Griz fall to defending MWC champion Fresno State

Saturday, August 31

Phoenix, Ariz.

5:30 PM (MT)

Montana

0-2,0-0Big Sky

Fresno State

1-1,0-0Mountain West

Montana

Fresno St.

Photo by: Jayden Todd/GCU

8/31/2024 8:55:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team dropped the second match of the season at the Grand Canyon Invitational, losing to the defending Mountain West champion Fresno State Bulldogs in straight sets.

The Grizzlies (0-2) were led by Maddie Kremer with seven kills and Brenley Hansen with six blocks.

"We started to find our rhythm in that match, and were able to build momentum," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "Still though, we were disorganized and not executing the fundamentals of our system. Successes and executions felt like a relief rather than earned and something that we can rally around."

The Grizzlies got out to a great start out of the gates. Casi Newman opened it with an ace, the first of the season for Montana. They scored the first three points of the match, but Fresno State (1-1) responded with eight of the next nine points to take the lead.

At the first media timeout the Bulldogs were outhitting Montana .467 to .125 and had extended the lead to 15-10. They would extend it from there to take the opening set 25-15 after hitting .345. Montana's offense was held to eight kills with seven errors.

The Grizzlies made some changes in the second set, including bringing in transfer middle blocker Brenley Hansen for her first action as a Grizzly. She got the first attack of the second set, and delivered with a kill.

Fresno State would bounce back and extend their own lead all the way out to 9-4 to force an early timeout from head coach Allison Lawrence. She would use her second and final timeout of the set with Montana down 14-9.

The Bulldogs immediately went on a run, building the lead up to 20-11 with a six-point streak. It was on the players with no timeouts remaining to Lawrence, and they responded. Montana scored four straight, including back-to-back blocks from Paige Clark.

Jackie Howell came in to serve and got Montana rolling, dialing up a 5-0 Grizzly run that cut the lead all the way down to just a single point at 21-20. They would get within one point a few more times in the home stretch, but couldn't get back level and dropped the set 25-23.

Casi Newman had a big performance in the second set, recording four kills on six attacks to go along with a pair of assists, two digs, and an assisted block. Montana hit .138 as a team in the set, their best of the night.

Montana, led by Kremer's impressive attacking, jumped out to a 5-2 lead. Kremer had three kills in the opening stretch to help build the lead. But the Griz ended up on the wrong side of a Fresno State run as the Bulldogs retook control with five straight points.

The Griz continued to show fight. Maddie Pyles ripped a kill that gave Montana the lead again at 9-8. The third set teetered back and forth early on as they both answered short runs with short runs.

Montana took a 13-12 lead, but Fresno State would score four straight points to take the lead for good. The Grizzlies continued to fight, cutting the lead to just a single point on three different occasions, but once again they came up just marginally short. The Bulldogs used a 4-0 run to end it, winning the final set 25-20.

Kremer had seven kills and Pyles finished with five. Paige Clark and Casi Newman each finished with four kills. Newman also added 11 assists - sharing the team lead with Gracie Cagle – and eight digs. Brenley Hansen had six total blocks to lead the Griz defense.

Montana will finish the weekend out with a matchup against Oregon State at noon on Sunday. The Beavers defeated Fresno State 3-1 in the season opener and play against Grand Canyon on Saturday night.

"This tournament and our preseason is a test of our toughness," Lawrence said. "How willing are we to fight through the worst versions of our game in order to allow our true game to emerge. It is a process and we have to be tough enough to see it through."