Weber State takes down Montana in three

Montana volleyball fell in straight sets on Saturday afternoon to third-place Weber State. The Wildcats picked up their second straight sweep and fourth straight win to improve to 8-3 in Big Sky play with a 25-21, 25-19, 25-21 win.

The Griz fall to 6-16 overall and 1-10 in Big Sky play.

"The first and second sets felt very point-to-point until about 16 or 17 and then it really was the difference of a breakdown here or there," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "The gap would widen, but we would also storm back which has been a strength of ours to be down and find another gear. We need to find the mentality that we have and feel comfortable in when we're playing behind when it's point-for-point or we're a little ahead."

The offense kept pace with Weber State in kills, but too many Montana errors against the high-level Wildcat defense proved the difference maker. Weber State blocked nine attacks, holding Montana to .142 hitting.

The Griz held Weber State to .256 hitting, their worst in the last five matches. Montana had five blocks as a team, led by Brenley Hansen with three. Jackie Howell led the team with 11 digs, filling in at libero over the final two sets for the injured Alexis Batezel.

Maddie Kremer and Casi Newman each finished with 10 digs as well.

Paige Clark led Montana's offense with 13 kills on .212 hitting. Freshman Delaney Russell followed up a big night on Thursday with another solid outing, recording six kills on .286 hitting and adding nine digs.

Montana hung with the Wildcats for most of the match, taking early leads in all three sets but being unable to guide them home. The Griz started with a balanced attack early, having six different players with at least one attack as the teams traded points to a 10-10 tie.

The Wildcats scored six of the next seven, holding Montana in the negatives hitting for the set, to take a 16-12 lead. Montana cut right back into the lead with a 4-0 run behind two kills from Hansen and a dump-kill from setter Gracie Cagle.

Cagle started at the setter position again for Montana and had 16 assists and three kills.

Weber State pulled away with another run of their own to go ahead 22-18, but once again Montana fought back to cut the deficit to just a single point after a kill from Maddie Kremer made it 22-21.

The Wildcats scored the final three points of the set for the 25-21 win.

"I thought as a response to Thursday, how we started the match really solid in ball control, swinging really well, Paige had a couple of kills right away, that was nice to see," Lawrence said. "I thought our middles produced a little bit more and we had talked about that from Thursday."

The first three points of the second set went Montana's way as Russell had two kills and Maddie Kremer added an ace. Montana maintained the lead, and a kill from Clark made it 8-6 in favor of the hosts.

But a big run mid-set switched the momentum as Weber State scored six straight points to go ahead 12-8. Montana would get it back tied at 17-all after another Clark kill. WSU would score eight of the last 10 points to pull away for the set two win.

Maddie Pyles scored the first two points of the third set with some nice kills. The teams traded points and were tied at 7-all, but Weber State once again had a big run in the middle of the set that allowed them to take control. They scored seven of eight points to go ahead by six, which was just enough cushion to see out the sweep.

Montana had a late 4-0 run, but it wasn't enough as the Wildcats took the final set 25-21 for the win.

The Griz hit the road next week. They start with a match against Eastern Washington on Thursday night in Cheney and then head to Moscow to play Idaho on Saturday night.

"I think anything is possible, and I think our staff and our team feel very unified in that," Lawrence said. "We're going to keep pushing and keep going at it with belief and the desire to be the best version of ourselves regardless of outcomes, regardless of standings, regardless of anything.

"That's one thing I do know about this group," Lawrence said. "They don't accept anything but growth, so I'm excited to continue that fight with them."

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Alexis Batezel

Gracie Cagle

Paige Clark

Brenley Hansen

Jackie Howell

Maddie Kremer

Casi Newman

Maddie Pyles

Delaney Russell

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