Grizzlies open UND Classic with dominant win

Thursday, September 7

Grand Forks, N.D.

3 PM (MT)

Montana

2-5,0-0Big Sky

Green Bay

2-5,0-0Horizon

Green Bay

Montana

Senior Carly Anderson prepares to serve the ball against the UTRGV Vaqueros at Dahlberg Arena on Aug. 25, 2023.

Photo by: Tanner Ecker/UM Photo

9/7/2023 8:45:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana started off the UND Classic in dominating fashion on Thursday afternoon with a 3-1 win over Green Bay that could have just as easily been a sweep. The Grizzlies outhit the Phoenix in every set and led the match in kills, assists, aces, digs, and blocks in the most complete performance of the year for Montana.

They never trailed in the opening set and did just once in the closing set, finishing the match off by holding Green Bay to a negative hitting percentage in the fourth. As they have done all year, Montana got better with seemingly every point.

"We definitely got better as the match went on and were learners as we always are and I was really just impressed with our defensive effort to finish the match out," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "I think Green Bay is such a physical, fast, and scrappy team and I think they really pushed us to extend rallies and ball control at a level where we could be physical throughout long rallies. I think we did that and had a great responses, so I'm really proud of the team."

The Grizzlies picked up the win behind a full team effort. Paige Clark led with 15 kills, including a fantastic final set, but nine different players recorded a kill for Montana. Madi Chuhlantseff was crucial to the fast start and had 11 kills on .360 hitting, and Catie Semadeni had another good match with nine kills.

Carly Anderson had her third straight double-double with 39 assists and 11 digs. Alexis Batezel led the match with 25 digs and nearly reached a double-double as well with seven assists.

But it was the performance from several players off the bench that stood out in the win. Ginny Pace played the final two sets, recording her first career kill while passing perfectly. Sierra Dennison played the second set and hit .400 with two kills and two blocks, and Maddie Pyles played strong defensively all across the court.

"It was definitely a full team effort. We weren't getting enough production out of the two-spot and Ginny is such a tough attacker that is fearless and goes for high hands," Lawrence said of the moves. "She really manages out of system well, and we needed someone who was going to be low-air but put a lot of pressure on their defense and she did that and did a great job. She also came in and passed several balls right away really well. I was proud of her, and she was just what we needed and when we needed it.

Montana started about as strong as they possibly could have, opening with an 8-1 lead in the opening set to set the tone of the match. Montana had five kills in the first seven swings for a .714 hitting percentage, and Chuhlantseff played a key role in that with three early kills.

"I think that definitely set a tone that we were going to have a lot of success in the middle, for one," Lawrence said of Chuhlantseff's start. "But also just that we offensively were going to have a great night."

The Phoenix battled back and were able to climb within a point on multiple occasions, but the Griz would never relinquish the lead. Sarah Ashley had the first of many solid runs at the service line to push Montana to a 3-0 run late in the set that opened up a 21-16 lead.

They would close it out 25-17 with a near-perfect offensive performance. The Grizzlies had 13 kills and just two errors in the opening set victory, good for a .344 hitting percentage. They had just a single ace and no blocks on the defensive side, but they didn't need them as they drastically outhit Green Bay.

In the second set, Montana put together a similar long run early. Green Bay opened with a 3-1 lead, but the Griz responded with five straight to take the lead. The momentum continued to swing heavily. The Phoenix had a 7-1 run, but Montana again responded with five straight points with Clark at the service line.

As it got tight down the stretch, Chuhlantseff continued her hot play. Her kill to push the set to 16-all was the eighth of the match for her. She also had yet to commit an error on her 12 swings, good for a .667 hitting percentage.

Montana went into the bench, and appeared poised to take a two sets to zero lead after Pyles and Dennison combined for a block that made it 24-22 Griz. But Green Bay staged one last rally, scoring the final four points of the set to even it up at one set a piece.

The advantage statistically still went to Montana in the set. The Grizzlies outhit the Phoenix .186-to-.048 in the set, but four blocks by Green Bay were key to the narrow win.

The third set again started in favor of Montana. They jumped out to a 5-1 lead early. As Green Bay climbed back into it, Pace entered the match and recorded her first career kill. It helped to spark a 4-0 run with Ashley back at the service line keeping the Phoenix offense out of sync.

Momentum continued to swing, and a 4-0 Green Bay run late in the set gave them the lead at 18-17. In a place where a timeout may be expected, Lawrence instead opted to let her team work it out on the court.

They rewarded the decision. Chuhlantseff picked up her 10^th kill of the match as part of a run that put Montana back in control, and the Grizzlies ended the set on a 4-0 run for a 25-20 win.

"I felt that we were hungry to respond and make a change and that it was within our ability to do immediately," Lawrence said. "I think I trust this group to always reset and breathe and feel confident to go make the next play. It just didn't have that normal timeout feel."

Montana hit .257 in the set, and held Green Bay to just .114 hitting. The Grizzly defense had its strongest performance of the match, combining to block four Phoenix attacks while adding in a pair of aces.

The final set once again had a big run in favor of Montana. This time, they closed it out strongly after falling behind 12-9. Montana had already committed six errors at the point, the second-most of any set before the halfway point.

But they responded with the best run of the match, at one point scoring six straight to take a 19-16 lead. It came thanks to an offensive boom from Clark, who had two kills during the stretch. Anderson served through the run, starting it with a kill and adding an ace along the way.

Green Bay called a timeout, but couldn't tip the balance back in their favor. Another Anderson ace made it 21-16 Montana and capped off an 11-1 Grizzly run that effectively ended the match. Clark ended the final set with six kills on her way to a season-high 15 total.

"I think she's feeling good and just did a great job with her feet and her vision. They were giving her a little bit of line and we located well to where she could work hard and stay tall in transition to crush the line," Lawrence said of Clark's finish. "It was really fun to see that, and it gave us a big boost of momentum down the stretch."

Montana improve to 2-5 on the year with the win. Green Bay had 23 wins in 2022, providing yet another difficult opponent for the Grizzlies in this non-conference full of them. The Griz won't have time to rest on their laurels, as New Mexico awaits tomorrow.

The Lobos defeated host North Dakota on the opening night of the tournament to improve to 5-2 on the year. The match will begin at 3:00 p.m. (MT) and there will be no stream available.