Montana to face Weber State at Big Sky Tournament

Monday, November 24

Greeley, Colo.

10:00 AM

Montana

(4) Weber State

Photo by: Tommy Martino/ University of Montana

11/23/2025 7:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Match Notes

By: Montana Sports Information

#5 MONTANA (17-10, 9-7 Big Sky) vs. #4 WEBER STATE (17-11, 9-7 Big Sky)
Monday, Nov. 24 / 10:00 a.m. / Watch / Live Stats

It will be a familiar foe for Montana in the first round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament on Monday. The Grizzlies will face Weber State for the second time in six days after the two teams tied for fourth place in the league standings with 9-7 conference records.

Weber State, the preseason favorite in the Big Sky, won its final two matches of the regular season to jump Montana for the four seed at the conference tournament. The Wildcats won over Montana in a sweep on Wednesday. Montana won in four sets in Missoula this year.

Now the two teams will settle it on a neutral floor inside Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley. The match opens the conference tournament with first serve at 10:00 a.m. and it will be streamed on ESPN+.

The Grizzlies are looking to do something that hasn't been accomplished by the program in a dozen years and win a game at the Big Sky Tournament. The last postseason win came in 2013 in Portland when Montana won 3-2 as the five-seed over No. 4 Northern Arizona.

It's been a special season for the Grizzlies as they've racked up 17 total wins, matching the 2022 squad for the most since the turn of the century. They will look to take it one step further on Monday in Greeley and reach 18 wins for the first time since 1999.

Montana fell in the final two matches of the season, but were still able to win three of the final five matches to have some momentum entering the postseason.

The Grizzlies finished the regular season leading the Big Sky Conference in assists (12.62/set), kills (13.60/set), and they ranked 2^nd in digs (16.43/set). It's been one of the best statistical seasons for the Grizzlies in recent years.

They are hitting .228 this season, which is the best by the program in the 25-point era and the 4^th best all-time. The last time the Grizzlies hit .228-or-better in a single season was in 1991 when they set the program record at .240.

It's been a complete team effort for the Grizzlies, as the league's postseason honors showed. Montana had four players honored by the league with two individual awards and three All-Conference players.

Alexis Batezel was named the co-Libero of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Big Sky Second Team after ranking 2^nd in the league with 4.55 digs per set. Olivia LaBeau was the Top Newcomer in the league after hitting .333 in her first season with the Grizzlies.

Delaney Russell was named First Team All-Big Sky after recording 10+ kills in every single Big Sky match. The sophomore is just the fourth Grizzly in the last 10 years and third under Coach Lawrence to be named to the First Team.

Gracie Cagle, the league's leader in assists (9.83/set) and service aces (46) was named to the Second Team alongside Batezel.

They will need the whole team to be clicking to take down a Weber State team that enters the tournament red-hot. The Wildcats have won six straight sets, taking out Montana and Montana State in sweeps on the final week of the season.

The Wildcats picked up 10 of their 17 wins at home this year, but were also 4-0 on neutral floors, including a win over Iowa in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Montana out-hit Weber State .296-to-.207 in the win in Missoula this year. Delaney Russell led the way with 16 kills with Mylee Blake (14), Sydney Pierce (10), and Olivia LaBeau (10) all reaching double figures.

The Griz also had four players reach double figures in digs, led by Batezel and Madeline Sanderson with 14 digs each.

Weber State got revenge this week with a three-set win in Ogden. The Wildcats hit .340, the highest percentage by a Grizzly opponent this season. Montana's offense did its best to keep up with a .241 mark, but just couldn't slow down the Wildcats enough to get the road win.

Kaylie Ray and Rose Moore tied for the team lead with 12 kills each in the win.

The tiebreaker went to the Wildcats after a 3-0 result gave them the 4-3 advantage in sets won this year in the head-to-head matchup. The two sides will now have a rubber match in Greeley with a spot in the Big Sky Semifinals on the line.

MONTANA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Grizzlies are back in the postseason after missing out in 2024. They are looking for their first win at the Big Sky Conference Tournament since 2013 when they also won in the 4-5 matchup over Northern Arizona.

Montana is 7-21 overall in the Big Sky Tournament. The Grizzlies have won the Big Sky Tournament just once, doing so in on their home floor in 1991.

BATEZEL NAMED CO-LIBERO OF THE YEAR
It's been a season full of success for senior libero Alexis Batezel. The three-time Big Sky Player of the Week was honored by the Big Sky as the league's co-Libero of the Year, sharing the honor with Sacramento State's Reese Ampi.

Batezel is now 3^rd in program history with 1,469 career digs and has the 6^th most digs in a single season at UM with 469. She's the first Grizzly since 2009 to earn the award and just the second ever.

LaBEAU NAMED TOP NEWCOMER
Olivia LaBeau was an All-American just down I-90 at Montana Tech last season and made the jump to the D-I level for her senior season. After a highly successful season with the Grizzlies, LaBeau was named the Top Newcomer in the Big Sky Conference.

She ranks 2^nd on Montana in both kills (2.51/set) and hitting percentage (.333). LaBeau missed the final five games of the regular season with an ankle injury.

