Griz head east for Buffalo Invite

Montana vs. Binghamton
Thursday, Aug. 31 / 12:00 p.m. (MT) / Live Stats / Watch

Montana at Buffalo
Friday, Sept. 1 / 4:00 p.m. (MT) / Live Stats / Watch

Montana vs. DePaul
Saturday, Sept. 2 / 9:00 a.m. (MT) / Live Stats / Watch

There was always the knowledge when Montana first scheduled the 2023 season that the opening weekend at home may result in three losses. The Grizzlies, after all, took on a pair of teams that are currently ranked in the top 10 in the country and another that ended the season 57^th in the RPI, more than 30 places ahead of Big Sky Champion Northern Colorado.

So as Montana gets set to head east for the Buffalo Invitational in Western New York, there isn't a lot of surprise that they do so with an 0-3 record. The goal for this season, after all, was not to replicate the win total from 2022. Instead, Montana entered the difficult non-conference schedule hoping to come out on the other side prepared to compete against the top of the Big Sky.

It's easy to say that the goals have changed, and that learning from difficult matches is OK. It's much harder to actually have to go through it as a competitor.

"I think it's one thing to kind of profess as a group that this year we have different goals, when I think playing with the pressure to outperform last year is very real," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "To take our home floor and decide to add external pressure that is ours to control got us super tight and just flat. I didn't even recognize us on Friday."

Montana opened the season against UTRGV and were swept. It started off a run of seven straight lost sets that extended through a highly challenging matchup with No. 5 Pitt and into the start of the night game with No. 17 BYU.

But as the weekend went along, the Grizzlies started to open it up and look better and better. The pressure started to release, and the Montana team that Lawrence expected to see showed itself.

"I didn't see a lot of fight and a lot of pride," said of Friday night's loss. "I thought we would showcase that more, but I think as the weekend went on and we settled into feeling like ourselves I thought we played freer and started to gain confidence that the swings were working and that we were putting ourselves in position to take big swings and score big points."

It led to a set victory against BYU, a team that on Friday defeated Pitt and jumped to No. 9 in the AVCA National Poll this week. It wasn't a fluke set, either. The Grizzlies were arguably better in a close 25-21 loss in the first set before comfortably winning the second set 25-20.

The goal now is to continue that momentum into this weekend's Buffalo Invitational. It won't be an easy task with cross country travel leading to a trio of high quality opponents. There are 77 undefeated teams currently remaining in the NCAA, and Montana will face off with a pair of them this weekend. The other team is a Big East member who has an RPI that would put them in the top group in the Big Sky.

"We're going to stay the course. We have talked in meeting after meeting that we are gaining tools right now in each match. We are taking it match by match, problem by problem, point by point," Lawrence said. "The competition looks different with strengths all their own. We're going to prepare and be us the best that we can, and we're going to get into the match and trust that we can problem solve our way to wins."

ALL-TOURNEY ELLIE

Ellie Scherffius earned a spot on the All-Tournament team at the Ellesyn Invitational. It is the sixth straight All-Tournament honor for the middle blocker dating back to the UND Classic in September of 2021, and the seventh All-Tournament honor of her career.

In 2022, Scherffius was named to the All-Tournament team in every preseason event for the Grizzlies and helped lead Montana to a 7-5 record entering conference play.

Scherffius started all three matches for Montana, recording 20 points over the 10 sets. She had 15 kills on .458 hitting, and had nine total blocks to average nearly one per set.

BREAKOUT FOR KREMER

Maddie Kremer finished her sophomore season in 2022 with 21 total kills in just 30 sets played. While those watching Montana's matches may not have seen the full impact she has had on the program the last two years, everyone inside the Grizzly locker room knew her potential.

At the Ellesyn Invitational, Kremer moved into a starting role for the first time in her career and made the most of it with a big weekend. She matched her 2022 kill total with 21 to go along with nine digs, two blocks, and 38 service receptions.

"I was the most impressed with Maddie Kremer," Lawrence said. "She has been our Scout Team MVP and such a huge reason that our team has been prepared to play the way they've been playing the last two years. For her to embrace that role and then get moved into not just a starting role as an attacker, but as a six-rotation attacker. Not a lot of people understand how stressful that is and how heavy the load is to carry."

