Griz volleyball eager for full week at home

MONTANA VS. IDAHO
Thursday, Oct. 10 / 7:00 PM / Watch / Live Stats / Tickets

MONTANA VS. EASTERN WASHINGTON
Saturday, Oct. 12 / 7:00 PM / Watch / Live Stats / Tickets

The Montana volleyball team returns home this week looking to get back in the win column with a pair of matches against Idaho and Eastern Washington. It's homecoming week at Montana, and there will be plenty of extra festivities surrounding the two matches.

On Thursday, fans can get into the game for free with the purchase of a ticket to the Grizzly soccer match earlier in the day. On Saturday, Montana volleyball is pairing with The Side-Out Foundation for a Dig Pink game, with all donations going directly to metastatic breast cancer patients and their families.

The Griz are looking to snap a losing streak and pick up their first Big Sky win of the season. They have started with a very difficult schedule, playing four opponents that have combined for an 8-3 record, and have done so mostly on the road.

Now, Montana returns home for an entire weekend for the first time in over a month. Montana has played just one home match since September 8, a 3-1 loss to Northern Colorado, a team that came in at 69^th in the initial RPI rankings.

The schedule eases up for Montana this weekend as they welcome winless Idaho and a 1-2 Eastern Washington team to Dahlberg Arena. It's a pair of teams that Montana has had an advantage recently with winning streaks of at least four matches against both opponents.

It's still early in the Big Sky season as they are just past the quarter-mark of the league slate, but Montana will be eager for the opportunity to pick up a couple of wins in their home gym.

Montana has played much better than the record would indicate, but are still searching for their breakthrough. They opened the season tough against a very good Northern Colorado team, losing two sets by just three points. They scored just one fewer total point in the match, but fell 3-1.

They went through similar heartbreak last Thursday at Weber State. The Griz had more total points, kills, assists, blocks, and digs than the Wildcats, but again lost a pair of sets by just two points in a heartbreaker.

They are aiming to change the narrative this week with the first serve on Thursday night against Idaho coming at 7:00 p.m.

TICKET PROMOTIONS
Thursday is rivalry day for Montana, and the Grizzlies are giving fans a chance for a 2-for-1 deal to support the volleyball and soccer teams against Idaho. Griz soccer plays the Vandals in a battle of unbeaten Big Sky teams at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday at South Campus Stadium.

Griz volleyball then takes on Idaho at 7:00 p.m. that night. Fans will be able to get in to both matches with just a single ticket.

Montana fans can also get half-off tickets to Saturday night's volleyball match if they show their football ticket at the box office.

DIG PINK
The Grizzlies are participating in the Dig Pink program from The Side-Out Foundation on Saturday. Montana is raising funds, and all donations will go directly to the Side-Out Foundation. To donate, click HERE.

The Side-Out Foundation, established in 2004, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit making a significant impact on the lives of metastatic breast cancer patients and their families. Through innovative approaches and precision medicine research, Side-Out provides hope and treatment options for those with metastatic breast cancer.

Their educational and community-driven programs, Dig Pink® and the Ambassador Program, engage a new generation in advocacy and fund revolutionary research. Side-Out envisions a future where breast cancer is not a terminal diagnosis and every patient has hope for more tomorrows.

CLARK'S QUEST FOR HISTORY
Paige Clark is rising the all-time ranks at Montana in several categories, and she has entered the top 10 in program history in recent weeks.

Clark has 1,159 career kills, which is tied for 8^th. She recently passed Griz legend and Canadian national team member Jaimie Thibeault, who played from 2007-10. Clark is tied with Erin Adams (1996-2000), and now trails Karen Goff by 96 kills for 7^th.

She is also closing in on 10^th in program history at 123 career service aces with 26 already this season. She needs five more to tie Linde Eidenberg for 10^th. She has averaged at least 0.30 all four years at Montana, including a career best 0.47 per set in 2024.

Clark is the first Grizzly since Amy Roberts in 2011 to reach the 1,000-kill mark. She is only the third player to reach the mark with all four of her years in the 25-point scoring era, and just the sixth player since 2000 to reach 1,000.

The senior is also a three-time All-Big Sky selection. She is just the sixth Grizzly in program history to make three separate All-Conference teams, and is looking to join Jaimie Thibeault (2007-10) as the only four-timers in school history.

BIG SKY STARTS
Montana is 0-4 to start conference play for the third time under Lawrence. This year, they have played one of the most difficult schedules possible with three road matches out of four against teams that are 8-3 in league play. Her teams historically have improved as the season goes along.

The Griz have had a better record in the second half of conference play in four of the seven years. Lawrence is 18-40 in the first half of the Big Sky schedule in her career, and 23-35 in matches played in the back half.

