League leaders sweep Griz on Saturday night

Saturday, October 19

Greeley, Colo.

6:00 PM

Montana

6-13,1-7Big Sky

Northern Colorado

15-5,6-1Big Sky

Montana

Northern Colo.

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

10/19/2024 8:24:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team ran into a red-hot Northern Colorado team on Saturday evening in Greeley, falling in straight sets to the league leading Bears. Northern Colorado won 25-18, 25-15, and 25-18 to improve to 6-1 in Big Sky play and remain in first place in the league standings with their fifth straight win.

Montana (6-13, 1-7 Big Sky) had a good night offensively, hitting well over .200, but struggled to slow down one of the best offenses in the conference as the Bears hit .484 in the win.

"They were very in rhythm and played pretty flawlessly offensively in ways where we didn't have answers," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "With how they were performing, we needed to serve way tougher to get them out of rhythm and we just couldn't disrupt it enough. It didn't feel like we had much room to breathe. I thought our defensive intensity in pursuit was better than Thursday and a great response, but they were way too in rhythm to slow down."

The Griz hit .237 on offense with 35 kills to just 13 errors. Paige Clark and Maddie Kremer led the way with nine kills each. Clark hit .280 and Kremer hit .231. Setter Casi Newman had 19 assists and added four kills on .667 hitting.

Alexis Batezel led the Griz with nine digs.

It was a positive change from Thursday's match at Northern Arizona, but unfortunately for Montana they ran into perhaps the best team in the Big Sky as the Bears are top 70 in the entire NCAA in the RPI Rankings.

They were able to implement pieces of the game both strategically and emotionally that were improvements from Thursday.

"We had meetings with players after our match on Thursday and really emphasized personal accountability in executing our job and our roles in ways where I thought we had a lot of athletes step up," Lawrence said. "I thought energy was more generous, belief was more generous, and we were more connected and less stressed when things were going wrong. I think we're going to need to pull on that."

Montana's offense was hot from the start, as the teams traded early points and both sides were hitting well over .400 for much of the opening set. The Griz didn't allow Northern Colorado any extended runs, but the consistent Bears slowly pulled away.

They used a couple of 3-0 runs to gain some separation at 17-12, and would chip away down the stretch of the set for a 25-18 win in the opener. There were five ties and two lead changes in the opening set, and Montana hit a match-best .387, but Northern Colorado had 19 kills and just three errors as the offense overpowered the Griz.

Maddie Kremer had a very strong opening set for the Griz with five kills on .556 hitting.

It was a similar start to the second as the teams went back and forth early on. This time, the Bears were able to get a big run to pull away. They scored seven straight points to lead 15-7 and held on for a 25-15 win in the second set.

Montana fell behind early in the third set and rallied late, but weren't able to extend the match, falling 25-18 in the final set. The Griz hit .176 in the final set and were able to get some younger players involved. Delaney Russell had a kill and helped change some things for the better for the Griz in the final set.

"Delaney went in on the right side, which she's never been at in a game before and hasn't taken a lot of practice reps in, and she was aggressive and held details from our scout," Lawrence said. "I think she has a motor that pushes people around her."

Gracie Cagle also took over a bigger role as the night went on and finished with six assists. The sophomore setter helped Montana regain its rhythm attacking.

"Gracie came in and got our middles going and set very hittable balls in ways that allowed our offense to find rhythm at the end," Lawrence said. "She added some structure, which was really helpful."

Montana is still seeking a breakthrough as they begin the back half of conference play. Despite the record, the team is fighting at every possible moment and working to make improvements. Historically, Lawrence-led Montana teams are better in the back half of conference play, and the Grizzlies will hope to follow that trend in 2024.

"We can have a meeting with them as a staff and we see things show up immediately. I think that speaks to their desire to be great and their desire to get our breakthrough and have our process start paying us back."

The Grizzlies return home next week for the rivalry match against Montana State on Friday night. The match will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Dahlberg Arena as Montana looks to extend the home winning streak against the Cats to three matches.