Montana's late-season run ends in Bozeman

Friday, November 22

Bozeman, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

10-17,5-11Big Sky

Montana State

9-18,7-9Big Sky

Montana

Montana St.

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

11/22/2024 9:47:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team's magical run to end the season came to an end on Friday night in Bozeman. Montana State defended their home court, winning in three sets to officially eliminate Montana from the postseason.

The Grizzlies close the year at 10-17 overall and 5-11 in Big Sky Conference play. It's the fourth straight 10-win season for Montana, a feat that hadn't been accomplished in well over a decade.

Montana entered the night on a four-match winning streak as the hottest team in the Big Sky. The hot streak kept Montana's postseason hopes alive match by match, as they continued to close the gap between 8^th and 9^th place in the league standings.

They needed a sweep of Montana State in dominant fashion on Friday night to jump past the Bobcats, but just couldn't get things going in front of 3,000-plus inside Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. Montana still finishes 4-1 in the final three weeks of the season, and brought joy to so many fans during the push to the postseason.

"I was so inspired by our group's determination to keep finding different levels of our game and to just grow stronger as a unit," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "I think their commitment to each other, not only for this year, but in the seniors and upperclassmen that spans three and four years, showed through. I'm so proud of who we chose to be when things were really hard."

Paige Clark led Montana in the final game of her illustrious career. She finished with 11 kills on .250 hitting and added 11 digs to close it out with a double-double.

The player that arrived at Montana as a setter leaves as one of the best outside hitters in program history. Clark finishes with 1,273 kills, the sixth-most in program history, and 128 aces, the 10^th most for Montana.

"It's an incredible legacy that she leaves behind," Lawrence said. "I wanted that so badly for her and for our seniors just so that they felt the real reward of how much they have given to the program."

The Grizzlies had some good performances on the defensive side as they held Montana State under .200 hitting on the night. Sierra Dennison started the final match of her career and led Montana with four blocks.

Junior Alexis Batezel made all sorts of plays on the floor, leading the Griz with 13 digs. It brought her career total to exactly 1,000 digs through her first three years at Montana.

A trio of seniors also finished out their Grizzly careers on Friday night. Maddie Kremer had six kills and eight digs. Casi Newman had 17 assists and six digs, and Jackie Howell finished with five digs and an assist.

"They were so eager to put this program in contention and in the conversation in the conference. They did every detail so well," Lawrence said of the senior class. "They were a huge part of the recruiting process and getting commitments for Griz teams after them, they were leaders in meetings and in the community, there just isn't one part of our university or community that they didn't touch."

The result of their efforts is 50 wins over the previous four seasons. It's been over a decade since Montana has had a class win that many matches in the maroon and silver. They may not have hit the ultimate goal, but they have pushed Montana well on the way to that goal.

"I want this group to be remembered and be able to celebrate in themselves that we are consistently competing with everyone in the conference," Lawrence said. "It's something that hasn't happened in a very long time. I think that takes so much effort in every area of their lives. There is so much pressure on them to change everything about what we do every year.

"This year felt particularly difficult, mentally and emotionally, because our results for streaks of the season weren't showing what we were able to do consistently," Lawrence said.

Montana State took the early lead in the first set, and while Montana briefly had it at 3-2, the Bobcat offense made things difficult for the Grizzlies. They started the match with six kills on eight swings, jumping ahead 9-5 and forcing a Grizzly timeout.

There were no big runs from MSU, but they seemed to get two points for every one that Montana found, and were up 19-12 to force Lawrence to take her second timeout. The drama of a potential tournament bid was taken away early as Montana State held on down the stretch for the 25-17 win.

Maddie Pyles had a fantastic start to the match and first set overall, recording her first three kills on just three swings. Montana's offense actually did what it needed, hitting .265 with just four errors, but MSU hit .382 in the first set to overpower the Griz.

The Bobcats scored five of the first seven points in the second set, but the Grizzlies used a 5-0 scoring run with Newman serving to retake the lead. The teams would then trade points for the majority of the second set, swapping the lead four times and being tied seven times overall.

The separation finally came via a 3-0 MSU scoring run that made it 17-14. Montana would get back within one point on a kill from Clark, but the Cats reextended the lead late for a 25-21 win.

Montana showed its heart in the third set. The Bobcats surged off the energy of the crowd and went ahead 20-14. The Grizzlies, with the season already over following the night, could have easily backed down. But it's a team that wanted to keep playing together, even with the odds against them.

They scored seven out of nine points to pull back within one point at 22-21, and then were able to tie it up at 23-all to force a Montana state timeout. It wouldn't be enough in the end, as MSU scored the next two to take the match in three sets.

The fight at the end showed the love that every player on the floor for Montana shares.

"It's why you see such grief the last two weeks both on senior night when they are saying goodbye to our fanbase, and tonight when we wanted to keep that hot streak going and wanted to stay this team for as long as we possibly could," Lawrence said. "The real loss is not the loss itself, but it's the loss of time that we get together."

The final two points of the season for Montana were scored by freshmen Sydney Pierce and Delaney Russell. Russell ended the night with nine kills on .192 hitting. Pierce came in for the third set and had three kills and a block.

It's players like Pierce and Russell, not to mention the other many returners next year, that give Lawrence plenty of optimism about the future of the program. All of it circles back to this departing group of seniors.

"They attracted people here that are not just highly competitive and go-to players, but people who are going to stop at nothing to see the goals that these senior had in mind through," Lawrence said. "There is a real sense that the seniors are handing off something to people that they love and that are capable of taking over and pushing the program further than it's ever been."

The fact that Friday night, and the Big Sky season as a whole, is frustrating shows just how far this Montana program has come under Lawrence. Montana took part in just two conference tournaments in the six years before she arrived. After missing it in her first season, Lawrence has led her team to the postseason five times in the last six fall seasons.

They won't settle for a 10-win season if it means missing out on a tournament berth. These seniors set the bar high, and are hoping that the legacy that they leave behind of talented, gritty players will take the program to that next level.

"I feel like our program has a soul and a heartbeat," Lawrence said. "I think in terms of what we've accomplished, that's the most remarkable thing and what I'm most proud of is that the players love the program, and I don't think you can come to our games and not feel the emotional connection to what we are doing."