Griz match most wins since '99 with Senior Day sweep

Saturday, November 15

Missoula, Mont.

2:00 PM

Montana

17-8,9-5Big Sky

Eastern Washington

2-24,0-14Big Sky

Eastern Wash.

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

Griz match most wins since '99 with Senior Day sweep

11/15/2025 5:25:00 PM | Volleyball

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team wrapped up its best season at home this century with its ninth victory inside Dahlberg Arena as they swept Eastern Washington on Senior Day to improve to 17-8 overall.

The Grizzlies have matched the 2022 team for the most total wins since 1999 with their 17^th victory.

The emotions of Senior Day brought out the best in the Grizzlies as they dominated all day long against the Eagles. Montana won 25-11, 25-16, and 25-22. They held the Eagles to a negative hitting percentage on the night while hitting .233 on the other side.

It as a complete team performance with big matches from the three seniors that suited up in their final home matches. Maddie Pyles had eight kills, six digs, and six blocks. Alexis Batezel had 11 of Montana's 32 total digs on the night. Carley Spachman had five kills on .571 hitting and a match-high seven blocks.

"It was so cool, so emotional," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "I love senior day and being able to honor them in front of Dahlberg Arena and for the crowd to join in on our emotions and for them to get a lot of the love back that they've poured into this place," Lawrence said. "It was really special, and then they delivered. They all played really well."

Eastern Washington held an early lead in the opening set, but Montana used one of their best scoring runs of the season to blow things open. It came with setter Gracie Cagle at the service line as she kept the Eagles out of system for much of the set.

Cagle had four aces in a five-point stretch for Montana and the Grizzlies scored 14 straight points to turn a deficit into a 21-8 lead. It was smooth sailing the rest of the way in a 25-11 first set win.

The setter finished the night with five aces, one off her career high. She was 3^rd in the Big Sky entering the match and now has 43 on the season.

"She has one of those serves, she does it at practice, and whenever she can find a weakness she's really good at attacking it," Lawrence said. "She's both accurate and has a tough serve to pass. Setting that tone is important for us as we head on the road next week and then into the conference tournament."

The Grizzlies hit .500 as a team in the first set behind a big effort from Pyles. The senior started for the fourth straight match and was nearly perfect in the opening set with five kills on six attacks. She also had a pair of blocks in the opener, setting the tone early on for the Griz.

"She was so physical and has so much joy when she plays," Lawrence said. "You can really feel all the momentum of her career just kind of showing up today and she's such an easy teammate to play for. I think the team loves seeing her success and wanted to set her up for success as much as possible. Gracie got her a lot of great looks and she's just so solid that it worked all night."

The Eagles had an early lead again in the second set, pulling ahead 8-4 as Montana's offense struggled. The Grizzlies would use another long run with Cagle at the service line to turn the momentum of the set.

They scored five straight this time, but followed that up with another couple of scoring bursts as part of an 11-2 run for Montana. They went up 18-13 as a result and would pull even further away down the stretch in a 25-16 second set win.

This time it was Delaney Russell, who had a team-high 10 kills in the match, that found success offensively. Russell had half of her total kills in the second set with five kills on 10 swings.

Montana hit .161 in the second and held Eastern Washington to a -.161 percentage.

The Grizzlies opened the third set with six straight points, once again with Cagle at the service line, and led the entire way. Lawrence brought in several young players as she went deep into her bench in the match.

The Eagles didn't show any quit and were able to pull back within two points late, but the Grizzlies held on for the 25-22. It's the 9^th straight set win for Montana after sweeping Idaho on Thursday and winning the final three sets at Montana State last week.

It's the first time since 2012 against Idaho State that Montana has held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage.

"I thought we hit our details from scout and I feel like that has been a strength of this group," Lawrence said. 'We had some specific details we wanted to hold throughout any kind of stretch and I thought we did that well. With all the extra emotions of the day there can be some distractions or some moments where we aren't holding our focus, but I thought we did that really well."

The Grizzlies honored Batezel, Pyles, Spachman, and fellow senior Olivia LaBeau before the match. LaBeau had to miss the match with an injury.

The last four years have seen Montana win 55 total matches, the best stretch of play since the 90s. Batezel and Pyles have played in all four of those years as the team's 17-win in 2022 was their freshman season. It was the most wins for the program since 1999.

Now with two games to go in their senior season, the duo has the chance to lead Montana to more history. The Grizzlies go on the road for the final two matches of the season, playing at Weber State on Wednesday and Idaho State on Friday.

The Grizzlies beat both teams in the matches played in Missoula. The last time the Grizzlies finished solo fourth place or better in the conference standings was 2010. In a year full of superlatives, they have the chance to add another next week before heading to the Big Sky Tournament.

"I'm just so proud of what they have done. There are really no words for it," Lawrence said. "But what I've loved about who we are is I just want us to continue being us. I think as you get into postseason what I don't want us to do is make it bigger than it is. I think the things that have worked for us need to continue to work and we need to be ourselves."