Griz come up short at Northern Arizona

Thursday, October 17

Flagstaff, Ariz.

7:30 PM (MT)

Montana

6-12,1-6Big Sky

Northern Arizona

8-9,1-5Big Sky

Montana

Northern Ariz.

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

10/17/2024 10:05:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team fell in straight sets on the road against Northern Arizona on Thursday night. The Griz kept it competitive in all three sets, but fell 25-20, 25-22, 25-23.

Northern Arizona, playing in alternate uniforms under the identity of the "Astrojacks," looked like a new team on Thursday night. They outhit Montana .241-to-.129, making several adjustments to their lineup that led to the best offensive night in Big Sky play for NAU.

The loss drops Montana to 6-12 overall and 1-6 in Big Sky Conference play. They will reach the midway point of the conference season on Saturday at the conclusion of their match against Northern Colorado.

Maddie Kremer had 11 kills to lead Montana. She started hot with seven kills to no errors, and ended the night hitting .184. Casi Newman had 19 assists and also pitched in four kills on .400 hitting.

Alexis Batezel led the defense with 16 digs, including a couple of acrobatic saves on the ground. Freshman Sydney Pierce had a team-high three blocks.

The Lumberjacks jumped ahead 5-1 in the first set and force an early timeout from head coach Allison Lawrence, and they would hold the lead for much of the night. The fight that Montana has shown all season when playing from behind was on display again Thursday.

"I think we showed a similar pattern to our last couple of losses where we put ourselves in position to win at least a set, and then have uncharacteristic errors down the stretch," Lawrence said. "We talked in the locker room after about owning our individual roles and breakdowns and successes."

The Lumberjacks pulled ahead 12-5 early behind strong offensive output, recording seven kills with no errors on their first 10 attacks. The Montana defense locked in over the next stretch of play to start to climb back into it.

After the hot start in their first 10 attacks, the Griz held NAU to just one kill with three errors (-.200) over their next 10 attacks to get back to a 13-12 deficit. Montana had a 5-0 run during the stretch.

Montana took its first lead of the match at 17-16, which forced a Northern Arizona timeout. After starting slow, Montana moved up to .412 hitting at the break with nine kills to just two errors. Kremer was key to that with four kills on her first five swings of the night.

Northern Arizona retook the lead, but another long 5-0 run for Montana put them in front 19-16 in the home stretch. Northern Arizona scored six of the final seven points to take the first set 25-20. They hit .293 in the first and Montana hit .182.

The teams didn't see much separation through the early stages of the second set, but Northern Arizona started with the first point and Montana was never able to edge in front in a highly competitive period.

The Grizzlies hung within two points all the way to the 14-11 mark, and wouldn't trail by four points until it was 21-17 Northern Arizona. Even then, Montana was able to rally right back. The Grizzlies used a 4-0 run behind a kill and ace from Maddie Pyles and a pair of NAU errors.

It's been a theme this season for Montana to overcome big set deficits, but the struggle for the Grizzlies has been with putting them away. It happened again in the third, as Northern Arizona took the final three points for a 25-22 win.

"We're just having some major organizational breakdowns on the court that we aren't having in practice, so I think that piece is really frustrating and I have to do much better job in the practice gym of applying pressure in ways that matches apply pressure," Lawrence said.

Montana switched up their lineup in the third set looking for a spark, and were able to get some momentum behind the new look. They came out with the early lead and were the first team to 10 points, but a big run from NAU put them ahead 15-11 at the media timeout.

Out of that break, Montana scored four straight points and tied it up on a combination block from Newman and Sierra Dennison. Freshman Delaney Russell recorded her first kill of the match to make it 18-16 and force a Northern Arizona timeout. The Griz pulled ahead 19-16 behind an 8-1 run following the media timeout.

Newman had a service ace to make it 23-20 and force a Northern Arizona timeout. The Lumberjacks responded coming out of it, scoring the final five points of the match to win in straight sets.

"Northern Arizona played well, served well and were really efficient," Lawrence said. "They had some offensive weapons that we couldn't neutralize and slow down. They put our backs against the wall and made us feel pressure and didn't give us much room to play our game."

Montana heads to Northern Colorado on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. for a rematch with the first-place Bears. Northern Colorado improved to 5-1 in Big Sky play with a sweep of Montana State on Thursday.