Griz open season at Utah Valley Invitational

MONTANA at UTAH VALLEY
Friday, Aug. 29 / 12:30 p.m. / Watch / Live Stats

MONTANA vs. BOISE STATE
Friday, Aug. 29 / 5:00 p.m. / Watch / Live Stats

MONTANA vs. NAVY
Saturday, Aug. 30 / 12:00 p.m. / Watch / Live Stats

WATCH
Montana's season opener against Utah Valley will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Matt Baiamonte and Kayli Doxey on the call. The other two games for Montana vs. neutral site opponents will be streamed on YouTube with a single wide camera shot.

PREVIEW
The wait is over for Montana Volleyball. The Grizzlies travel to Orem, Utah this weekend for the Wolverine Invitational hosted by Utah Valley University. The Grizzlies will play three matches across two days against Utah Valley, Boise State, and Navy.

Montana opens the season with a doubleheader against a pair of familiar foes in Utah Valley and Boise State. They open with a true road game for the second straight season as they take on the host Wolverines in the season opener at 12:30 p.m. on Friday.

They follow that up 4.5 hours later with a match against a new-look Boise State team at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. It's a reunion of three times that played in last season's Ellesyn Invitational in Missoula.

"We're really looking forward to it and we're starting with a really strong tournament," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "This team is very hungry to be challenged early."

Montana defeated Utah Valley in 2024 in four sets but fell in straight sets to Boise State. The Wolverines return plenty of firepower from last year's squad and have been picked as the preseason favorites in the WAC in 2025.

The Broncos lost several key players, including former MWC Player of the Year Paige Bartsch, and will be looking to reload in 2025.

The Broncos are a familiar opponent for Montana and provide a good chance to see where the Grizzlies could potentially stack up in the Big Sky. Boise State has played multiple Big Sky opponents every season this decade.

Utah Valley provides a similar test. They are 4-3 against Big Sky opponents over the past three seasons, including a 2-1 mark last year. This early season tournament gives Montana a good idea of where they will need to be at to compete against the best in the Big Sky.

"These are teams that we are used to seeing in the preseason and teams that are a good measuring stick for where we are at in conference," Lawrence said. "Both of these teams, year after year, end up playing a lot of Big Sky schools because it makes sense regionally. They are two outstanding programs that have had a lot of success, so it will be good to see how we measure up."

For Montana, it will be a challenging opening day for a team full of new faces. The Grizzlies return less than 30 percent of their starts and kills from last season. Paige Clark led Montana in kills per set all four years in Missoula, leaving Montana with a big hole on the outside.

But they have plenty of potential on the young roster as head coach Allison Lawrence has eight freshmen and four sophomores. There are just four players that have spent multiple seasons at Montana with two juniors and two seniors.

Lawrence did bring in some experience with two graduate transfer middle blockers in Carley Spachman and Olivia LaBeau. They will join up with Maddie Pyles and Alexis Batezel to give the Grizzlies some experience at the top, but the Grizzlies will be relying on a lot of youth.

There is a lot of change, but the improvement in the middle should be a key factor. Lawrence's best teams at UM have used the middle heavily in the offensive attack. Spachman and LaBeau join with returner Sydney Pierce to form a much-improved group.

Montana closed out the fall camp schedule with an exhibition against Washington State, and Lawrence said that she liked what she has seen from her team in August.

"I feel really good. It was a really successful fall camp and we had a great scrimmage on Saturday where we got to see a lot of that hard work show up and be tested," Lawrence said. "I think we're looking really good. One area we wanted to address was production in the middle, and that's looking really good, and we wanted our ball control to feel really confident leaving fall camp and going into someone else's gym.

"I feel like we accomplished those two things and on top of that have remained a team that is very gritty, hungry for growth, and really embraces the grind that is kind of figuring ourselves out in this part of the season," Lawrence said.

They will get their first test at Utah Valley playing perhaps the two most difficult opponents of the entire non-conference schedule in the same day. Montana will play 10 different teams in the non-conference this year, and the two best records in 2024 belonged to Utah Valley and Boise State.

The Grizzlies will be thrown into the fire on the first day, but it should prepare them for what Lawrence hopes will be a bounce back season. Montana has won at least 10 games in each of the previous four seasons, but missed a fall Big Sky Tournament for just the second time under Lawrence in 2024.

They will look to get back into the fold in the Big Sky this year behind young talent on the outside, returners at the setter and libero positions, and a revamped middle blocker position.

PRESEASON POLLS
Montana was picked 9^th in the Big Sky Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Grizzlies received 20 points in the poll and came in ahead of Idaho. The placement matches Montana's 2024 finish in the conference standings.

DOING THE DOUBLE
The schedule makers did Montana no favors this season as the Grizzlies will have to play three double headers in the first three weeks of the season. They are playing in tournaments at Utah Valley and Indiana State, and hosting one of their own, and will play two games in a single day at all three events.