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Montana had three players earn spots on the Big Sky All-Conference teams. Delaney Russell became the first Grizzly since Paige Clark in 2022 to be named First Team All-Big Sky.

Gracie Cagle and Alexis Batezel both earned spots on the Second Team. It's the first time since 2008 that Montana had three all-conference players with at least one of them making the First Team.

GRIZ NOTES

Montana was swept in Big Sky play for the first time all season on Wednesday at Weber State. The Grizzlies are now 9-2 on the year in three-set matches.
The loss at Idaho State on Friday dropped Montana to 2-4 in five-set matches this year.
The Grizzlies are now 15-3 when hitting over .200 this season.
Weber State hit .340 against Montana on Wednesday. It was the first time this season that the Grizzlies had allowed an opponent to hit over .300.
Montana had more digs than its opponent in 20 of 27 matches this year.
In neutral sites, Montana is 3-2. They are on a three-match winning streak in neutral site matches.
The Griz had a winning record in Big Sky play for just the second time since 2013, going 9-7 against league opponents.
The Grizzlies have at least one win against 8 of the 9 Big Sky members. Northern Colorado is the only team Montana didn't win against this season. It's the first time since 1999 that they've won a match against eight unique Big Sky opponents.

HOME SUCCESS IN 2025
Montana wrapped up the home season last week with a 9-2 overall record inside Dahlberg Arena. It's tied for the fifth most home wins in a single season all-time at Montana and is the most since 1999.

It's also the fifth-best winning percentage at home in program history. It's the best home winning percentage since 1999.

BATEZEL CLIMBS THE RANKS
Senior Alexis Batezel has climbed the program's all-time ranks this season and is currently in 3^rd place in career digs at Montana with 1,469. She will close her career in 3^rd place as she trails Jackie White (2004-07) by nearly 400 for 2^nd place.

Her 469 digs this season are also the 6^th most in a single season in program history. She could climb into 5^th with 8 digs on Monday morning.

HISTORIC NOTES FOR 2025
• Montana went 9-2 at home, the most wins since 2005 and the best winning percentage since 1999. It's the 2nd most home wins in a season and 3rd best winning percentage.
• The 17 regular season wins are tied with the 2022 team for the most by the program this century. The last time they won more was in 1999 when they had 18 wins.
• The Grizzlies have hit over .300 in six different matches already this
season. It's the 3rd most in a single season in program history. The record
is 7, set in both 1991 and 1989.
• The Grizzlies went 8-3 in non-conference play in 2025. It's tied for the
3rd best winning percentage in program history for a non-conference
schedule and tied for the 3rd most wins.
• This is the first time in program history that Montana has finished undefeated in the month of September. It's just the 6th time ever that they've
had a perfect month, and the 10 wins are the 2nd most in an undefeated
month in program history.
• The current team hitting percentage of .227 is the 4th-best for Montana in program history. The 1991 team holds the program record at .240.
• Montana has had the Big Sky Player of the Week five times already in
2025. It's the second-most all-time, trailing only the 1994 season when
Montana had six Player of the Week honors.
• Montana's .416 hitting percentage against Butler was the best in the
25-point scoring era and the best by the team since hitting .500 against
Canisius in 2007.
• The 10-match winning streak this season was the longest for the program since 1994 and tied for the 5th longest all-time.
• Montana won a match at Portland State for the first time since 2015. The Grizzlies had dropped eight straight in the Rose City. It was the first
win for Coach Lawrence in Portland.
• The five errors committed by Montana in the Butler match are the fewest by a Grizzly team in program history. It broke the previous record of 7 set on four occasions.

SCOUTING WEBER STATE (17-11, 9-7 Big Sky)
• The Wildcats lost both matches on the road last week at Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado. They took the league leading Lumberjacks to five sets before falling in four in Greeley.
• Head coach Jeremiah Larsen is 183-135 (.575) in his 11 seasons at Weber State. This is 7th season that his teams have won 15+ matches in his career.
• Weber State is hitting .207 in league play and allowing opponents to hit .211. They rank outside of the top five in the Big Sky in both categories.
• The Wildcats rank 2nd in the conference with 2.36 blocks per set.
• They have been among the best in the Big Sky in service aces with 1.66 per set. They rank 2nd in the Big Sky and inside the top 100 nationally.
• Ashley Gneiting ranks 3rd in the league individually with 0.41 aces per set. She's 75th in the country in the category.
• Setter Morgan Pratt ranks 4th in the Big Sky with 8.26 assists per set. She's 124th nationally in the category.
• Kaylie Ray and Rose Moore are pacing the Wildcat offense this season. Ray averages 3.29 kills per set and Moore averages 3.25 to rank 6th and 7th in the league.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE WILDCATS
Montana leads the all-time series against Weber State 49-42. The last time the two met at the Big Sky Tournament was in 2021. Weber State won that match 3-0 as the No. 1 seed. Earlier this year, Montana snapped a 13-match losing streak to the Wildcats, winning for the first time since 2017. It was Lawrence's second win over WSU. Weber State won in straight sets just five days ago in Ogden.