Griz hang well with defending champs, fall in five

Saturday, November 4

Missoula, Mont.

12 PM

Montana

9-15,5-7Big Sky

Northern Colorado

13-10,8-4Big Sky

Northern Colo.

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/UM Athletics

11/4/2023 3:48:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana had a complete performance Saturday afternoon and put the defending Big Sky champions on the ropes, but Northern Colorado did just enough down the stretch to snap the four-match home winning streak for the Griz.

The Griz won the first and third sets and had a 13-12 lead in the decisive fifth set. Northern Colorado ended on a 3-0 run, however, to hand Montana its first home loss in over a month.

Montana falls to 9-15 and 5-7 in Big Sky play. Northern Colorado improves to 8-4 in the league with the 16-25, 25-18, 18-25, 25-18, 15-13 win.

The final result stings for Montana, but the effort and attention to details throughout that put the Grizzlies in position to win against UNC for the first time since 2013 made head coach Allison Lawrence proud.

"That match hurts because I think this was a huge opportunity where we were playing well, we had Northern Colorado off their game for large streaks," Lawrence said. "We created the opportunity to win, we had swings for it. We had a pretty good look at 13-all and barely missed, but we went for it. I'm just so proud that we were in a gear where we were going for it and not stressed at all."

Ellie Scherffius had a big night for the Grizzlies with 14 kills on .650 hitting. It was a season high in kills for Scherffius, who set a tone early for the Grizzlies and continued her aggressive play through until the very end of the fifth set.

The middles made a huge difference in the match as Madi Chuhlantseff also had a sharp attacking day with 10 kills on .333 hitting. It's her third straight match in double figures, and she combined with Scherffius for 24 of Montana's 55 kills.

"I just think our middles did a great job offensively," Lawrence said. "It allowed us to be in rhythm and in gear from the beginning. It's so stressful when they are hitting well, then we start using our pins in ways and distributing it around."

It was a truly balanced effort from Montana, who limited the best attack in the Big Sky to a couple of sets under .105 hitting and had a .259 night themselves. The defense, particularly in the opening sets, was dominant.

The Bears scored four of the first five points of the match, but Montana had a 3-0 run to take the lead at 8-7 by again doing a little bit of everything. A block, followed by an ace and then a Scherffius kill gave the Griz the lead.

The duo of Chuhlantseff and Catie Semadeni proved particularly tricky for the Bears to figure out. They combined for three blocks in the first set, and Semadeni and Scherffius combined for another, as Montana started to run away with the set.

Chuhlantseff and Semadeni combine for their 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗗 block of the opening set!#GrizVB | #BigSkyVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/vJl0SHdrRu
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) November 4, 2023

They had a couple of 3-0 runs in close succession to take a 22-15 lead. The had another block down the stretch to take the opening set 25-16. The Grizzlies limited Northern Colorado to -.043 hitting with six kills and seven errors. Montana, meanwhile, hit .280 in a dominant opener.

Much of that production came from the middles, as Scherffius and Chuhlantseff combined for eight kills on 11 swings.

"I think the middles setting a tone allowed us to be really physical. There is an aggression that comes with middles scoring," Lawrence said. "It means you're ball controlling well, it means you're digging well, and you're just offensively so threatening that it forces your opponent to change."

Madi Chuhlantseff gets her 6th kill of the match! Our middles are 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒 right now, combining for 13 of our 21 kills on .600 hitting!#GrizVB | #BigSkyVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/FNOB0kn2yF
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) November 4, 2023

The high-powered offense wouldn't remain in check for long. The Bears had an early lead and matched their first set kill total through just eight points in the second.

They remained hot to take a 15-10 lead at the media timeout. At the same time Chuhlantseff ripped off her sixth kill of the match. Scherffius already sat at seven, giving the pair 13 of the first 21 kills of the match for Montana. They were both hitting .600 at the time.

