2023 volleyball schedule features Final Four team in Missoula

The 2022 season will go down in the history books for the Montana volleyball team after a 17-12 record. Now, it's time to start looking ahead to recreating that success in 2023. It starts with the schedule, which Montana has now finalized.

The coaching staff isn't just sitting back and resting on laurels. Head coach Allison Lawrence has put together an impressive list of non-conference opponents for the 2023 season, including some of the best teams in the country coming to Missoula.

"One of our goals for this fall was to schedule tougher to prepare to win more games at the top of our conference," Lawrence said. "I think last year we accomplished our goal of beating the teams ranked below us twice. This year we want to get more wins against the teams that are ahead of us. To do that, we need to prepare a little differently."

Season tickets can be purchased here, with single game tickets going on sale in the coming months.

Montana's season begins on Aug. 25 with the Ellesyn Invitational in Missoula. The field is stacked, to say the least, featuring a pair of top 20 teams in the country from last season. UTRGV, Pitt, and BYU will all compete in the event. UTRGV finished 27-7 last season and 13-1 in the WAC, making a run to the quarterfinals of the Women's NIVC. Two of the 27 wins for the Vaqueros came against Montana.

The Pitt Panthers have been among the very best programs in the entire country over the last two seasons, reaching back-to-back Final Fours behind 61 combined wins. They have also won at least 30 matches in every non-COVID shortened season since 2017 and haven't had a losing season since 2010.

They compiled a 31-4 record and a 17-1 mark in ACC play last season. Pitt swept the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, then picked up 3-1 and 3-2 wins against Florida and Wisconsin, respectively, to reach the National Semifinal. Once there, Pitt fell in five sets to No. 2 Louisville.

BYU have been one of the best programs in the West in the last decade, reaching each of the previous 11 NCAA Tournaments. They have ended each season ranked inside the top 17, with a highest finish of No. 3 following an NCAA Championship appearance in 2014.

Head coach Heather Olmstead has the highest winning percentage in D1 history at .896. In seven seasons, she has compiled a 191-22 overall record. BYU finished 22-7 last season and were eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by Pitt.

The four teams at the Ellesyn Invitational ended 2022 with a combined record of 97-30. The weekend won't be one to miss for fans of volleyball.

"I think it's always special to bring that caliber of volleyball to this region and to Missoula and to have our fans see some of the top volleyball in the country being played here," Lawrence said. "To see us playing against teams like that but also to see teams like that play each other.

"It wasn't in my mind originally to bring in a final four team, but once you get one team of that caliber interested they kind of attract each other," Lawrence continued. "It ended up coming together in a pretty cool way."

Montana next heads east to Buffalo, N.Y. for the Buffalo Invite. They will take on a trio of tough teams again this week in host Buffalo (19-14 in 2022), Binghamton (17-9) and DePaul (10-20). Buffalo and Binghamton both competed in the NIVC, meaning the first five matches of the season for Montana will be against teams that made the postseason in 2022.

It will be the first-ever meeting between Montana and both Buffalo and DePaul. Binghamton defeated Montana 3-2 in 2015 in the lone meeting between the two.

The Grizzlies stay a little closer to home the following weekend to play at the UND Classic in Grand Forks, N.D. They open against Green Bay (23-11) before taking on New Mexico (17-12) and the host Fighting Hawks (12-18) to close out the tournament.

The Grizzlies are 3-0 against Green Bay and 0-5 against New Mexico in program history. North Dakota controlled the series against the Griz when they were in the Big Sky with an all-time record of 15-3 against Montana.

The non-conference season finishes in Boise. The Grizzlies again will face three difficult match-ups against South Dakota State (18-15), Loyola Marymount (18-10) and Boise State. SDSU and LMU each reached the postseason in 2022, bringing the total number of postseason teams Montana will face to seven.

The Grizzlies finished 7-5 last season in the non-conference portion of the schedule, the most wins and best winning percentage in 17 years. It will be a tall task to recreate that success against the high-level competition they face in 2023, but the increased level of competition should pay dividends down the road.

"It's a big-time puzzle, and there are parts of it this year that just ended up being more difficult than they were last year. The intent was to build a schedule that would test us against teams that are very similar to the top of our conference a lot earlier," Lawrence said. "I feel like we're a big step ahead of where we were last year, and I think the scheduling needs to reflect that."

The first 12 matches feature 10 teams with winning records in 2022 and seven postseason teams. The 12 teams combined for a 229-141 (.619) record last season.

In conference play, Montana will play home-and-away series against seven teams in the league. They have just a single game against both Idaho schools, hosting the Vandals on Oct. 12 and traveling to Pocatello to play Idaho State on Nov. 11.

Montana returns a bulk of its lineup in 2023, including first team All-Big Sky selection Paige Clark and second teamer Carly Anderson. There are several other key contributors returning for what should be another promising year for Grizzly volleyball.

"How the schedule rotated this year means ours is particularly tough in conference. I think we have our work cut out for us, and I think this is a team that has been asking for that now for a year and a half," Lawrence said. "They want that kind of challenge and body of work throughout a season. It's time to do step up and do it."

The Grizzlies finished 10-6 in Big Sky play last year to tie for fourth in the league.

University of Montana Athletics

2023 volleyball schedule features Final Four team in Missoula

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