Cagle's setting success a key for surging Griz

This story was written for GoGriz.com by Glenn Junkert.

To Gracie Cagle, volleyball is a game of communication.

Before each serve, before any return or kill or volley, every play is communicated by a verbal or non-verbal signal. Or both.

And it is Cagle –Montana volleyball's junior setter – who delivers those signals, viewable only to her teammates before they serve, dig or dive into action.

As a team aligned and enabled by their setter, the Montana crew soared early to unparalleled heights in September, building an 8-3 non-conference record that included three tourney titles and Big Sky Player of the Week recognition for senior libero Alexis Batezel and Cagle.

Then, through the first weekend of conference play, the Griz turned two snappy 3-0 sweeps – the first a home court shocker over the defending Big Sky champ Sacramento State Hornets, and the second a dance past the Idaho Vandals in Moscow.

The weekend was topped with a third Player of the Week honor, this time to sophomore OH Delaney Russell.

Montana's record this week stands at 10-3 and the team is now earning comparison to the esteemed Montana volleyball teams of the early 1990s, whose championship successes are posted on a history board over the team's practice court.

But that was then: Cagle's Griz are Now.

Montana statistics point clearly to the impact Cagle has this season upon her team's success.

"Gracie is our unspoken leader out there," said Batezel. "I genuinely think she is the captain of this team. She is the most consistent player on this team. She provides just enough energy, just enough calmness, just like the perfect combination of everything… to lead us to all the success that we're having."

Cagle attributes her skills to her studied focus on communication first, especially in leadership alongside Batezel, soundly backed by meticulously drilled team fundamental skills.

"Communicating with my teammates on the floor… That's definitely a big challenge," said Gracie. "We call that communication feedback loops. It's my job to always have a continuous feedback loop with every single Griz player.

"I especially have to talk to Lexi about passing strategy" said Cagle. "Then I have to talk to each hitter about the location of each play set and the speed of the set and…. in certain situations, if there's one specific set that they'd be more comfortable running.
"So, all game I'm responsible for plays and strategy," she added. "So I definitely always am having to communicate with everyone."

It is a skill Gracie has embraced, said Montana assistant coach Ollie Nicholson.

"When she's play-calling and communicating with her team, she needs to be knowing what's going on over on the other side," said Nicholson. "I don't know if a lot of people fully realize that Gracie is thinking about the other side of the net and about who the weaker blockers are or what we want to try to exploit on the other side.

"And so in Gracie's communication there's a lot that's going on that I don't think a lot of people see," said Nicholson. "Her role is so crucial in all parts of the game."

Cagle added, "I want to put everyone in the best position possible for them to be successful. I feel like that's a little bit of added pressure just because I'm… you know… I AM responsible for the success of my teammates."

After a brief pause, she added: "But just as important is me. I feel like I always have the responsibility for just being a good setter."

The 5-11 warm-blond Cagle is a constant dynamo: slender and lithe of movement, flexible yet balanced, and almost always in position to deliver a perfectly set ball.

That self-delivered athletic message has become her forte since she fell in love with volleyball as a second grader. "I've played my whole life as long as I can remember," she said brightly, her sparkly green eyes flashing while smiling a wide and warm pursed lip grin.

Uniquely, Gracie, who has volleyball heroes and who has had good coaches, was largely self taught.

"I was in eighth grade when I realized I loved volleyball," she said. "I was the best player on the team and my coaches didn't really know what they were doing because they weren't volleyball coaches.

"So, basically, I coached the team. I wrote the lineups and told everyone what to do. And then I was like…. cool! Dang, I'm kind of good at this! So then, when I got to high school, all of my best friends played volleyball. And all of us made the Freshman A and freshman B team.

"But then I made the Reedy High School JV team and sometimes, as a freshman, I got pulled up to the varsity team," Cagle said. "My Reedy team was really good. It is a really strong volleyball school and, even though we were so strong, I was still getting to play with the older girls. So, I was like, wow. I want to do this in college, and play for as long as I can because I love it."

So, how did Cagle get to Montana from Frisco, Texas?

"At first Montana was not on my radar at all. But my volleyball club recruiting director said, 'Hey, I think you should reach out to these schools,' and Montana was one of them. I actually had several visits planned but Montana was the first visit that I took. As soon as I got here, I said to myself: 'This is where I want to be,'" said Cagle, who is also busy pursuing a double major in finance and management information systems at UM.

"I love it here. I love the program and the coaches and all the girls here. Plus, Missoula is awesome. It's a really good town," Cagle said. "So, I canceled all of my other visits and just basically committed right away."

It did not take long for Cagle – as a Montana Griz frosh – to realize that she had to improve her game if she wanted to get on court.

"As a setter growing up, I didn't get that much blocking experience, so when I came to Montana, that was the part of my game where my coaches said, 'Hey Gracie, this needs to get better.'

"Of course that's the same for other players. Everyone is always trying to get better in certain aspects of the game, obviously in their position," she said. "But we also have to work on improving things like blocking and jumping and being physical."

With steady improvement, midway through her sophomore year, Cagle earned more on-court opportunities to play, first in a temporary, substitute's role.