Her athleticism was on display in all three matches. At 5'10" she stood more than a half-foot shorter than plenty of the opponents that she faced this weekend. It often didn't matter, as she rose to the same heights and never backed down.

"To have that happen against some of the top competition in the country, I was just so impressed by her mentality," Lawrence said. "She went for it. She was aggressive. She was a learner, and she's ridiculously good. A high flyer with a heavy arm that is so athletic. She had a breakout weekend, and she did that because of how she prepared. I have not seen a lot of athletes with the balance of maturity and team-first attitude that she has."

A COACHING CONNECTION

There will be a special moment on the court before Montana and DePaul face off on Saturday morning between the two head coaches. Allison Lawrence and DePaul's Marie Zidek first met in 2007 when Zidek was hired as a GA and Lawrence was helping with summer camps and working as a volunteer assistant for he alma mater.

Over the years, the pair have remained in close contact. As the two careers started to form, they would write each other letters of encouragement and just to check in. They both received their first D1 assistant coaching positions in the same year, and now have both gone on to lead the program that first hired them.

Allison Lawrence and Marie Zidek pose while on a hike together in Montana.

Lawrence started at Montana as an assistant in 2010 and is now in her seventh season as head coach. Zidek also started at DePaul in 2010, and is working on her sixth season as head coach. Zidek won a conference Coach of the Year award in 2021, Lawrence matched it in 2022. There are plenty of parallels that the two share, but more importantly they share a long and meaningful friendship.

They often meet for morning runs while on the recruiting trail, and typically get in an outdoor adventure during the summers whether it's hiking in Montana's Glacier Park or heading down to California to summit the 14,505 feet of Mount Whitney.

Most recently, Zidek came to Missoula over the summer to run in the 2023 Missoula Marathon. Lawrence was on the course that day too.

"I think it's one of those cool stories in coaching where when we met, we were both graduate assistants or volunteers making no money, cleaning equipment, making food orders," Lawrence said. "We kind of wrote each other letters and did these adventures whenever we could and had each other's backs to keep going. I think it's cool that our lives have always intertwined and now we get the chance to play each other. I admire her and it's just not every day that you get to play against one of your best people."

Big shoutout to our head coach, @mariezidek, for rocking the Missoula Marathon this past weekend! #BlueGrit 🔵😈 pic.twitter.com/5oCh6NOCz7
— DePaul Volleyball (@DePaulVball) June 26, 2023

GRIZ NOTES

The loss to UTRGV on Friday put Montana below .500 for the first time since November of 2021. The Grizzlies opened last season 2-0 and would remain at .500 or better for the remainder of the year.
This is the first 0-3 start for Montana since the 2019 season. They began that year at 0-9 before finishing 7-23 overall in Allison Lawrence's third year at the helm.
Paige Clark bounced back from a shaky performance against UTRGV to lead Montana's offense on the weekend. She had 26 total kills, 20 of which came against Pitt and BYU. Clark had eight kills on .308 hitting against the No. 5 team in the country.
Carly Anderson has 77 assists in the young season, ranking fourth in the Big Sky and 142^nd in the NCAA. Her career total has risen to 2,695, which is good for eighth in program history. She trails Diana Thompson (2002-05) by 597 assists for seventh place.
Madi Chuhlantseff started all three matches for Montana and had a good weekend in the middle. She finished with 16 kills on .226 hitting to go along with four blocks.

Alexis Batezel played the libero position for Montana on opening weekend and led the team with 31 total digs. Batezel had her best performance against BYU with 15 digs and a pair of assists.
Catie Semadeni started all three matches for Montana and had 13 kills on .098 hitting.
Sarah Ashley played in nine of Montana's 1- sets, serving up an ace and finishing tied for second on the team with 14 digs.
The Grizzlies finished 17-12 in 2022, the most wins and best winning percentage since 1999.

