Griz face Cats at Big Sky Tournament

No. 6 Montana vs. No. 3 Montana State
Big Sky Conference Tournament Quarterfinals
Wednesday, Nov. 22 / 4:00 p.m. / Greeley, Colo.
ESPN+ Stream / Live Stats

The season will be on the line in Griz-Cat round three as Montana and Montana State meet in the first round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament on Wednesday afternoon in Greeley, Colo. It's the first postseason meeting between the two rivals since 1996, and only the second-ever Big Sky Tournament meeting.

The teams split the regular season series with the home team winning in both contests. Montana dominated in Missoula, sweeping the Bobcats 25-20, 27-25, 25-11. Montana State got redemption in Bozeman with a four-set victory.

There won't be any of the extras that typically come with a rivalry match with the Bobcats. There will be no record crowds or Main Line Trophy to celebrate with after the match. There will just be 12 players on a court with the winner moving on and the loser heading home.

"We're just focusing on this opponent's strengths and weaknesses and our matchup with them," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "It's really about that, and about putting ourselves in position to win the match and leaving the extra emotions of the rivalry out of it."

The two matches were drastically different. Montana outhit Montana State .344-to-.225 at home, rolling to its biggest set win of the year by taking the final eight points of the match. It was the first sweep for Montana over the Bobcats since 2016.

Paige Clark was dominant offensively, recording 14 kills on .632 hitting. Setter Carly Anderson averaged 12 assists per set to lead an offense that MSU struggled to slow down. The Grizzlies also held Kira Thomsen to just eight kills on .200 hitting.

The match ignited a stellar run of play from Madi Chuhlantseff. She had 10 kills in the win, her first time reaching double-digits in nearly a month. She had four matches with 10-plus kills in the first 14 matches of the year. Since the first MSU meeting, she's had eight matches in double-figures.

The rematch in Bozeman shifted in favor of Montana State. The Bobcats held Montana in check in the second meeting, outhitting the Griz .272-to-.158. Thomsen also got loose for 21 kills while the Bobcats held Clark in check with eight kills.

"It's been our goal all season to be in position to play well and win a first-round match," Lawrence said. "We have split the season series with MSU, so we're playing a team that we experienced success against but also more recently came up short, so how are we responding to that."

There will undoubtedly be some sort of extra motivation because of the opponent, but regardless of who was going to be standing across the net from Montana at the tournament the goal has been the same all year for the Grizzlies.

They scheduled hard, and challenged themselves all year long, to prepare for this moment. The Grizzlies have found plenty of success over the previous two seasons, but a tournament win has still eluded them.

Montana hasn't won at the Big Sky tournament since 2013, and prior to that have to go back to 1996. The Griz have eight total wins at the Big Sky tournament, but picked up seven of them from 1990-96. The culture has shifted from celebrating tournament appearances to expecting to compete and win at the Big Sky Championship.

There is a growing confidence that this team has the talent to do that in Greeley. Montana went five sets with Big Sky regular season champ Sacramento State on Saturday night in the regular season finale. They also went five sets with No. 2 seed Northern Colorado earlier in the year. In both matches, they fell by just two points.

"We've spent conference season preparing to solve the problem in front of us in each match," Lawrence said. "Each team poses different problems and challenges, and I think we're just looking at this match that way. How are we problem solving and how are we tactically approaching this particular opponent?"

Montana already have one win against the No. 3 seed Bobcats this year. For a senior class that has changed the narrative of Montana volleyball over the past two seasons, the first tournament win in a decade would be the perfect cap to their impressive careers.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Montana and Montana State meet in the postseason for just the second time in the Big Sky era. The Grizzlies won the only previous meeting in 1996, a five-set win in the 4/5 matchup. The two teams also played twice in the 1980s at the Mountain West tournament with MSU winning both.

This is the fifth straight time that Montana has reached the fall Big Sky Conference Tournament (they missed the tournament during the shortened spring 2021 season), which is the most consecutive appearances since the Grizzlies appeared in the first seven iterations of the event from 1988-94.

The Grizzlies are 8-20 all-time at the Big Sky Tournament. They won the event in 1991. This is the first time that they will play as the No. 6 seed.

MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE
The middles for Montana have been dominant this season. Madi Chuhlantseff and Ellie Scherffius each rank highly in the Big Sky Conference in a number of categories, and had an impressive performance last Saturday against Sacramento State.

The duo had 14 kills in the opening set and ended the night with 23 kills on .370 combined hitting. They also had seven total blocks.