SCOUTING IDAHO (1-13, 0-3 BIG SKY)

The Vandals come to Missoula on a seven-match losing streak, and have started 0-3 in Big Sky Conference play. Idaho has won just a single set over the losing streak, falling 3-1 at home to Portland State in the conference opener.
Idaho has lost 27 straight Big Sky matches dating back to October 2022.
The lone win for Idaho on the year came against 3-13 Siena.
Madu Fontes ranks third in the Big Sky and 80^th in the NCAA with 0.43 aces per set.
Fontes also leads the Vandals with 2.49 kills per set. Zuzanna Wieczorek averages 2.45 kills per set to rank second on the team.
There are eight international players on Idaho's roster, including four from Turkey. They have just five American players on the roster under interim head coach Romana Redondo Kriskova.

SCOUTING EASTERN WASHINGTON (5-8, 1-2 BIG SKY)

The Eagles are coming off a 3-0 win at Idaho last Friday. It's the only conference win for Eastern Washington, who started 0-2 with four-set losses to Idaho State and Sacramento State.
Eastern Washington shares one common opponent with Montana. The Eagles lost 3-0 on the road to Utah Valley. Montana defeated Utah Valley 3-1 at home.
They are 2-4 in true road matches this season.
The Eagles have been very good defensively this year. They rank 3^rd in the Big Sky in blocks (2.59/set) and 2^nd in digs (15.86/set). Both numbers also rank in the top 50 nationally.
Bri Gunderson is averaging 1.39 blocks per set to rank 2^nd in the Big Sky and 17^th in the NCAA. Gunderson also averaged 2.69 kills per set.
Kalista Lukovich ranks 7^th in the conference with 3.00 kills per set.

SERIES HISTORIES

Idaho leads the all-time series with Montana 40-34. The teams have evenly split the 34 matches played in Missoula. Montana has had a decided edge of late, winning five straight against Idaho dating back to 2021.
Montana leads the all-time series against Eastern Washington 61-44. The Grizzlies are 31-13 in matches played in Missoula, and have also had the edge lately with four straight wins over the Eagles.

MONTANA NOTES

The Griz are currently on a five-match losing streak, which is the longest for the program since losing five in a row in late September of 2021.
In the first RPI rankings of the season, Montana came in at 255. They are ranked eighth out of 10 teams in the Big Sky. This weekend's opponents Eastern Washington (230) and Idaho (342) are seventh and 10^th in the league.
Montana hasn't started 0-5 in Big Sky play since 2017.
The block for Montana ranks 40^th in the NCAA and 4^th in the Big Sky Conference, averaging 3.0 blocks per set.
It's the 6^th best blocking defense in program history at this point. They are averaging more blocks per set than any Griz team since 1995.
The defense has been key to Montana's victories. They are 1-9 when allowing opponents to hit .200, and 4-1 when holding them under .200.
Montana has had equal or more blocks than its opponent in 11 of the 15 matches this season.
Paige Clark has at least 10 kills and one ace in 13 straight matches. She has also hit over .100 in 13 straight.
Clark recorded her third double-double of the season in the loss at Weber State last Thursday.
Brenley Hansen has at least one block in every match this season and is averaging 1.29 per set which ranks 4^th in the Big Sky and 48^th nationally.
Hansen recorded a career-high nine kills at Weber State last Thursday.
Alexis Batezel has 10-plus digs in 13 matches this year and is averaging 3.96 digs per set.
Maddie Pyles has been impressive in the attack over the last several weeks. She had just one match of 10 or more kills in the first nine matches of the year. Since then, she has had four matches with at least 10 kills, and is averaging 10.2 per match over the last six.
Pyles recorded her first career double-double last weekend at Weber State with 11 kills and a career-high 16 digs. She also had three service aces, another career best, in the five-set match.
Freshman Sydney Pierce had an impact off the bench in both matches last weekend. Pierce had seven total kills on 10 swings, hitting .700 across five sets of action. She also averaged 1.0 block per set. Pierce had seven kills in her first seven matches of her career, but had a season-best six kills at Idaho State.
Casi Newman has three double-doubles in the previous four matches, and recorded one in both matches last weekend. She averaged 36 assists and 11 digs per match over the weekend while also recording eight total kills.
Newman's six kills vs. Weber State tied a career high.
Maddie Kremer has four straight matches with at least 10 kills. After reaching 10 kills in just one of the first seven matches, she has done so in seven of the last eight.
Kremer has also recorded back-to-back double-doubles, averaging 11 kills and 12 digs over the last weekend of play.

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Players Mentioned

Alexis Batezel

Paige Clark

Brenley Hansen

Maddie Kremer

Casi Newman

Sydney Pierce

Maddie Pyles

University of Montana Athletics