Montana battle Big Sky champs to the end

Saturday, November 18

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

11-17,7-9Big Sky

Sacramento State

20-10,13-3Big Sky

Sacramento St.

Montana

Photo by: Tanner Ecker/University of Montana

11/18/2023 10:49:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana led for much of the night and went five sets with Sacramento State on Saturday night in front of a large Montana crowd, but the Hornets pulled away late to win the Big Sky title.

The Grizzlies (11-17, 7-9 Big Sky) had dramatic 26-24 set wins in both the first and third. Sacramento State took the second (25-22) and the fourth (25-15) to set up the tiebreaker fifth set. Montana had some chances late and made it interesting until the final point, but Sacramento State won 15-13 to seal their title and get the No. 1 seed at next week's Big Sky Tournament.

"I'm extremely proud," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "I think there are parts of our game or breakdowns that we can tease out that will be good points of emphasis before our first match at the tournament. But extremely proud of how we competed and just the level of volleyball that we're playing right now."

The crowd on Saturday night was 1,002 total people, which is the largest crowd for Montana in a non-Montana State match since 2004. The Grizzlies end the year averaging 852 fans at their home games, the highest since 1993.

A special moment for a special group. This class of seniors have changed the trajectory of Griz Volleyball. Thank you, seniors!#GrizVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/JSwPplr6Se
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) November 19, 2023

Montana will enter as the six seed following the loss and will play No. 3 Montana State in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament next Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. The Griz and Cats split the regular season series.

The Grizzlies hit .276 against a talented Sacramento State defensive front and looked every bit up to the task of spoiling a potential championship for the Hornets. It continued an impressive weekend offensively for the Grizzlies, and a great close to the season.

The senior class that has meant so much to the coaching staff and the program at Montana was celebrated before the match and proceeded to have an impressive game collectively.

Montana hit over .200 in all five sets, including a .375 number in the decisive fifth set, but came up just a few points short. There were five Grizzlies with at least nine kills and all of them hit over .200. Maddie Kremer had a career-high 16 kills in the match to lead the way.

Paige Clark had 13, Madi Chuhlantseff had 12, and senior Ellie Scherffius had 11. Fifth-year senior Catie Semadeni had nine kills on .438 hitting. Carly Anderson finished the night with 51 assists, the second time this year she's reached the half-century mark.

The Griz honored the seniors before the game. The pre-match emotions didn't distract Montana. Instead, they were fueled by them to a big first set win.

"I think this group, part of what makes it so strong and resilient is how they feel about each other," Lawrence said. "I think it's in our culture to do feelings out loud and to verbalize a lot and what it means to play on this team and how much we love playing together.

"It was Senior Night and we were more sentimental about the memories and playing for the enormous efforts our seniors have given us over the last four years, but it's pretty routine for us to talk in those terms," Lawrence continued. "I think that's something that makes us stronger, rather than distracts us. It's something I really enjoy about them."

Scherffius helped Montana jump out to an early lead as her third kill of the opening minutes made it 5-3 Montana. The Grizzlies had a big run, scoring seven out of eight take a 12-8 lead. The rallies flipped between the teams as Sacramento State got four straight to tie it at 12-all.

The Griz went on a run of three straight to hold a 15-12 advantage at the media timeout. Montana had great early production from the middles, who had 14 kills on their first 19 swings. Chuhlantseff and Scherffius split them evenly with seven each.

The Griz went up 24-21 before the Hornets scored three straight to make things interesting down the stretch. But a service error from Sacramento State followed by a great serve from Alexis Batezel ended the set in favor of the Grizzlies.

Batezel played well on Saturday, finishing with 20 digs to lead Montana.

The middles combined for 14 of Montana's 17 kills in the opening set win.

That's just too easy for @EllieScherffius! Her 10th kill of the match makes it a 6-0 run for Montana here in the third!#GrizVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/tWNGTZ6l7x
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) November 19, 2023

"Our middles have done such good work to ensure that our offense is so threatening," Lawrence said. "It takes teams multiple sets to figure out how to slow them down."

The Hornets bounced back in the second set. Montana jumped out to an impressive 7-2 lead, but Sacramento State answered with five consecutive and eventually took their first lead of the set at 9-8. The Grizzlies would battle back and take an 18-16 lead before a 7-0 run sunk the hosts.

They bounced back in the third, opening up with a 6-1 lead and extending it out to 10-3. They let the Hornets back within two on a couple of occasions but mostly maintained the lead, going ahead 24-19 late. Then Sacramento State scored five straight and things looked to be going against Montana.

But Kremer stepped up with one of her 16 kills and an error on the following point gave Montana a 2-1 lead after their second 26-24 set victory.

The Hornets ran away in the fourth set with a 25-15 victory, setting up the all-important fifth set. Montana won their first match that went the distance back in August, but had lost three straight entering tonight.

Sacramento State would make it four in a row. The Hornets went ahead 4-1 early, but Montana battled back to tie it with an ace from Carly Anderson at 6-all. The team started trading points, and after Anderson had a dump kill to make it 13-12 there was hope for Montana. But the Hornets would close it out with their 14^th block of the match, winning 15-13 in the final set.

Big-time kill from Maddie Kremer and we've got a tight one here in the fifth!#GrizVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/qLytscjtzl
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) November 19, 2023

Montana have now lost in five sets, and by two points in those fifth sets, to both the conference champion Sacramento State and the No. 2 seed Northern Colorado. Montana defeated No. 3 Montana State in Missoula. The results have Montana feeling confident heading to Greeley next week.

"We scheduled the way we did and prepared the way we did hoping to be playing with the top of the conference at the end of the conference season and into the conference tournament," Lawrence said. "I feel like with a win on Thursday and a five-set loss against the Big Sky Champs on Saturday, plus taking Northern Colorado to five and losing by two shows what we're capable of.

"It shows what we're capable of and I think our goal of winning a match at the conference tournament and really putting up a good showing there and being ready for postseason in that way, I think that this is preparing us," Lawrence said.

It was a big day for Lawrence, her associate head coach Dana Hallisey, and everyone involved with Griz Volleyball. The senior class has meant so much to the program, and they have altered the trajectory of Montana volleyball for the better.

When Montana made the tournament in 2021, it was seen as an accomplishment. Now, after three straight years and plenty of wins as the group, this team has dreams of heading to the postseason and winning for the first time since 2013.

It may have been an emotional night playing the final game at home, but there is also a lot of joy for Lawrence knowing this team still has more time playing together.

"I spent a lot of the day grieving and kind of overwhelmed with emotions, and the other part of the day looking forward to what is next with them because we're not done," Lawrence said. "Our focus after the game was just, what about this weekend are we going to carry over because we feel like our momentum is where it needs to be and we are hungry to go do big things."