Griz snap streak, down NAU in four

Thursday, November 2

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

9-14,5-6Big Sky

Northern Arizona

5-17,2-9Big Sky

Northern Ariz.

Montana

Photo by: Tanner Ecker/University of Montana

11/2/2023 10:37:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

There's no place like home to snap a losing streak. Montana returned to Dahlberg Arena on Thursday night and picked up a four-set win over Northern Arizona that both snapped a three-match skid while also extending the home winning streak to four matches for the Griz.

The Grizzlies haven't lost at home since September, and the streak never appeared in doubt during a 25-18, 25-22, 14-25, 25-19 win on Thursday.

"I was proud of them for sticking with the details," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "I think when there is a sense of urgency to have a response and you have to have a win and we're in the race to position in the tournament and all those things, you can start overplaying and get tight. I really liked how we competed."

Montana were outhit in the match percentage wise, but created over 20 more attempts to overwhelm a scrappy Northern Arizona defense. It went as expected with ground defense playing a crucial role, just as it has in the previous three meetings between the two schools that all went five sets.

It didn't take that many this time around as Montana earned a much-needed win. The Grizzlies were led by Paige Clark with 17 kills on .371 hitting. It's the fifth time this year that Clark has had at least 17 kills, but just the second time she's done it on .300 or better hitting.

After a tough three-match road stretch, Lawrence knew that the change of scenery should help shift momentum. But she also made a lineup change that paid dividends, inserting Maddie Pyles into the starting lineup for the first time in conference play.

"I think that's an adjustment that we need to be able to use throughout the season. We know that other lineups have worked as well, so this was a good way for us to get experience in different passing formations so that we had different options in serve receive."

Catie Semadeni may not have started, but the new rotation also worked well for the senior. She had 12 kills, recording double-figures for the first time since before the conference season started.

"We felt in rhythm. Offensively it was really great to see such a response from our last match in Bozeman where we felt there were streaks where it was difficult to score in ways that we've been scoring, so it was nice to reestablish that."

Madi Chuhlantseff had a dominant match on both sides of the net, recording 11 kills with no errors (.440 hitting) while also blocking a match-high five attacks. It's her second straight match with double-digit kills and the third straight time she's hit over .400.

The move to put Pyles into a bigger role paid off as she shared the team-lead for the Grizzlies with 14 digs. She also added an ace and was excellent in serve receive with just one error in that department.

"I thought Maddie Pyles did such a good job of serving really tough and playing really good defense. Not one tip, or roll shot, or off-speed dropped in front of her. She managed that part of the court really well and was in the passing lanes a lot, and for someone who hasn't passed much that's a lot of pressure."

Carly Anderson averaged over 10 assists per set, totaling 42 in the match. She moved into sixth place in Montana's record book in the process, passing Ashley Watkins (2016-19) in the opening set.

Maddie Kremer started the match off with an ace and the Griz jumped ahead 7-5 early through some fantastic defense on both sides. The two teams were both at .000 hitting percentages at that point in the match, but the Griz offense started to open up down the stretch.

One-two punch for the Grizzly point as Anderson dumps it over!#GrizVB | #BigSkyVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/545N7Dvndi
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) November 3, 2023

They scored four straight to take a 13-10 lead. They ran away with it down the stretch, scoring nine of the final 12 points to win the opening set. It was a balanced attacking effort in the opening set with six players sharing 13 kills, but it was Montana's defense that held NAU under .100 hitting that allowed for the big win.

The second set featured 11 ties and five lead changes as the two teams traded points for much of the set, but Clark and Semadeni took over offensively down the stretch to help Montana take a two-set lead.

The teams were tied at 20-all before Clark rattled off four kills in the final seven points of the set to put the Lumberjacks away. She had eight kills on .467 hitting in the set as a whole. Semadeni had five kills on .455 hitting with no errors.

Rumor has it this ball is still in the air...#GrizVB | #BigSkyVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/X0QDxULU7K
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) November 3, 2023

The Lumberjack offense got hot in the third set and the visitors hit .542 with 13 kills and no errors to force a fourth.

Once there, Montana established control yet again. They forced Northern Arizona into six attacking errors, and the Lumberjacks hurt themselves a bit with six service errors compared to zero aces, which allowed Montana to take a big lead.

The Griz scored nine out of 10 points, including a 6-0 run with Pyles at the service line, to go ahead 14-6. The Lumberjacks tried to rally and were within three points down the stretch on two occasions, but Montana did enough to see it out in four sets.

Gallery: (11-2-2023) VB: Northern Arizona (11.2.23)

The win is important to get the vibes back up for the Grizzlies, but it also helps paint a clearer postseason picture as they enter the home stretch. The top eight teams make the Big Sky Tournament and Montana entered the night a half-game ahead of Eastern Washington for the final position.

Northern Arizona entered tonight two games back of Montana.

In a tight conference, there was the possibility of Montana moving up significantly over the next three weeks, or potentially falling out of the playoff picture, with Thursday playing a major role in that.

The win puts Montana three games ahead of Northern Arizona and well out of reach of last-place Idaho. It also give the Grizzlies the tiebreaker over Northern Arizona on total sets won in head-to-head matches this year. The Griz already own the tiebreaker over Eastern Washington after sweeping the season series against the Eagles.

Now, instead of having the worry of checking the rearview mirror for anything sneaking up behind, Montana can play freely down the stretch. Lawrence is excited to see what that may lead to, starting with a match against Northern Colorado Saturday at noon.

"I think this match had a feel to it where we win, we get to stay in control of our own destiny and really fight for positioning in the tournament. A loss would mean a really stressful stretch against teams that are playing really well," Lawrence said. "It definitely frees us up and let's us just go see how good we can be."