Griz show depth in sweep of Southern Miss

Saturday, September 7

Missoula, Mont.

11:00 AM

Montana

3-2,0-0Big Sky

Southern Miss

3-3,0-0Sun Belt

Southern Miss.

Montana

Photo by: Ella Palulis/University of Montana

9/7/2024 4:27:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The winning ways continued for the Montana volleyball team on Saturday. The Grizzlies won their third straight match by sweeping Southern Miss in the morning session of the Ellesyn Invitational 25-15, 25-21, 25-19.

The Grizzlies were in control the entire match, and put their depth on display with plenty of freshmen getting action in the victory.

"I'm super proud of the team. I think we held structure in our first contact and that was nice to see because it was a big focus in the locker room before the match," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "We knew that Southern Miss can be very offensive and have a lot of arms and be threatening in a lot of different ways so we were going to have to control first contact and have our offense show up from point one, which it did."

Montana's defense was the key in the first two wins of the current streak, but this time the offense had its best performance of the season. The Grizzlies hit a season-best .234 with 39 kills to just 13 errors in the win.

The offense was balanced with seven players recording multiple kills off the distribution of a pair of setters in Gracie Cagle and Casi Newman. Newman started the match, but made way for the youngster Cagle for the final stretch. Cagle ended the match with 26 assists and a pair of kills on .400 hitting, both career highs.

Lawrence has alluded to the depth of her team being a strength this season. It was on display in Saturday's win. The usual suspects had big matches (Paige Clark had 13 kills, Maddie Kremer had 8) but they also got several younger players involved, including middle blocker Sydney Pierce with two kills on four swings.

"This match was a great opportunity to have a really big first set and set a tone and then make a few changes and see if we could hold that structure in the second set," Lawrence said. "I think Sydney Pierce did that really well, Gracie came in and set the end of the first set and carried it through to the end of the match, and it was really great to see. It hasn't been a thing we've been able to do yet, or in previous years, where we have a different lineup and hold through and earn the sweep. It was a very big team effort in that regard."

Montana were also able to dictate so much offensively because of the impressive first touch on display. Libero Alexis Batezel played a key role in that with her 17 digs.

"I'm very proud of (Batezel). I think she doesn't always show up in the stat sheet, per se, but I think especially on a lot of tips and offspeed balls she was reading it really well and helping our side be organized," Lawrence said. "I thought she was very poised and just a great leader. She served aggressively, and really owned her job and her role today."

Montana went up 5-1 in the first set, and then extended it to 10-4 largely behind the arm of Clark, who had the first three kills of the match for the Grizzlies. The Golden Eagles would get back within four, but a 5-0 run for Montana behind a pair of kills from clark and one from Brenley Hansen would put the set well out of reach. Montana won 25-15 in the opener.

Hansen had a massive opening set, recording four kills on .375 hitting. She was also involved in all three of Montana's blocks in the set as the Grizzly defense held Southern Miss to -.029 hitting. Clark also had five kills on .333 hitting in an impressive first set.

Back-to-back aces from Maddie Pyles 🎯#GrizVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/RzN6jb7zLW
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) September 7, 2024

After a first set that had just one tied score and zero lead changes, Montana faced a much stiffer test in the second set. The Grizlies made several lineup changes, inserting Cagle in as the primary setter with Pierce getting more looks in the middle.

The teams traded the lead back and forth early with neither side able to string together a run. Montana finally had the first three-point burst to move ahead 13-11, but Southern Miss wouldn't go away.

The Golden Eagles worked back to another tie at 19-all before Montana finally started to take command of the set. Clark ripped a kill to put Montana up one, then Maddie Pyles followed it up with an impressive shot of her own. Pyles would add another kill later to make it 23-20 Montana, setting Maddie Kremer up to close it out with back-to-back kills.

Pyles led the way in the second set with four kills on five swings, and also dialed up a pair of aces during the set. Montana were actually outhit .184-.171 in the set, but still did enough to pick up a fairly straightforward win.

In the final set, Montana faced its largest deficit of the entire match after three straight kills from Sadie McAda made it 10-6. But Montana would score seven of the next 10 points to tie it up at 13-all after an ace from Clark.

They were tied at 16-all before a Kremer kill and ace gave Montana a bit of a cushion. It started a ferocious finish for the Grizzlies, who scored nine of the final 12 points of the set to close it out at 25-19.

Back-to-back aces from Maddie Pyles 🎯#GrizVB | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/RzN6jb7zLW
— Montana Griz Volleyball (@MontanaGrizVB) September 7, 2024

Clark had six kills on .667 hitting and Kremer had five kills of her own in the final set as Montana closed out their first sweet of the season.

The Grizzlies will now close out the Ellesyn Invitational on Sunday afternoon against Boise State. The Broncos won against Southern Miss but dropped a three-set match to Utah Valley on Saturday. Montana has a chance to win the tournament if they are able to defeat the Broncos on Sunday.

"They are a very strong team. A lot of arms, and very good middles," Lawrence said. "I think when you have good middles like that with setters that are dynamic and able to get the ball to them often, you are looking at layers of threats. We're going to have to serve really well to get them out of that middle and try to contain the pins at that point. It will be a good challenge for us, I'm excited, it's what we need."