It's not that deep

Alexis Batezel arrived on campus in Missoula in 2022. It was a big change from her upbringing in Las Vegas, but one that she was excited to leap into because of the people within the halls and offices of Dahlberg Arena.

Those same people, the coaching staff of Allison Lawrence and Dana Hallisey, would bring their team together that fall in a circle where players were free to share their emotions. Batezel, a hard-nosed defensive specialist from a place known as Sin City, didn't know what she had gotten herself into.

"It's not that deep, we're just here to play ball," Batezel said when her turn came to share.

It was a fitting statement for the person and the player that had arrived in Missoula four years ago. Her parents knew that she was bound to be an athlete when she grew up. In Las Vegas, there were plenty of sports to choose from, and so John and Kate let their daughter make the decision.

She chose volleyball.

No questions asked, John Batezel was all aboard the volleyball train.

"When I chose, my dad was the first one to be like, let's make this happen," Batezel said. "He was my coach for a big portion of my life, and nobody put me through worse than him. I was his kid but also who he pushed the most on the team and thank God because I don't think I would be as competitive if it wasn't for that.

Batezel learned from her dad in a relationship that can be strenuous but also incredibly rewarding. He signed up to coach, despite never playing volleyball and knowing little about the sport.

In the Batezel home, you could find magazines about volleyball stacked next to the toilet and on the coffee table. Instructional DVDs were acquired that taught the very basics of how you played this sport with a white ball and a net separating the two teams.

There was no such thing as halfway in the Batezel household. If his daughter wanted this, John was going to do everything in his power to make it happen. It was tough love, but it pushed Batezel to become an athlete that stood out in one of the largest markets in the country.

"My mom was my cushion through it all, but my dad really just made everything happen for me. He learned it for me," Batezel said. "He would demonstrate things at practice, and it would look so bad and goofy looking back at it, but he was doing it for me. He sacrificed everything for me. In his life, he didn't have that support from his parents and his upbringing and what he did for me is just something that I will forever be in debt to him for."

He coached Alexis in her youth years before she moved into the high school level. He gave his daughter the basics, but it was with her club team, Vegas Precision, and at the high school level that Batezel really began to show promise.

It soon became apparent that she had the skills and work ethic to play at the Division 1 level.

She visited several schools but ultimately decided to attend the University of Montana.

"It was like almost impossible to say no to the coaching staff. I think playing for them and this team and this community, you are more than a number on a page," Batezel said. "Our coaches are such remarkable women and understand and feel the pressures of what it means to be a college athlete."

Batezel arrived in Missoula ready to play ball. She may not have been fully prepared for the weekend camping retreat that the team goes on in the fall or the emotional circle of sharing that they have at camp.

It's a personality that has carried her through her four successful years at Montana.

"I think that Lexi is this really unique combination of a learner and there is also a stubbornness about her in what she wants," Lawrence said. "You can't help, as her teammate, but to be swept up in the feeling that she is going to do exactly what she says. I think that stubbornness is really bravery and courage to risk failure and believe that you can keep getting better and keep working toward it."

But she was ready for the D-I level. Batezel appeared in all 29 matches for Montana in her first season in Missoula, averaging just under 2.00 digs per set. It was a record-breaking year for Montana, which won 17 matches and tied for fourth in the Big Sky Conference.

It was the most wins by the program since 1999. Batezel, as a freshman, played a big role in the success. She also had the chance to learn under Sarina Morena, the libero on that year's team and the program's all-time leader in digs.

"I think she played with so much poise and silent confidence," Batezel said of Moreno. "Playing next to her as a freshman, I think I was always stressed out or doing some uncanny things on the court, and she would just be like, hey, you got this, I got this, just play. I think watching someone like that play the role so well was just something that I hope to be half as good at in my career. I just think she provided me with such a solid foundation."

The following year, Batezel took over as the libero, wearing the mismatched jersey in every appearance since. Montana followed the 17-win year up with an 11-18 record in 2022. They would win 10 matches in 2023 but miss the Big Sky Tournament in a disappointing season.

It was a tough year for the team, but it was even tougher for Batezel. The junior battled through an injury to her shoulder all season, taking the floor even when the pain was at near unbearable levels.

