Montana falls 3-1 to Portland State

Saturday, September 28

Portland, Ore.

6:00 PM (MT)

Montana

5-8,0-2Big Sky

Portland State

3-10,2-0Big Sky

Montana

Portland St.

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Montana

9/28/2024 9:06:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

In a gym that has caused problems for Montana in the past, against a team picking up momentum at the start of Big Sky play, the Griz volleyball team fell 3-1 to end the opening weekend of Big Sky play.

Portland State (3-10, 2-0 Big Sky) came from behind to win the final three sets behind a big night from the offense. The Grizzlies (5-8, 0-2 Big Sky) took the opening set, but couldn't slow down the Vikings as the hosts hit .355 in the win.

Maddie Kremer led Montana with 15 kills on .217 hitting. Paige Clark added 13, and Casi Newman finished with 34 assists. It's Montana's eighth straight loss on the road at Portland State.

"Defensively, we couldn't hold our structure in ways where we couldn't slow them down," head coach Allison Lawrence said. " I think from there it felt pretty stressful, and that bled into our offense and our first contact and it just after a while felt hard to get anything going."

Portland State spread the ball around with five different players finishing with 10-plus kills, making it hard for Montana's block to find the correct spots on the net. The Grizzly block, which ranks near the top of the Big Sky and the country, finished with just three blocks.

Montana was good from the service line again, continuing a trend that has carried through the previous three weeks. Montana had seven aces to just six errors, once again greatly outscoring their opponent from the service line.

The teams traded points early on in the first set, and Montana, much as it did on Thursday night against Northern Colorado, leaned on Paige Clark early. Clark brought the match to a 6-6 tie with a kill and had accounted for four of Montana's six points at the time (3 kills, 1 ace).

Montana had a 5-0 shortly after to take a 12-10 lead as both offenses started the match hitting well. The Vikings were hitting nearly .500 at the start of the run, and Montana got well over .300 hitting at the end of it.

The first media timeout arrived with Montana leading 15-12, but the two teams hitting identical .308 percentages with the exact same amount of kills, errors, and total attacks. Montana's two aces, and an error in that category from PSU, were the difference makers.

Portland State went on a run out of the timeout, and led down the stretch. They went up 22-20 before Kremer had a kill and then an ace on back-to-back plays to tie it up and force a PSU timeout.

Her next serve led to a free ball, which Clark put away to give Montana the 23-22 lead. The Griz then appeared to have a 24-22 lead, but a successful PSU challenge tied it up at 23-all instead.

Montana didn't let it phase them. It was tied at 24-24, and then Dennison and Newman combined for their second block to put Montana up one, and Clark put away the first set with her seventh kill of the first set.

"The first set was a good battle on both sides and it really felt like we had some momentum after that," Lawrence said. "They really came into the second set super aggressive and held us in a rotation and point scored well, and it felt off kilter from that point."

Portland State outhit Montana by nearly .100, but the Griz were excellent at the service line and battled on the ground defense to pull out the win in the tight set.

The Vikings jumped out to a big lead in the second set, forcing a Grizzly timeout with a 10-5 advantage. The Griz pulled back within three points a few times, but a 3-0 Viking run made it 18-11 and forced the second timeout of the set from Lawrence.

They went ahead 21-12 out of the break, but Montana fought back with three straight kills that forced a PSU timeout. They continued the run to cut the PSU lead down to 21-17, but the Vikings would retake the momentum and close it out 25-18.

A close start to the third set saw the teams trade the lead early and Portland State take a 12-11 advantage. Portland State then scored eight of the next 10 points, jumping ahead 20-13 behind an offense that had 14 kills to just two errors as they were hitting nearly .500.

Once again, the Griz rallied to get it back to a manageable score, getting five of the next six points to force a PSU timeout at 21-18. The defense stepped up, forcing three Viking errors during the run.

But similarly to the second, the Vikings were able to finish it out with a 25-19 set win to go ahead 2-1.

In the fourth, Montana led early but fell behind 12-7 after a 4-0 Viking run. The Griz pulled back within two at 14-12 following an ace from Gracie Cagle, and a kill from Kremer moments later made it 15-13 PSU.

The Vikings took four of the next five to force a Grizzly timeout at 19-14. They closed it out strong in the fourth with a 5-0 run to end it, winning the final set 25-16.

Montana remains on the road next week as they take on Weber State and Idaho State.

"We have a tough road trip against two really good teams," Lawrence said. "I think how we become great and find our potential and really lock into conference is take moments like this, study what happened, and get back into practice more informed and committed to make changes and grow.

"I think our team has proved this preseason and in years past that we grow an incredible amount during a week of practice because of how we train and how willing we are to keep pushing," Lawrence continued. "I have no doubt we will do that and be ready for next week when it comes."