Griz fall in straight sets at Weber State

Wednesday, November 19

Ogden, Utah

4:00 PM

Montana

17-9,9-6Big Sky

Weber State

16-11,8-7Big Sky

Montana

Weber St.

Photo by: Marley Barboeisel/University of Montana

11/19/2025 6:48:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Weber State proved why it holds what is now a 9-2 home record this season on Wednesday evening with a three-set sweep of Montana. The Grizzlies hit .241 on the night and Alexis Batezel moved up into third place in program history for career digs, but they couldn't overcome the attack of the Wildcats.

Weber State hit .340 in the match and outblocked Montana 10-4 in the victory. It led to set wins of 25-22, 25-23, and 25-17 for the hosts. It's the first time that Montana has been swept in league play and just the second time all season.

"It felt like they kind of suffocated us as the match went on and had a lot of single stuff blocks to kind of run away with it in the third," Lawrence said. "I thought their block got better and better as the match went on and their defensive adjustments on us got better and we failed to find new kills and counter from there."

Delaney Russell led Montana with 12 kills and Maddie Pyles followed closely behind with 11. Sydney Pierce had a bounce-back performance with eight kills on .467 hitting.

The first set was highly competitive between the two sides with both teams hitting high percentages. Neither team led by more than two points until a 4-0 Wildcat run made it 13-9 in favor of the hosts.

Montana used a timeout and scored coming out of it, but WSU responded and pulled away to a 21-14 lead. The Griz made things interesting with their powerful attack down the stretch. Pierce and Russell each had kills and Madeline Sanderson added an ace for a 3-0 run.

They would extend it all the way out to a 7-2 run after three more kills from Russell made it 23-21 Weber State. The Wildcats were able to do just enough down the stretch to seal the 25-22 opening set win.

Montana his .389 as a team in the first set behind six kills from Russell and five kills from Pyles. There was plenty to like from the Grizzlies in the opening set, and they carried over those positives into the start of the second set.

The Griz started with a 4-1 lead after two kills from Russell and one each from Carley Spachman and Gracie Cagle. They went on a 3-0 run to extend that lead to 7-2 after an ace from Emma Williams.

The pressure remained high on the WSU defense as Montana forced head coach Jeremiah Larsen to take both of his timeouts early in the set with the Grizzlies up 16-9.

"I think we came out and hit our scout details and the second set felt like a really aggressive reset to those details. I thought we were on it," Lawrence said. "I thought our middles were working really hard off the ball, we were ball handling really well, and our defensive effort was really high. We were stealing kills from them and producing a lot in transition. Then I think you felt that slowly shift in their favor."

Weber State went on a 5-2 run out of the timeout to get it back to a four-point deficit. The Griz reached 20 first while Weber State was at 16, but from that point on the Wildcats outscored the Griz 9-3 to come from behind and take the second set 25-23.

"Once they had momentum in the second set where we were no longer digging their first swing and they were extending rallies, it felt like it slipped away," Lawrence said. "We couldn't get the control back that we had in the first set and a half."

The Wildcats outhit the Griz .313-to-.128 in the third set for an eight-point win to close out the sweep.

Despite the result, it was another impressive night for senior libero Alexis Batezel. She finished with a match-high 15 digs to increase her career total to 1,455 and move into third place in program history.

Batezel passed Brittney Brown (2008-10) for third place and will end her career in that ranking. She does have the chance to move up the list of best single seasons in program history.

Her 15 digs tonight give her 455 on the season, which is 10^th most in a season in Grizzly history. Batezel will have the chance to move up plenty as 10 more digs would jump her all the way up to 6^th.

"I think she has earned every one of those digs and has earned her place in the UM record book," Lawrence said. "It's so easy to celebrate her because of her commitment to her teammates. You know all of the effort that produced that kind of statline came from her working as hard as she could for her teammates. I would be on her mind, the top priority is making the whole program great and I think that's when you become a great player yourself."

Montana will look to rebound quickly on Friday night in Pocatello. They face off with Idaho State in the regular season finale. It will be senior night for the Bengals. Idaho State and Montana State will meet in Reed Gym on Thursday night.

There will be plenty on the table for Montana as they get set for postseason play. A win would give Montana more than any team in the program's last 26 years, but it could also clinch the 4-seed at the Big Sky Tournament.

Montana is currently in 4^th place at 9-6, but Montana State (8-6) could pull into a tie with them by beating Idaho State on Wednesday night. Weber State is 8-7 and Portland State is 7-7 with two matches against 9^th and 10^th placed Idaho and Eastern Washington.

"I think every team in the conference has a lot to be playing for whether it's a seed, a program storyline, a tiebreaker," Lawrence said. "I love that we are in that situation and I know it will pull out of us what it needs to. This group has been battling in high pressure situations all year and has put together a season that they should be so confident that they know what to do in those moments."