SCOUTING THE FIELD

BINGHAMTON BEARCATS (3-0)

The Bearcats had a perfect opening weekend at home, dropping just a single set across three matches. They opened with a sweep of Merrimack, then dropped Duquesne 3-1 before wrapping up the Bearcat Classic with a sweep of Saint Peter's.
Binghamton finished 17-9 overall and 8-2 in the America East to win the conference's regular season championship. They qualified for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship as a result of the regular-season title, losing to St. John's in the first round of the 32-team tournament.
The offense was in sync for the Bearcats. They hit .262 over 10 sets on the opening weekend, which ranks 69^th in the NCAA. The offense had 115 kills to go along with just 35 errors.
An aggressive service game was a key to the undefeated weekend as well. The Bearcats recorded 2.6 aces per set in the three wins, and rank 18^th in the country in that category. The success didn't come without some risk, as they also averaged over two service errors per set.
The defense had a strong start to the season, particularly at the net. Binghamton averaged 3.10 blocks per set at their home tournament, which ranks them 22^nd in the country in the category.
The two-pronged attack of Tsvetelina Ilieva and Ella Schabort led the way with each player averaging over 3.2 kills/set. Ilieva hit .274 and Schabort hit .213 while putting up high kill counts.
The Bearcats also use a pair of setters to dictate the action. Zoe Myint and Danit Cohen each recorded 45 assists (4.5 per set) in the first week.
The defensive pairing of Misa Dlouha and Anna Sprys dominated at the net last weekend. Dlouha picked up 17 blocks (1.7/set) and Sprys had 13 blocks (1.3/set) to help the team into the top 25 in the NCAA in that category.

BUFFALO BULLS (3-0)

The Bulls also completed a perfect opening weekend, going 3-0 to win the UAB Invite in Birmingham. They began with a sweep of Austin Peay before knocking off host UAB in five sets. The final match of the weekend was a 3-1 victory over Florida A&M.
Buffalo finished 19-14 overall in 2022 with a 10-8 record in MAC play. They qualified for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship where they fell to Boston College in a first-round sweep.
This is the first time since 2018 that Buffalo has started 3-0 and they are looking to improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2013.
In the opening weekend, the Bulls outhit their opponents .245 to .137 across 12 total sets.
Courtney Okwara had a big opening week with 25 kills on 37 attempts. Her .595 hitting percentage currently ranks seventh in the NCAA among those who qualify.
The Bulls have five different players with at least 20 kills this year, led by Katrin Trebichavska at 33.
Setter Mandy Leigh is seventh all-time in Buffalo's record books with 2,422 assists, and ranks 50^th in the country this year with 104 total assists through three matches.

DePAUL BLUE DEMONS (0-2)

The Blue Demons opened the season in Ames, Iowa at the Cardinal & Gold Challenge hosted by Iowa State. They were swept in both matches, losing to South Dakota on Saturday and Iowa State on Sunday.
DePaul had a 10-20 record last season with a 6-12 mark in Big East play. They faced a difficult schedule, twice taking ranked opponents to five sets. In the final RPI rankings, they were a top 150 team which would put them in the top group of the Big Sky Conference.
The Blue Demons hit just .049 as a team with 59 kills and 47 errors. They allowed the first two opponents of the year to hit .268.
Jill Pressly has the most kills (17) and attacks (81) for DePaul, but has just a .012 hitting percentage. She is a preseason All-BIG EAST selection.
Aly Kindelberger leads the team with seven blocks, averaging an impressive 1.4 per set.

SERIES HISTORY

This will be Montana's first-ever meeting with Buffalo and DePaul, and just the second matchup against Binghamton. The Griz and Bearcats first met in 2015, a five-set win for Binghamton.

UPCOMING
Montana will hit the road for the third non-conference tournament of the season on Sept. 7-9 in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Montana will face off against Green Bay (9/7), New Mexico (9/8), and North Dakota (9/9).

They round out the preseason with a tournament at Boise State that will also feature South Dakota State and Loyola Marymount, who are currently receiving votes to be ranked in the AVCA Top 25.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Carly Anderson

Sarah Ashley

Alexis Batezel

Madi Chuhlantseff

Paige Clark

Maddie Kremer

Ellie Scherffius

Catie Semadeni

University of Montana Athletics