Griz sweep Vandals for second time this season

Thursday, November 13

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

16-8,8-5Big Sky

Idaho

5-20,2-11Big Sky

Idaho

Montana

Photo by: Marley Barboeisel/University of Montana

11/13/2025 10:27:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

There was no let down for the Montana volleyball program following last week's big win over Montana State. The Grizzlies hosted another regional rival on Thursday night in Dahlberg Arena and took care of business against the Idaho Vandals in straight sets.

It's the second time this season that Montana has swept Idaho and it extends the winning streak over the neighbors to the west to nine matches.

It was a defensive struggle from both sides on the night as Montana won despite hitting just .168 in the match. They leaned on the defense, which held Idaho under .100 hitting with 55 digs and eight blocks.

Montana won 25-22, 25-23, and 25-20 to improve to 16-8 overall and 8-5 in Big Sky play. The win keeps the Grizzlies in sole possession of fourth place in the league with three games remaining.

"I'm proud of how we finished. I think we got better throughout the match," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "There were some frustrating moments where I thought we needed more effort and structure, but every time we would have to regroup I liked our response. I loved the performances by athletes that came in and made up for some deficit of lack of effort in some ways. I thought we responded well, we grew. It was not our cleanest match of volleyball, but still a good one to get."

Delaney Russell led Montana in both kills (13 on .216 hitting) and digs (15). The sophomore outside hitter extended her streak of matches with double-digit kills to 13 with her performance against the Vandals.

Alexis Batezel had 10 digs on the night as she reached 400 career sets played. The Grizzly libero is closing in on 3^rd place in program history in career digs with over 1,400.

Carley Spachman had six blocks and setter Gracie Cagle added four blocks to her 26 assists on the night.

The Grizzlies were aggressive from the service line all night, and started that early with several aces in the opening points of the match. They went on a 5-0 run, capped by one of Madeline Sanderson's career high three aces, to jump ahead 10-6.

The lead grew to as many as seven following an ace from Cagle made it 17-10, but the scrappy Vandals wouldn't go away. They battled back, climbing within a point at 23-22. Montana held on in the first set after a pair of Idaho errors closed things out at 25-22.

Montana had four aces in the first set but hit just .132 with 14 kills and nine errors.

Idaho opened the second set with four of the first five points. Montana would quickly battle back and take the lead at 6-5 after a block from Spachman and Cagle. Once again, Montana started to pull away through the middle portion of the set, scoring seven out of nine points to take an 18-13 lead after two straight Sanderson service aces.

But similar to the first, Idaho clawed back to make things interesting late. They scored five straight points to tie it at 18-all. The Griz countered back with a 4-0 run that included a kill from Josie Blazina and a block from Blazina and freshman Sophia Vella.

The duo hasn't seen extended playing time this season, but both came in and made an impact on Thursday night.

"This match was a great opportunity when we weren't scoring well from that M1 position to see if Josie could come in and provide a spark and get some kills," Lawrence said. "My mentality in this match was that if our effort or production weren't were they needed to be then we have bench full of athletes that can come in and get us a point and grab momentum."

Maddie Pyles provided the final point for Montana with a kill to close things out at 25-23.

Montana started the third set on a 4-1 run and didn't trail for the rest of the match. Idaho would make things tricky once again, pulling level on three different occasions, but the Griz were able to put up their best offensive set of the night by hitting .282 for the win.

They pulled away for good with a 4-1 run that included two kills by Sydney Pierce and one each from Russell and Cagle.

It was Pyles who put the finishing touch on things yet again. The senior ended the night with eight kills, the second most on the team, on .200 hitting.

Pyles and fellow fourth year senior Batezel have now been on the roster for 54 total wins, the best four-year stretch for the program since the 90s. They will be honored, alongside senior transfers Olivia LaBeau and Carley Spachman and Team IMPACT member Elle Farmer, on Saturday in a Senior Night celebration.

"I want them to feel honored by Griz Nation in here and feel like they get the love that they have poured into this community and this program for their four years or their one year," Lawrence said. "I want them to feel it come back to them."

The Grizzlies have a chance on Saturday to tie the 2022 team for the most wins by the program since 1999. The Grizzlies can also clinch a winning record in Big Sky play with a victory over Eastern Washington.

It will be the first time this season that the Grizzlies and Eagles have met this season. Eastern Washington is still looking for its first win of the conference season and has been eliminated from postseason potential.

The match will start at 2:00 p.m. with a celebration of the seniors starting prior to first serve.