But when last year's Griz struggled through a losing streak, even more opportunities opened up. That was when Cagle stepped up. Over the final five games of last season, Cagle laid claim to becoming Montana's 2025 starting setter. She has not looked back.

ow the challenges are multi-dimensional. Not only was Cagle taking charge as Montana's setter, she also realized the importance of steady improvement as an all-around player responsible for setting, serving, digging and blocking.

Most importantly, Cagle steadily acknowledges that – as her Griz team improves with each game – the demands to continue improving communication will become the difference in the team's ability to consistently win.

For Cagle, it starts with learning how to set the ball into regions where her offensive teammates can attack with vision and force.

"Whenever I'm setting, I have to kind of sense where the block is on the other side," she said. "Or if the blocker in the middle on the other side is cheating towards a certain way; then obviously I want to set the other way, to the hitter that's more open. So that's the kind of vision that applies to setting.

"I decide on the first ball," said Gracie, "So whenever the other team's serving I tell my team before the serve, I tell each hitter what to run."

So, for example?

"If Sydney (Pierce) is in the middle, I could tell her to run a three, which is kind of closer to the outside. Or, I could tell her to run a slide, which is behind me. So, usually before the other team serves. I look on the other side and see who's blocking and the different match-ups that I could create, and the different splits that I know that I could create based on blocker's strengths, and weaknesses," said Cagle.

"And I then decide what each person should run. So once we send the ball back over and are defending the other team, the hitters audible what they want to run from there, just because it's hard to script at that point in the rally.

"Hitters will tell me things like, 'Gracie, can you push that set out?' Or 'I have the line, give me the ball all the way to the line?' Sydney will often tell me that I need to set the ball higher or faster.

"Now I know that no matter if I'm 15 feet off the net, Sydney and Carley (Spachman) are going to be up in the middle. Most teams cannot set their middles from that far off. Our players can. Our middles work so hard to get up, so I know that they're always there. And I feel like every time I set them, it's like an automatic kill. So that's what's awesome about our team."

After each point, the team jumps to a huddle to celebrate or to further communicate.

"That's what we do whenever we do meet in the middle. That is one thing that we're like. No, we're not only just like congratulating each other, we're also giving each other kinds of advice or feedback. Things like, 'How we can be successful as a team on the next play.'"

The process is vital to winning, she said.

"Court vision is definitely a thing in volleyball," said Gracie. "I feel like it's more of a thing for hitters whenever they're hitting, but as a setter it's definitely a thing for me, too. Whenever I'm setting. I have to kind of sense where the blocker is on the other side. Or, if the blocker in the middle on the other side is cheating towards a certain way, then obviously, I want to set the other way.

"So that's the kind of vision that applies to setting. But hitters, whenever they're in the air they need to be able to see where the defense is at so they can find the holes," she said.

That's where Montana's leading scorer Delaney Russell works so much on her shot selection.

"I feel like her placement has gotten better because of all her wrist and contact work. But her court vision has also gotten better," Cagle said. "And that's very important, because court vision is a big thing, especially for hitters."

Lastly, receiving and passing -- an area where the team struggled last season -- has improved dramatically.

"I wouldn't be able to do my job if it wasn't for our passing corps. Lexi, and the outsides, Madeline (Sanderson) have just been doing such a good job," said Cagle, who quickly credited assistant coach Nicholson for dramatic improvements in Montana's receiving and passing game.

"I give huge props to our coach Ollie," said Gracie. "As soon as Ollie came here our receiving game became so good because receiving was her thing.

"Ollie said at the beginning of the season that we're going to pass above what we did before. Ollie told everyone on the team: 'Here it is: I'm expecting this!' So everyone had that expectation.

"Coach Ollie has just done wonders for our passing game. We have just improved so much in that aspect of our game because of her training and what she is doing for us."

"Additionally our server feeds are so good," said Cagle. "I feel like I can run anything at any time, just because our passing is so good that our offense just flows so well."

The results of Gracie's setting skill and leadership are shown clearly in team statistics through September 27^th. Gracie has notched 466 of Montana's 580 assists on the season while still playing an active supporting role in several critical categories: fifth in points (68.5) and hitting % (.239) and sixth in kills (37) and total attempts (113), proof that Montana's game revolves around her skill as the center of Montana's offensive and defensive game.

Nicholson has admired Cagle's all-around development as both a player and a leader.

"To see Gracie grow in her role and especially see it coming out… this season has been so fun for me as a coach to be a part of," said Nicholson.

"For her to be vocal and to be verbal is not her most comfortable thing," Nicholson added. "But she's figuring out ways to do that with her body language and her eye contact, as well as her voice. It's just really cool to see her grow in that, and then see what it's produced for our team."

Challenges lie ahead.

After starting the season with three-straight close losses at the Utah Valley Invitational, the Griz have won 10 straight. That put them in the Montana volleyball record book.

But the season is still young. And enormous games loom in the always brutal Big Sky Conference. But Cagle and her rapidly improving Griz appear up for it.

"There's going to be pressure that we haven't felt yet this season," Nicholson said. "But I think everyone on her team is involved with her, she's so calm. Her communication in that regard is going to serve us so well as we get into those pressure moments, which I think, for our team, is awesome."

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Alexis Batezel

Gracie Cagle

Delaney Russell

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