Griz drop season finale in Pocatello

Friday, November 21

Pocatello, Idaho

7:00 PM

Montana

17-10,9-7Big Sky

Idaho State

11-17,7-9Big Sky

Montana

Idaho St.

Photo by: Marley Barboeisel/University of Montana

11/21/2025 10:27:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team closed out the regular season in Pocatello on Friday night, falling in five sets to Idaho State. The Grizzlies took the opening two sets but dropped the final three to the Bengals on Senior Night inside Reed Gym.

Montana finishes the regular season 17-10 overall and 9-7 in Big Sky play.

"I'm disappointed. We're all disappointed and frustrated," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "I think Idaho State did a great job battling back and finding the rhythm in their game, and still I think in the 4^th and 5^th set we created opportunities for kills and we didn't execute. The effort was there, the details were there, and then we just didn't finish the point."

The result didn't change Montana's first round matchup at the Big Sky Conference Tournament next week as they were locked into a first-round game against Weber State in the 4-5 match after the Wildcats swept Montana State earlier on Friday.

Montana outhit Idaho State .228-to-.213 in the match with more kills and digs, but the Bengals were able to respond to a 2-0 deficit with a strong net defense as they finished the night with 14 blocks.

"I think some of it was a great defensive effort from Idaho State and they either forced us into errors or we just became high error in pressure situations," Lawrence said. "We had a great serving effort to start and then I think our ace-to-error ratio flipped as the match wore on."

Delaney Russell led both teams with 21 kills on .320 hitting and Sydney Pierce had a tremendous night offensively with 13 kills on .478 hitting. Gracie Cagle got the ball to both of them with 34 total assists and 14 digs on the night for her 13^th double-double of the season.

"I was really impressed with Sydney's motor," Lawrence said. "She came to compete and was pretty unstoppable in long stretches. Delaney was the same. She hit out of system well, she hit in system well, and I think we had a lot of playmakers that were locked in and we were very much in position. And then we just made errors at bad moments when it was tight."

There were five Grizzlies that reached double figures in the dig category, led by Cagle and Alexis Batezel with 14 each. Russell had 12 digs for her 14^th double-double of the season. Freshmen Madeline Sanderson and Annika Wright each finished with 11.

It was an ideal start for Montana in the match. The Grizzlies led early in a tight match, but Idaho State's first lead didn't come until the 11-10 mark. Montana got two straight points from there and didn't trail the rest of the first set.

The Grizzlies really pushed the lead out late with a 7-1 run that included three kills from Russell. They would extend the run out to 9-3 at the close of the set to win the opener 25-17.

The second set would prove to be even more dominant for Montana. They scored the first three points of the set and never trailed, leading by as many as seven during the set. Idaho State pulled within two late, but a kill from Russell followed by an ace from Cagle gave the Griz some breathing room.

They would hold on to win 25-20 and take a 2-0 lead. Montana hit .429 in the first set and .351 in the second set. They would be held under .230 hitting across each of the final three sets.

The third set was back-and-forth with six lead changes, the most of any set on the night. Montana used a 4-0 run early to take a 6-4 lead. Idaho State countered back with a run of their own as the teams were tied at 15-all at the media break. Idaho State would pull away from there, scoring 10 of the final 15 points for a 25-20 win.

The Bengals opened the fourth set up 11-6 and forced changes from Montana's side as Lawrence went with a 6-2 and got Sophia Vella into the match.

The Griz were able to reclaim some momentum and took the lead in the fourth thanks to a 4-0 run, going up 18-16. They grew the lead to 20-17 after an attacking error from the Bengals.

The hosts would score four straight to retake the lead and closed the set on an 8-2 run to win 25-22.

Montana jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the fifth set, but Idaho State responded with four straight to take the lead back. Russell had a pair of kills to help the Grizzlies go up 7-6. They would lead 9-8 after an error from Idaho State and 11-10 after a kill from Pierce.

But down the stretch, they weren't able to get the finishing touches on swings. Idaho State scored five of the final six points of the match to win 15-12 in the fifth.

Montana fell to the No. 5 seed at the Big Sky Conference Tournament with the loss, but the first round opponent remained the same. The Grizzlies will go straight from Pocatello to Greeley, Colo. for the postseason.

They will play No. 4 Weber State in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament on Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. The Grizzlies are looking to win in the postseason for the first time since 2013.

It will be the second time in six days that the Grizzlies and Wildcats will meet. Weber State won in straight sets on Wednesday in Ogden.

"I think that Weber had a great weekend at home with sweeps against us and MSU. They are looking very in rhythm and they are a physical team and a good blocking team," Lawrence said. "I think we're going to have to serve and pass well. It will be fun to have another chance at them at a neutral site."

The season series was even after Montana won over the Wildcats in Missoula. They will have plenty of confidence going into the match knowing that anything is possible on a neutral floor.

"I think this time of year is all about how willing we are to keep finding growth even through setback and frustration. I know this group wanted to get to 10+ conference wins, they wanted the top four finish, they wanted that all really bad," Lawrence said. "I think they've done an excellent job putting action behind desire. We've worked hard to position ourselves in a certain way and this weekend is disappoint, but ultimately if it's what we need to play even better volleyball on Monday then we have to use it that way."