In addition to this Friday's doubleheader, the Grizzlies will have two home games prior to the football home opener on September 6, playing North Dakota State at 9:00 a.m. and Oakland at 12:00 p.m.

They will once again have two matches in one day on September 12 at Indiana State. They will open against the host Sycamores at 9:00 a.m. and then play Butler that afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

TOUGH TEST OUT OF THE GATES
Montana plays 10 teams during the non-conference season. On Friday, they will play the two teams with the best record in 2024, making it a difficult start to the season. The Grizzlies will play just three teams that won 10 or more matches in 2024, but the Wolverines and Broncos combined for 40.

ALEXIS BATEZEL NEARS THE TOP 10
Senior libero Alexis Batezel is the 16^th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills, hitting the mark exactly at the conclusion of the 2024 season. She should climb into the top 10 this year. Batezel currently trails Sadie Ahearn by 155 digs for 10^th place all-time.

SCOUTING UTAH VALLEY (21-11, 10-6 WAC IN 2024)

The Wolverines were a postseason team in 2024, reaching the second round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. They swept Washington State in the first round before losing 3-2 to Wyoming in Laramie.
Utah Valley finished 21-11 overall with a 10-6 record in the competitive WAC. They were the conference's #3 seed in the postseason tournament and reached the semifinals. They fell to Grand Canyon 3-1 in the semis.
This season, Utah Valley has been voted as the preseason favorite in the WAC, receiving five out of six possible first place votes.
Last year at the Utah Valley Invitational, the Wolverines went 3-0 while dropping just a single set. They defeated Big Sky opponent Eastern Washington in a 3-0 sweep.
This is a return trip for Montana after they hosted Utah Valley in 2024. The Grizzlies won that meeting 3-1. The Griz leaned on their defense in the win, holding Utah Valley to .063 hitting in the match. Paige Clark led UM with 14 kills while Maddie Pyles had 12 kills, 8 digs, and 6 blocks.
Utah Valley returns 10 players that appeared in at least one set from last year's team, including their top two offensive options Avery Page and Sami Blackett. Page led the team with 4.03 kills per set while Blackett averaged 3.99.
The Wolverines also get back primary setter Evalyn Chism. She finished the 2024 season with 1,213 assists.
Lani Matavao led the Wolverines in digs last year with 3.88 per set and is also back as a junior this year.
Utah Valley had four players named to the Preseason All-WAC team. Sami Blackett (OH), Evalyn Chism (S), Avery Page (OH), and Bella Wooden (MB) were all honored by the conference.
This is the fifth all-time meeting between Montana and Utah Valley. The schools have split the previous four with Montana winning the last matchup in 2024 in four sets. The first meeting was in 1982 with additional matchups in 2004 and 2017.

SCOUTING BOISE STATE (19-10, 10-8 MWC in 2024)

The Broncos reached the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament in 2024 before forfeiting against San Jose State. The Broncos were the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament.
Boise State came in at 5^th in the Preseason Mountain West poll with 73 points.
Boise State swept Montana in Missoula during the 2024 season to close out the Ellesyn Invitational.
The top four attackers from last year's team are all gone in Boise including former Mountain West Player of the Year Paige Bartsch. Layla Smith is the top returner with 1.23 kills per set.
Lilli Etter averaged 4.58 assists per set last season splitting time as setter and is the top returner at that position.
Libero Bre Mitchell is back after averaging 3.99 digs per set in 2024. She was named to the Preseason All-Mountain West Team. Kendall Hastings and Layla Smith both averaged over 1.00 blocks per set in 2024 and return this season.
The Broncos have just one returning outside hitter on their roster. They brought in three transfers and two freshmen at the position. Arianna Bilby tranfered from Seattle U after leading the Redhawks in kills (3.29 per set).
This is the 43^rd all-time meeting between Montana and Boise State. The Grizzlies lead the series 23-19, but have lost the previous three meetings. This is the third straight season that the Grizzlies and Broncos have met.

SCOUTING NAVY (7-18, 7-9 Patriot in 2024)

The Mids started the 2024 season 0-13 before turning things around in the final month. They ended the year with seven wins in the final 12 matches which included a three-match winning streak to close out the season.
Farrah Eike is back for Navy after leading the team in 2024 with 2.67 kills per set.
Junior Arleigh Hanson led Navy with 442 assists last season, averaging 5.02 per set. She is also the leading returner in digs with 201 (2.28/set) last year.
Senior middle blocker Julia Humphrey led Navy last season with 0.88 blocks per set. Fellow senior Ava Toppin had the most total blocks on the team in 2024 with 72, averaging 0.87 per set.
Head coach Paco Labrador is entering his ninth season at Navy. He has a 105-93 overall record.
This is the first-ever meeting between Montana and Navy.

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Players Mentioned

Alexis Batezel

Paige Clark

Olivia LaBeau

Sydney Pierce

Maddie Pyles

Carley Spachman

University of Montana Athletics