Griz fall in first match at North Dakota State

Friday, September 13

Fargo, N.D.

6:00 PM (MT)

Montana

3-4,0-0Big Sky

North Dakota State

2-4,0-0Summit League

Montana

North Dakota St.

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Montana

9/13/2024 9:29:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

In the first of two matches in Fargo this weekend, the Montana volleyball team was swept by the host North Dakota State Bison in a tight, offensive-oriented match. The Grizzlies hit their second-best percentage of the season, but lost two sets by the narrowest of margins in a packed gym.

Montana (3-4) battled point-for-point with North Dakota State the entire match. They fell by the minimum of two points in the first and third sets, and were tight with NDSU in the second set outside of a late 8-0 run by the Bison. North Dakota State won 25-23, 25-17, 26-24.

The teams were close statistically as well. North Dakota State narrowly outhit Montana .245-to-.231 and had three more aces than the Grizzlies. But Montana's defense, which has been a strength all season, showed up again to provide the Griz with a 9-3 advantage in blocks.

"It felt very close and point-for-point," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "We would get them in out of system situations with tough serving or a great swing, but they were just scoring in bad ball situations too regularly. I think that effected our offense in obvious ways where we weren't extending rallies and getting more opportunities for more swings. We hit at a decent percentage, but just were not getting enough kills per set to win."

It was a very strong start for the hosts as they opened up the match with a 11-3 lead in the first set. They had six kills on the first 10 swings of the match and forced an early Grizzly timeout after a 3-0 run.

But Montana settled into the environment and the match behind solid attacking play from middle blocker Brenely Hansen. She had two kills as part of a 4-0 Grizzly run that brought them back to 11-7, and registered a kill on her first three swings of the match. She would record four of her six kills in the match in the opening set.

The Griz got it back to 16-12 after a 4-0 run, and then were able to get two points for every one that NDSU picked up and climbed all the way back to just a single point deficit at 21-20 following a block from Hansen and Maddie Pyles.

The set followed a similar story to last Sunday's loss to Boise State, however. The Grizzlies got back within a point on two more occasions down the stretch, but were never able to draw level and fell in the first set 25-23.

Hansen led with four kills but Pyles, Paige Clark, and Maddie Kremer all finished with three kills apiece as the Griz hit .273 in the first set. There were plenty of elements that typically lead to wins on display, but it came up just short as some of the tighter points went in the direction of the hosts.

The Grizzlies seemed to be the team in control in the second set from the start, jumping out to 6-3 and then 10-6 leads with Clark, Pyles, and Kremer contributing two early kills each. The Bison were able to get it back to a tie at 12-all, then again at 13, 14, and 15. It was at 15-14 point, when Ally Barth took over at the service line, that the set shifted.

North Dakota State scored eight straight points for a commanding 22-15 lead. They would close it out at 25-17 with the eight-point run being the difference between the teams. Despite the set loss, Montana's offense still hit .194 behind five kills on seven attempts from Clark. They actually hit a better percentage than NDSU (.179), but four aces from the Bison were a difference maker.

"We were able to get them out of system but then not capitalize and finish points. It was a great job by them, they were very smart in their attacking choices out of system, and I think really capitalized on moments where they were not in great situations," Lawrence said. "It's something we have to address tomorrow."

The final set was a fierce battle. The teams were tied nearly the whole way. When they reached a 10-10 tie, it was already the eighth different score that they were level at during the third set with four lead changes. Both numbers were more than the first two sets combine.

The Grizzlies rallied for four straight points behind good serves from Casi Newman and a pair of blocks from Sierra Dennison. It forced a North Dakota State timeout, which the hosts rallied out of with five of the next six points. The ties just continued to come. They were locked at 17-all with 13 tie scores at that point.

On two occasions, the Bison were able to pull three points ahead but Montana had an answer to both runs and tied it up at 20-all and then 23-23. NDSU had match point, but Clark ripped a huge kill, her 12^th of the match, to extend it.

It was a heartbreaker in the end as the Bison scored the final two points of the night to win it in a sweep.

There was plenty to like for Montana. The attacking play was good as they hit .231 as a team with four players recording at least six kills. Clark led the way with 12 on .292 hitting. It's the fifth straight match with double-digit kills for the senior. Pyles had eight kills on .389 hitting, Kremer had seven on .190 hitting, and Hansen had six on .455 hitting.

The defense also looked great at the net, blocking nine total attacks and averaging 3.0 per set. Sierra Dennison had a team-high five while Pyles added four blocks and Hansen pitched in three.

They also had one of their best serving matches of the year, recording a positive ratio in aces to errors for just the third time this season. But despite all that, North Dakota State's ability to score out of system proved too much to overcome.

"The gym is a great atmosphere. We served well for big stretches, we competed well, we outblocked them for sure. It felt very much in system," Lawrence said. "We had some good control and were able to slow down players that we identified in scout, but then it was that secondary layer out of system."

Montana has a chance to respond right away as the two teams will meet again about 16 hours after the competion of Friday night's match. They will close out the weekend at 12:00 p.m. (MT) on the same floor against the same team.

Paige Clark will be going for a bit of history in the match. If she can reach double-digit kills for the sixth straight match, she will reach 1,000 for her Grizzly career. She would become the 15^th player in the 1,000-kill club at Montana and just the fourth since the 25-point rally scoring era began.

"I really like road trip in that we get a chance to respond," Lawrence said. "I think it's a great opportunity to work on some things in 24 hours and see how we can adapt."