They just couldn't slow the Bears in a 25-18 win for the visitors. UNC responded from the negative percentage in the first with a 3.6 hitting percentage in the second.

Montana began the third set up 4-1, but Northern Colorado responded. This set, more than any other, saw big momentum swings. The Griz were the benificiaries of the biggest one. After trailing 10-9, Montana scored nine of the next 10 points with 5-0 and 4-0 runs to go ahead 18-11.

It was more than enough of a cushion for the Grizzlies to close out the set and move ahead 2-1. It was just the third time Montana has won two sets against UNC since the last win in 2013, and first time since 2018 that they've done it.

The attack saw plenty of balance for Montana in the third with five different players recording multiple kills and no player going over three.

The Bears can't handle Kremer's serve, and it sets up Paige Clark for the 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 kill to end the third set!#GrizVB | #BigSkyVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/f89okA6P4s
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) November 4, 2023

The momentum was in favor of Montana and continued on at the start of the fourth set. The Grizzlies scored the first seven points, extending an overall run to 23-8 dating back to the last Northern Colorado lead.

But the Bears, with plenty of veteran leadership and a four-time Big Sky Coach of the Year leading the way, didn't just go away. They started by just chipping away at the Grizzly lead, getting it all the way back to 14-12 without a single 3-0 run.

Montana extended it back out to 16-12, but Northern Colorado would score 13 of the final 15 points to force a fifth set.

The Griz did well to shake it off, opening the fifth with three straight points. Scherrfius had two kills early to set her new season high. They had plenty leads early, but a 3-0 run put Northern Colorado in charge for the first time at 8-7.

Maddie Pyles, who played an excellent defensive match with eight digs including some highlight-reel saves, came in to serve and picked up an ace to tie the match at 9-all. In crunch time, Northern Colorado popped off three straight to take a 12-9 lead. It forced a timeout by Lawrence.

Her team needed a response to end the run and stay in the match. She dialed up her best player on the day, and Scherffius delivered. She ripped a kill to cut the lead to 12-10. Then Scherffius hung in midair and adjusted to her left hand for a soft tip over. The acrobatic play ended in a kill to make it 12-11.

On the following point, Scherffius and Carly Anderson combined for a block to make it 12-all. Scherffius also got her hands on the next Northern Colorado attack to slow it down and put Montana's offense in rhythm. Anderson set Clark, and Clark put it away for a 13-12 Grizzly lead.

The Bears took the next point, and Montana had a chance on an attack with Clark on the following but the ball carried just a foot too far and set up match point for the visitors. Isabel Bennett recorded her 17^th kill of the match to put Montana away in a five-setter that saw 23 ties and 12 lead changes.

Anderson had 41 assists and six kills on .667 hitting, dialing up an impressive Montana offense all day. The Grizzlies hit .259 as a team, their highest percentage since Oct. 12 in a win over Idaho.

The Griz were balanced, as they also had 11 blocks, the highest in a single match since Oct. 7 against Northern Arizona. Semadeni led the way with seven, followed by six from Chuhlantseff and four from Scherffius.

Alexis Batezel had 12 digs and Maddie Pyles added nine.

"I think we're still finding levels to our game and still getting better," Lawrence said "I know our motivation right now that we feel pretty secure in our tournament spot and going into the tournament we want to see how good we can be."

The Grizzlies are currently in seventh place in the Big Sky Conference with two weeks remaining. They will hit the road for the final time next week to face off against second-place Weber State on Nov. 9 before a big match against Idaho State on Nov. 11.

The Bengals are currently one place ahead of Montana in the league standings. It will mostly be about postseason positioning down the stretch for the Grizzlies, but Saturday's performance has Lawrence believing her team can compete with the very best in the Big Sky.

"I think it says a lot about our senior and upperclassmen leadership and how hungry the team is to make this program great," Lawrence said. "They want to be at the top of the conference and contending, and we've put ourselves in position to be dangerous against any team."