Antelopes, crowd overpower Montana

Friday, August 30

Phoenix, Ariz.

8:00 PM (MT)

Montana

0-1,0-0Big Sky

Grand Canyon

1-0,0-0WAC

Montana

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Jayden Todd/GCU

8/30/2024 10:47:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana silenced the crowd of over 7,000 Grand Canyon University students early in Friday night's match with an impressive start to the match and season, but the crowd and the defending WAC Champion Antelopes would overpower them in the end in a 3-0 loss.

There were nerves for both side in front of the sell-out crowd that chanted along with every single touch of the ball, all night long. For the Antelopes, the nerves came early as Montana jumped out to a big lead in the first set.

But unfortunately for Montana, the nerves came late in the first set. Montana had multiple eight-point leads in the opening set, and appeared poised to take it after leading 24-18, but a 6-0 run by the hosts extended the set and they closed with nine of the final 10 points to win the set. They rode that momentum the rest of the night to sweep the Griz.

Montana started the match with two newcomers and two first-time starters on the floor, and they handled the raucous environment early on. It was a tight opening, but Montana looked the better side. They finally strung some points together to take a 13-8 lead. At the time, Montana was hitting .420 and holding GCU to just .110.

First kill of Sydney Pierce's Grizzly career gives us a 5-3 lead in the first!#GrizVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/wS9fqwP6oR
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) August 31, 2024

The Grizzlies then built on that lead. Maddie Pyles, one of the first-time starters for Montana, had a solo block to cap off a 5-0 Grizzly run and give them the 18-10 lead. Montana had seven kills to just one error at the time, and Grand Canyon had just five kills and seven errors.

Just a great shot by Maddie Pyles. Not much the defense can do when she hits her spot 🎯#GrizVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/ZTjHMtUS1w
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) August 31, 2024

GCU battled back, cutting the lead down to 22-18 after scoring seven out of 10 points. Pyles and fellow first-time starter Sierra Dennison combined for a block, and then Paige Clark delivered a kill to give Montana set point at 24-18.

"We came out ready to go. Our first contact was solid, offensively we started with the game plan we wanted to and it felt pretty simple," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "Not easy by any means, but we were collectively executing the scout and holding our structure and it felt like it was going to be a point-for-point battle."

Then the preseason WAC Player of the Year Tatum Parrott registered a kill and went back to the service line, sparking a big run for the hosts. They scored six straight before Clark had another kill for Montana to give them another set point at 25-24.

But the Antelopes scored three straight to take the opening set 27-25. After Montana's 18-10 lead, Grand Canyon finished with seven kills to just one error while the Grizzlies committed nine errors in the closing stretch.

"We started the match feeling organized, making plays, and moving well together as a unit," Lawrence said. "A lot of our communication was just executing the system non-verbally, but I think once those details started to slip we became isolated and a bit disorganized."

The momentum would be more than enough for the hosts to ride out the victory. Montana wouldn't hold a lead the rest of the night, dropping the final two sets 25-18, 25-9.

The Antelopes went on big runs early in both sets – a 5-0 run in the second and a 12-0 run in the third – to take control of the match.

"I don't ever think our team gives up or loses belief, but we looked 100 percent frazzled," Lawrence said. "Any time we had a good opportunity in a rally we weren't executing, we weren't putting the ball away or connecting. I think at some point when those created opportunities still didn't go our way, it just felt insurmountable."

Montana hit just .071 on the night with 27 kills to 20 errors. After limiting GCU early, they struggled to slow down an attack that ended the night at .257 with 43 total kills. The biggest difference maker on the night came at the service line. Grand Canyon had nine aces while Montana ended the night with zero.

The atmosphere inside the arena definitely played a part in the match as they didn't let up on the energy all night long. Once things started going well for the hosts, the crowd level just continued to rise and fluster Montana.

"I think that's what that environment is designed to do. It was an awesome environment to play in," Lawrence said. "It's rare to play in front of a crowd that loud and that big, and you have to love that stuff, but our breakdowns ended up being pretty colossal and it felt like a landslide once they got us out of system."

Clark led Montana with eight kills, but did so with a negative hitting percentage. Casi Newman, who started at setter and recorded 10 assists there, also had five kills on .625 hitting.

Sierra Dennison and Maddie Kremer each had four kills. Dennison also led the team with five blocks. Freshman Sydney Pierce had three kills on .286 hitting and added two blocks. Gracie Cagle had a team-high 15 assists, while Alexis Batezel had a team-high 15 digs.

Casi Newman, Sydney Pierce, Gracie Cagle, and Delaney Russell all made their Grizzly debuts on Friday night.

"I think we got opportunities to practice all of our goals from fall camp. We have talked about how the depth of our roster was going to be a huge part of our success this year and we went to subs off the bench and people had opportunities. I don't think we did it well tonight, I think substitutions created more chaos, but I think we showed our potential in moments and glimpses and I'm really encouraged by the things that I saw."

Montana will look to rebound on Saturday evening when they take on Fresno State. The Bulldogs also dropped their opener 3-1 to Oregon State earlier in the day. The match will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.