Griz close preseason with loss to Boise State

Saturday, September 16

Boise, Idaho

1 PM

Montana

4-8,0-0Big Sky

Boise State

4-6,0-0Mountain West

Montana

Boise St.

Photo by: © Derek Johnson 2023

9/16/2023 3:53:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team put up a good fight in the final match of the Boise State Classic on Saturday afternoon, but the host Broncos found a groove offensively to pull off a 3-1 win over the Grizzlies. The match concludes a very difficult non-conference stretch for Montana, who now enter Big Sky play with a 4-8 record.

The Grizzlies started well behind a strong service game, but couldn't keep a talented Bronco offense down as they won the final three sets for a 19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-21 victory. The Broncos were picked to finish sixth in the competitive Mountain West Conference this season.

"I think we started strong and were hitting the details from our scouting report and managing points well and problem solving really well," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "I think as the match went on and Boise State made adjustments we had some breakdowns due to errors. We kind of got tight and nervous, and I think that was kind of the story of it."

In a bit of a homecoming game for Catie Semadeni, who played in front of her family that lives in Boise. It gave her a nice boost as she had an impressive performance with 10 kills on .429 hitting.

Paige Clark and Ellie Scherffius were named to the Boise State Classic All-Tournament team following the match. Clark led Montana with 45 kills on the weekend (4.09/set) while Scherffius hit .412 from the middle and averaged nearly a block per set.

For the second straight match Montana played well offensively in a loss, hitting over .180 in all four sets including a .333 mark in the opening set and a .289 mark in the fourth. They limited errors and mixed up the attack, but just couldn't slow down the Broncos enough to leave Boise with a win.

Sarah Ashley proved to be a difference maker in the opening set for Montana. The Grizzlies trailed big in the early stages of the match. Boise State had an 8-3 lead when Ashley entered to serve for the first time, and she quickly erased that lead.

"That service run put us in a place where we thought we were the team controlling this match. It felt that way through point 17 of the second set, so it carried it us pretty far."

Montana went on a 5-0 run that included back-to-back aces from Ashley to tie it up at 8-all. Boise State started to extend the lead again with a 4-0 run of their own and were up 17-15 when Ashley rotated back around to the service line.

Once again, she kept the Broncos off balance offensively for five straight Grizzly points. She picked up her third ace of the opening set during the run, which put Montana ahead 20-17 and set them up in a good position to close out the set.

They did so with authority, scoring the final five points of the set with Maddie Kremer serving to take it 25-19. Kremer played an excellent set, recording three kills with no errors to go along with an ace and two digs. Catie Semadeni also started very well, hitting .600 in the first with three kills.

𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐌!

Ellie Scherffius rips one to end the opening set!#GrizVB | #BigSkyVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/GJZXud9L4d
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) September 16, 2023

It was a dominant set, dictated by good serving and four total aces. The Grizzlies outhit Boise State .333-to-.107 in the first set.

Montana started the second set well, carrying the momentum with them and keeping the Broncos attack out of system and out of sorts. The Grizzlies went ahead 11-6 after a 3-0 run keyed on by some nice plays by Carly Anderson, and held Boise State to a negative hitting percentage at the time.

Kremer had a hot stretch with two kills during a 3-0 run with, you guessed it, Ashley at the service line. It extended Montana's lead to 16-11 and forced a Boise State timeout. The Broncos were able to get out of the deficit by leaning on the Mountain West leader in kills Paige Bartsch. She had three straight kills, and Boise State added another point for a 4-0 Bronco run that gave them an 18-17 lead.

The offense picked it up when they needed it most for Boise State, as they went from a negative percentage all the way up to .286. The Grizzlies were well over .300 for much of the set, but three consecutive errors to end the set dropped them all the way to .194 and allowed Boise State to take the second set 25-20.

The third set started ugly for both teams, as the teams combined for four straight service errors. The Broncos did enough to take a 5-2 lead, but Montana had a 3-0 run capped off by a huge block by Scherffius on Bartsch that cut the Bronco lead to 7-6.

Semadeni continued her stellar play later in the set, picking up her seventh kill on her 14^th attack to once again get Montana within a point at 13-12. To make it even more impressive, Semadeni didn't have a single error and was hitting .500 at the time.

Every time the Grizzlies pulled close, the Broncos seemed to come up with an answer. Montana tied it at 14-all, but Boise State scored five of the next six points to open up a four-point lead. They closed with four of the final five points in the set for a 25-19 win to take the advantage.

The early success of Montana's service game proved crucial in the first set win, but the Broncos were able to adjust to it in the next two. Montana would add just a single ace across the sets, but the service errors jumped up to seven.

The teams were both fairly clean offensively in the third, as Montana hit .184 with five errors and Boise State hit .333 with 15 kills and just three errors.

Lawrence needed an early timeout in the fourth set as Montana fell behind 7-2 early with four attacking errors. The break helped take away some of the Boise State momentum as the Griz scored three straight out of it to cut the lead to two points.

But again, Boise State seemed to always have the answer. Montana cut the lead to two points on several occasions through a strong attacking set from Clark. She kept them alive down the stretch as well, blasting consecutive kills to cut the Bronco lead to 23-20 and force a timeout.

It wouldn't be enough in the end, as the Broncos held on for the four-set win.

Clark's big fourth set pushed her to the team lead with 15 kills on .205 hitting. She had eight of her 15 kills in the final set as Montana leaned on her to try to force a fifth set.

Look out, Paige Clark is ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝! 🔥 Back to back kills cut the Bronco lead to just one.#GrizVB | #BigSkyVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/zXBF2zkHNa
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) September 16, 2023

It was another efficient day for Ellie Scherffius, who had five kills and five blocks while also hitting .500. The blocks mostly came against Barsch as well as part of a very impressive defensive display. She played a consistent role all weekend for Montana, and earned a spot on the All-Tournament team as a result. It's the second time this preseason she's been All-Tournament and eighth time in her career.

Maddie Kremer had 11 kills on .194 hitting. The Grizzlies as a team looked dangerous in the attack and had options across the court that contributed to the attack. The balance shows Lawrence that the pieces are there.

"We had moments when we really weren't passing that well so to still feel that offensive I think is such a great sign and indication of how physical we are and how many weapons we have," Lawrence said. "It's all there, and it's all visible, it just seemed really mental about halfway through. We weren't making aggressive hustle plays anymore and I feel like we lost our edge."

Carly Anderson had another solid performance at the setter position with 41 assists to increase her season average yet again. Alexis Batezel led Montana with 14 digs and Ashley added 12 digs to go along with her three service aces.

The Grizzlies now turn their attention toward Big Sky play. They have quite the challenge in the home opener, welcoming an always-dangerous Weber State team to Missoula. The Wildcats have won five of the last six matches with the only loss coming in four sets on the road against Utah. The match will be played on Wednesday, Sept. 20 with first serve at 7:00 p.m.

The talk of the non-conference was about how the difficult schedule would prepare Montana to play against the top teams in the league. Now it's time to see if the lessons learned will be enough to hang with and potentially upset a perennial power in the Big Sky.

"We played the schedule that we've played in order to prepare for the top of our conference, so I think it's fitting that we're playing one of those teams out of the gate," Lawrence said. "I think we're hungry to be in those types of matches all the time. Weber State is playing well and is a real powerhouse in our conference. I feel like we've prepared in a way that has us ready mentally and physically."