Griz clinch postseason spot despite loss on Thursday

Thursday, November 9

Ogden, Utah

6 PM

Montana

9-16,5-8Big Sky

Weber State

17-7,10-3Big Sky

Montana

Weber St.

Photo by: Tanner Ecker/University of Montana

Griz clinch postseason spot despite loss on Thursday

11/9/2023 8:46:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana fell in straight sets Thursday night in Ogden against second-place Weber State. The Wildcats won 25-17, 25-17, 26-24 to drop Montana to 9-16 on the year and 5-8 in Big Sky play.

The tough Wildcat defense never allowed Montana to find its rhythm offensively as the Grizzlies were held to .182 hitting on the night and 31 total kills. Weber State hit .256 to improve to 10-3 in conference play and move one step closer to locking up the No. 2 seed at the conference tournament.

Paige Clark led Montana with eight kills while Maddie Kremer and Madi Chuhlantseff had seven each. Carly Anderson had 25 assists and an ace.

High-level play at the net led to a lot of ground defense and Alexis Batezel shined with 17 digs, the most for either team in the match.

The Griz scored the first point of the match on a kill from Ellie Scherffius, part of a solid opening set from Montana's middles. She and Madi Chuhlantseff combined for six kills and both hit over .425 in the first set, but after the initial 1-0 lead the Grizzlies weren't able to take an advantage.

Weber State built the lead quickly and extended it throughout the set, as Montana wasn't able to get within two points after 6-4. It followed a similar pattern in the second set as Clark delivered with a kill on the first point, but a 4-0 run by Weber State gave them a lead the rest of the way.

Montana hit .207 in the second set for its highest total on the night with Catie Semadeni having a nice stretch with two kills on as many swings for a perfect hitting percentage.

The Grizzlies gave the Wildcats all they could handle in a wild final set that featured 17 ties and six lead changes. They mixed it up, bringing in Maddie Pyles on offense and she pulled through with a couple of kills in the set.

The teams were tied at five of the first seven point totals. Despite plenty of ties, Weber State held a majority of the leads in the early-going until Kremer put Montana in front 14-13. Clark had an ace that put Montana in front again later at 18-17.

The two sides went back and forth down the stretch, and after a kill from Clark the Grizzlies had a set point at 24-23. But the hosts swung it back in their favor, scoring the final three points of the set and match.

The Grizzlies leaned on Kremer a lot in the final set and she picked up four kills in her 15 swings.

It's the fifth loss in the previous six matches for Montana. They have a chance to rebound on Saturday against Idaho State. The Bengals were swept by Montana State on Thursday night in Pocatello.

It's a match that will have some postseason seeding implications as the two sides are currently sixth and seventh in the league standings with Idaho State holding a one-game advantage over Montana.

Even in the loss, there was some good news for the Griz as they clinched a trip to the postseason with Northern Arizona's loss to Eastern Washington. It's the third straight trip to the Big Sky Tournament for Montana, which is the longest streak of consecutive appearances since three in a row from 2008-10.

Saturday's match in Pocatello will be a noon start. The match can be streamed on ESPN+.