The seniors in 2024 were part of the narrative shift surrounding Griz volleyball, taking the program from good to great. Batezel was going to do everything in her power to help those athletes find the success that they had worked so hard for, no matter the cost.

"I wanted it so bad for everyone around me that I didn't really have time to think much about what I was going through and the pain," Batezel said. "In those moments, it's just always bigger than yourself. When I went through the offseason recovering from surgery, I learned how to be a better teammate when I wasn't on the court."

She had surgery in the offseason and missed Montana's spring season in 2025. The injury, she said, may have been the "best thing" that could have happened to her because she "learned the game from a different perspective."

Batezel had been a star at the high school level and a rotation player from the very first day at Montana. Now, Batezel had to take a step back and learn how she could help the team in ways that didn't include diving for balls or making precision passes.

It has led to a different perspective on the floor for Batezel during her senior season. It has changed the way she approaches things, but it has also allowed the team to morph around her to an extent.

"I look at our team's system and how much she's shaped it and then how it's shaped her," Lawrence said. "It's been pretty magical to see her at the end. She's just an incredibly tough person and played a lot of her best volleyball while being injured and dealing with a lot of pain."

She is now in the midst of the best season of her career. Batezel is also leaving her mark on the program's record book as she steadily climbs the all-time charts for career digs. She's in fourth place heading into her final home match today but will almost certainly finish her career in the top three.

Her individual performances this year rank inside the top 30 nationally and have her in the conversation for the Libero of the Year award in the Big Sky Conference. She is currently 2^nd in the Big Sky with 4.66 digs per set and will soon crack the top 10 for most digs in a season in program history.

But the individual success isn't what Batezel is focused on. The senior, along with fellow fourth year senior Maddie Pyles, has worked hard through the spring, offseason, and fall to get the program back on track.

It was a disappointing 2024 season. They wanted to wipe that slate clean in 2025.

"We worked really hard in the offseason and during fall camp to establish who we wanted to be and kind of break away from things in the past or expectations that we should or shouldn't meet," Batezel said. "Stories or tendencies behind people and places. I think this year was such a new group that it was the perfect opportunity to start with a clean slate."

Montana won at Portland State this year for the first time since 2015. They defeated Weber State for the first time since 2017. They won 10 straight matches from the end of the non-conference into the first few Big Sky matches, the longest streak since 1994.

There has been plenty of history achieved by this year's team behind the leadership of Batezel and Pyles.

"I think one of their biggest gifts to this group is that there hasn't been any fear," Lawrence said of her seniors. "I think every year you have kind of a felt sense as a coach of how much fear and hesitation a group holds. I think that has been such a gift that required so much courage from the seniors. Their goals were just as high as any class before them, but their commitment wasn't hinging on a fear of, what if it doesn't happen?"

Montana has a chance to win its 17^th match of the season when they face off with Eastern Washington today. It would match the 2022 squad for the most wins this century and bookend Batezel's career with two of the best Grizzly seasons in history.

But she can't think of the history of what this team might accomplish or the fact that she will be playing in her final game inside Dahlberg Arena. Her Grizzlies still sit in 4^th place in the league standings with far too much on the line to get sentimental about such things.

"It weirdly hasn't set in yet because I feel like there is so much left to do in this season. In that space, I'm trying to be super present in every moment that I have left with this team," Batezel said. "I have gratitude for everyone that has been able to get me to this place. That has been my backbone through this journey."

The history doesn't matter to her. She said that she will likely look back on the stories and stats created by this year's squad once it is over, but she can't spare time for that at the moment.

It doesn't matter to the Grizzly libero that she will soon be one of the three best defensive players, statistically speaking, in program history. It doesn't matter that the 54 wins she's been a part of over the last four years are the most by a single class since the 90s.

Don't tell freshman year Alexis, but what she and her teammates are doing this year? It goes further than just plainly talking about ball.

"I think it is that deep, especially when you're in this program for so long and you get shown a type of love that you really only get from family," Batezel said. "I feel like I have expanded my family. Immature, little me, not really understanding everything that goes into it and not really realizing everything that is done until your last season and through that I've been able to become more in touch with my emotions through the years.

"I think that's gratitude and realizing everything that people do as part of this program, everyone involved," she continued. "It's hard to not appreciate that and think about it when you're playing with Montana on your chest. Our team is Montana, but we're representing more than ourselves, and I think that it is that deep."

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