Shorthanded Griz fall to UNC in four

Saturday, November 1

Greeley, Colo.

6:00 PM

Montana

14-8,6-5Big Sky

Northern Colorado

11-13,8-3Big Sky

Montana

Northern Colo.

11/1/2025 9:08:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana, playing without starting middle blocker Olivia LaBeau, battled against Northern Colorado on the road on Saturday night in Greeley in a four-set loss. The Grizzlies played well and experimented with different lineups in the night, but couldn't find the consistency needed to upset the Bears on the road.

The Grizzlies (14-8, 6-5 Big Sky) came out inspired in a first set win and then jumped ahead 7-1 in the second set, taking a lot of the momentum early in the match. The Bears (11-13, 8-3 Big Sky) settled in from that point on and were able to win the final three sets.

"I think the most frustrating part with this match was we held details and had moments of being playmakers that felt like it gained us momentum and earned us advantages in points," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "Then we were not finishing. There were moments where we would gain momentum and then it felt like we would just give it away and I think that part is really frustrating."

Lawrence had to mix up her lineups on Saturday after the LaBeau injury late in Thursday's match at Northern Arizona. It led to eight different Grizzlies recording a kill on Saturday.

As a team, Montana hit .155 and struggled to slow down the Northern Colorado offense as the Bears hit .287. UNC also had more blocks and digs than the Grizzlies as they pulled away late, but there was plenty of fight from Montana.

The Griz were aggressive from the service line, recording seven aces on the night and keeping UNC out of system during several runs.

It was a match full of big runs that swung the momentum back and forth. Montana had an early lead in the first but two runs of 4-0 and 3-0 for the hosts made it 12-9 Northern Colorado.

The Griz responded with six of the next eight points to head into the first media timeout of the night ahead 15-14. Northern Colorado pulled back ahead and led as they entered the 20s, eventually pulling ahead 24-23.

On set point for UNC, Maddie Pyles recorded a kill to tie it back up and freshman Annika Wright had a service ace to give Montana a set point of their own. An error on the attack from UNC gave Montana the 26-24 win in the opening set.

Pyles had four kills on eight swings in the opening set, setting a tone early while replacing LaBeau in the starting lineup.

"We wanted to set Maddie Pyles a lot early," Lawrence said. "We knew we wanted to set the red zone behind the setter and we were scoring on that. She came out really in rhythm and had a lot of success early."

It looked like Montana might be on the way to the upset win early in the second set. Four early kills from Montana, combined with three Bear errors, gave Montana the 7-1 lead out of the gates in the set.

Montana held leads to begin each set, executing well in the early stages.

"I thought we had a great scout and were feeling really unified around our plan," Lawrence said. "I think we have such a smart team that really loves information so that part felt like we knew what to do. I think the part of this that feels frustrating is we did that and we would have leads and there were just plays where we weren't choosing to execute and finish."

The Bears then had the longest run of the season by a Grizzly opponent, scoring 11 straight points to completely change the tone of the match. Montana couldn't recover in the second set, falling by an eventual score of 25-13.

Lawrence began rotating through her roster in the third set as Josie Blazina and Sophia Vella both got plenty of action down the stretch. The rest of the Grizzlies didn't show any signs of quit despite the difficult second set, and they would open up with an 8-5 lead following an ace from Pyles.

Northern Colorado tied it up at 10-all and the teams would proceed to trade points over the next four. After the media timeout, the hosts started to separate, leading by as many as four in the closing moments.

Montana scored four out of five points to make it interesting late at 24-22, but the Bears would do enough to get a 25-22 win in the third.

"I expect us to be a team that when everything is on the line, we are finishing and being playmakers. I didn't see that tonight," Lawrence said. "I saw us do a lot of things really well, but when it was our job to pull away and keep momentum and keep executing with a lead, that was where we were high error or passive and would have missed communication."

It was a very similar story in the fourth set as the Grizzlies, as they had done all night, jumped out to an early lead. Montana was up 12-6 after a kill from Carley Spachman and Northern Colorado was forced to burn an early timeout.

Spachman stepped up in LaBeau's absence, recording eight kills on .636 hitting on Saturday night.

The Grizzlies continued to lead down the stretch as Blazina provided a spark offensively. Blazina had two kills in a four-point stretch to put Montana ahead 18-14. It was a theme of the night as several Grizzlies stepped up with more playing time than normal.

"We were struggling to get kills in our two-hitter rotations. Josie came in and made some athletic, clean plays and got us momentum and gave us a different look. She did great," Lawrence said. "We flipped in and out of the 6-2 all night and I thought Annika set well and Sophia Vella went in and executed. I thought everyone that we put on the floor elevated what we were doing."

The late lead disappeared after an 8-1 Bears run made it 23-21. They would hold on down the stretch for the 25-21 fourth set win.

Delaney Russell and Pyles led Montana with 11 kills each off 37 assists from Gracie Cagle and five from Wright.

"I think there are pieces of our game that are so high level that I know our potential is in a place where we can beat anybody on any given night," Lawrence said. "We are in position to do it, now we need to turn the corner where we execute the final plays. I'm really encouraged and my belief has never been higher. I want our team's belief to generate a toughness that is deeper than it feels right now."

Montana will have just a single match next week, playing at Montana State in the Brawl of the Wild on Friday night. The match will start at 7:00 p.m. in Bozeman as the Grizzlies look to even the season series and bring home the Main Line Trophy.

"Our attitude needs to be that our moments of slippage or moments where we are underperforming are unacceptable and practice with that expectation. The rivalry game kind of puts you in that mode where it sharpens your focus and demands that of you."