-to-.125 at the time but losing.

The big momentum plays continued for Northern Colorado, and a 6-0 run opened the set up. The Grizzlies had it tied until the run, which put it out of reach for the host Bears. They would hold on for another 25-16 win, and they turned the hitting percentages around completely.

There was one area where Montana had plenty of success. Chuhlantseff and Scherffius were both highly efficient on offense. Chuhlantseff had five kills on six swings in the first two sets, and Scherffius had four kills on five swings.

The success of the middles opened up opportunities for the rest of the offense, and it allowed a big third set for Montana, and specifically Paige Clark. The Grizzlies trailed early but had a 5-0 run, which included three kills from Clark, to open up a 14-7 lead.

It grew to 17-9 at one point, which provided more than enough cushion to absorb a 5-0 Northern Colorado run. The Grizzlies still led 17-14, and responded with four of the next five points to get to 20 first. They held on down the stretch, and Kremer put the finishing touches on a 25-20 win.

Clark was spectacular in the third set, recording seven kills on 10 swings and doing so without a single error. The .700 set helped her to a .312 hitting percentage in the match, the second straight time she's been over .300 with at least 12 kills.

It's a 3-0 Griz run, Clark is up to seven kills, and Montana's looking to extend this to a fourth set in Greeley!#GrizVB | #BigSkyVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/FAhx8SCGkO
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) October 6, 2023

Montana hit over .500 as a team in the set, and it pulled them above .300 for the match as the offense maintained the impressive form that it has showed over the previous two matches. The turnaround was sparked by some lineup changes from Lawrence and good performances off the bench.

"We were more patient attacking. We located better out of system and made some lineup changes," Lawrence said. "Maddie Pyles really added a spark and some ball control that we needed. I think we just controlled first contact a lot better and offensively were able to relax."

The Bears controlled things in the early portion of the fourth set, and went ahead 13-6 after a 4-0 run.

The Griz didn't go away. Back-to-back kills from Catie Semadeni and an ace from Clark cut the lead to 18-14. Montana would then get three out of four points.

Maddie Pyles checked in to her third set of the night to serve late and delivered with an ace to cut the Bears lead to 20-17. On the next serve it appeared Pyles had another ace, but a review showed it missed the back line by a matter of inches. Instead of 20-18, the score was overturned to 21-17.

Maddie Pyles checks in to serve and drops a perfect ball in to force a Northern Colorado timeout!#GrizVB | #BigSkyVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/CWrHbY2S2p
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) October 6, 2023

The successful Bears challenge gave the hosts the momentum they needed to close it out the match.

The Grizzlies will look to keep the offense rolling and figure some things out defensively on Saturday against Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks played against Montana State on Thursday night. Montana will hope to clean up some of the mistakes made in Greeley and get out of the weekend with a split.

"I think it's just where we are at in our process. It's toughness and where we are choosing to put our focus so we can hit our details," Lawrence said. "They are fully within our control which is exciting and also frustrating, but we get another shot at it on Saturday."