This season has been a highly successful one for Montana's middles. They both rank inside the top 10 in the Big Sky with hitting percentages over 300. Chuhlantseff has the most kills of anyone in the top 10 with 243, and is 3^rd in the league with a .340 hitting percentage.

Her .340 hitting percentage would be the second-best single season number in program history. Jaimie Thibeault holds the record with a .353 percentage in 2009.

Scherffius is 9^th in hitting percentage at .300, and has been even better on the defensive side of the net. She ranks 6^th in the Big Sky with 1.10 blocks/set.

GRIZ NOTES

Montana is hitting .211 as a team this season. It's the best single-season percentage in the 25-point rally scoring era (since 2008) and the 9^th best in program history. The Grizzlies have been above .200 in five of the previous six matches, and hit over .245 in the final three matches of the year.
The Griz hit .349 in the sweep over Portland State on Nov. 16. They had 44 kills and just seven errors. It's the fewest errors in a Big Sky match in program history.
Montana has compiled a 39-45 record over the previous three seasons. It's the most wins in a three-year span since winning 41 matches from 2008-10.
The 7-9 record in conference play is the second-best winning percentage since 2014. The Griz finished 10-6 in league play last year.
The offense hit over .300 for the fourth time this season in last week's win over Portland State. It was the best offensive performance of the year for Montana, but the second-best came in a 3-0 win over first-round opponent Montana State back on Sept. 29. The Grizzlies hit .344 in the rivalry win.
The first set has been important for Montana this year. The Grizzlies are 11-5 when winning the first set, but are 0-12 when they lose the opener. Montana has won the opening set in five of the previous six matches.
The Grizzlies are 5-4 in sweeps, 5-9 in four-set matches, but fell to 1-4 in five set matches with last Saturday's loss. They have lost four straight matches that have gone the distance, and the last fifth-set win came on Aug. 31 against Binghamton.
Montana are 9-2 when finishing with a higher hitting percentage than their opponent. They are 2-15 when being outhit.
In neutral site matches, Montana has a 4-2 record this year. They also went .500 in neutral venues last year, and won three matches the year prior to that.
Carly Anderson ranks 6^th in Montana history with 3,637 career assists. She had 51 assists in the regular season finale against Sacramento State to eclipse 1,000 total this season. It's her second straight year with over 1,000 total assists.
Anderson played her 100^th career match with Montana on Saturday.
Alexis Batezel has 440 digs this season entering Wednesday's match. She needs 12 against MSU to crack the top 10 for a single season in program history. Allison Yarnell currently occupies the 10^th spot with 452 in 1987. Batezel ranks 5^th in the Big Sky with 4.07 digs/set.
Paige Clark is 10^th in the league with 3.16 kills/set. She is also 10^th in aces with 36 total and 0.33/set.

SCOUTING MONTANA STATE (19-7, 12-4 Big Sky)

The Bobcats enter the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the Big Sky. They won the final five matches of the season to get into a tie for second place with Northern Colorado, losing the tiebreaker of total points in head-to-head matches to UNC.
Montana State played just three neutral-site matches this year, going 1-2 in them.
MSU won a Big Sky tournament match last season, taking down host Weber State in five sets before losing to Portland State in the semifinals.
The Bobcats are under the direction of first-year head coach Matt Houk. Houk served as the associate head coach at Minnesota for the previous four seasons.
Kira Thomsen leads the Big Sky this season with 4.17 kills/set. She is also first in the league with 4.69 points per set, and fourth in the league with 0.40 aces per set.
Jordan Radick is fourth in the Big Sky with 1.16 blocks/set.
As a team, Montana State is near the middle of the pack in the Big Sky in most statistical categories. They hit .213 on the season (5^th) while holding opponents to a .204 percentage (4^th). They average 2.26 blocks per set (4^th) and 14.35 digs (5^th).

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE BOBCATS

This is the 124^th all-time meeting between the two teams. Montana State leads the series by the narrowest of margins, 62-61. The Grizzlies had won four straight matches in the series from the end of 2021 through the first match this year, but MSU snapped that streak with a four-set win in Bozeman.
The teams have met 14 times at neutral sites with Montana State leading 11-3 all-time in those matchups. They were mostly played in the 1970s and early 80s. The last neutral site meeting, and only matchup while in the Big Sky, came in 1996, a 3-2 Montana win in Northridge, Calif.
The Grizzlies are 46-28 against MSU since the teams joined the Big Sky in 1988. Head coach Allison Lawrence is 6-8 vs. the Bobcats.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Carly Anderson

Alexis Batezel

Madi Chuhlantseff

Paige Clark

Ellie Scherffius

University of Montana Athletics