Grizzlies fall twice in season opening doubleheader

Friday, August 29

Orem, Utah

12:30 PM

Montana

0-1,0-0Big Sky

Utah Valley

1-0,0-0WAC

Montana

Utah Valley

Photo by: Marley Barboeisel/University of Montana

Grizzlies fall twice in season opening doubleheader

8/29/2025 7:40:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team dropped its first two matches of the year on Friday in Orem, Utah as part of the Utah Valley Invitational. The Grizzlies gave the hosts all they could handle in a five-set match and then lost to Boise State in the second match.

The Grizzlies will be back in action on Saturday at noon against Navy. The Mids fell to Boise State in the first match of the day and play against Utah Valley on Friday night.

"I think we have way more toughness in us and I just was disappointed in our grit. It's something we've been talking about as a group that is a non-negotiable and it felt like stress from the opponent in certain parts of our game really unraveled us," head coach Allison Lawrence said following the day. "That's what preseason teaches you, and our goal is to be learners. It doesn't feel good and it's disappointing, but we have the chance to respond tomorrow."

Utah Valley 3, Montana 2 (25-18, 25-23, 22-25, 13-25, 9-15)

The season opener proved to be heartbreaking for the Griz. Montana was just three points away from a statement victory in the third set as they threatened to sweep the preseason favorites in the WAC. Instead, Utah Valley rallied in the third and cruised in the final two sets for a reverse sweep.

Montana leaned on the defense in the first three sets. They held Utah Valley under .100 hitting overall after three, but the Wolverines opened things up in the final two sets to pull away for the win.

The Grizzly defense was strong in limiting Utah Valley to just .126 hitting in the match, but Montana hit .013 themselves in a slow start to the season offensively.

Sydney Pierce had a fantastic match, recording career highs in both kills (9) and blocks (9). Her near double-double came behind .250 hitting as well as Pierce was efficient throughout the match.

Fellow sophomore Delaney Russell led Montana with 14 kills and also had the second most digs on the team with 12. It's the first career double-double for Russell, who also recorded her second-most kills in a match.

Newcomer Carley Spachman had nine kills on .333 hitting, and setter Gracie Cagle had a career high 27 assists.

"I think that match was an interesting one because neither team was that offensive, at least numbers wise," Lawrence said. "I thought our resiliency and serve-receive as well as our defensive motor the first three sets of that were really outstanding. It allowed our offense to be what it was and allowed us to be in the match."

Montana used an early 4-0 run to take a 6-4 lead with all of the points coming off errors from the host Wolverines as both teams looked to shake off the early season nerves.

It looked like the Wolverines would be the team to get out of the early season funk as they started to pull away through the middle of the set as Montana's offense stayed cool. The Wolverines went on a 12-5 run to take a 16-11 advantage in the first.

But when the Griz got things going, the energy of the match completely flipped. Freshman Madeline Sanderson went to the service line and delivered two aces as part of a 6-0 Grizzly run that put Montan in front 17-16.

UVU took two of the next three points to tie it at 18-all, but the Grizzlies went on another long run to close things out. Olivia LaBeau ripped a ball to start things, and then Sydney Pierce had three straight blocks to extend Montana's rally. Another Pierce block down the stretch and a kill from Delaney Russell helped the Griz finish with a 7-0 run.

Montana took 14 of the final 16 points in the first set. The defense, which was crucial in Montana's win over Utah Valley last year, proved to be the catalyst of the set win as Montana had five blocks and held the Wolverines to just .026 hitting.

The defenses continued to shine in the second set which was played incredibly tight. The teams traded runs, but neither side was able to take a lead of more than two points for the entire set.

There were 18 ties and six lead changes in the set. Montana fell behind 20-19, but scored two straight points to take a lead. They never gave it back. Pierce went offspeed with a soft attack to make it 22-21. The teams traded points to get back to a 23-all tie.

Spachman had her 6^th kill of the match to make it 24-23 and an error from the Wolverines gave the Grizzlies the second set by the slimmest of margins.

The Griz were hitting just over .100 through the first two sets, but defensively kept Utah Valley in check. The hosts had 12 kills and eight errors to hit just .105 in the second set.

"We were able to force them to make errors in some situations which allowed us to breathe a little bit," Lawrence said. "I think that part was good, to me that was recognizably our culture and our mindset that we had talked about for the last three weeks on display."

In the third, Utah Valey jumped out to a 4-0 lead and led for a majority of the set. Montana pulled even with four straight points to make it 9-9, but once again fell behind.

The Griz scored eight out of 10 points down the stretch to jump ahead 22-19 and force a Utah Valley timeout. It looked like Montana might close out the preseason favorites in three, but a 6-0 run by the hosts extended the match to a fourth set.

Montana was good defensively once again, limiting Utah Valley to .086 hitting, but also had their worst offensive set of the match with 10 kills and nine errors for a .027 hitting percentage.

Utah Valley dominated the fourth 25-13 to force a fifth.

The Wolverines maintained the momentum early in the fifth, forcing an early Montana timeout after jumping out to a 5-1 lead. They increased that lead to 10-2. The Griz fought hard and cut it to just four at one point, but UVU held on for the 15-9 win.

"I'm proud of our efforts," Lawrence said of the first match. "We put ourself in position to steal one."

The Grizzlies were 1-2 in five-set matches last season.

Boise State 3, Montana 0 (21-25, 19-25, 20-25)

The Grizzlies, playing again just an hour after the first ended, fell in straight sets in the second match to drop to 0-2 on the year, while Boise State improved to 2-0. Montana's offense improved from the morning match as they hit .102 as a team, but Boise State hit .174 in the win.

Boise State jumped out to a 4-0 lead as Montana looked to shake off the finish to the Utah Valley match. The Grizzlies would eventually get things going and took their first lead at 12-11 thanks to a 4-0 run with Pierce at the service line.

The two sides were tied at 20-all before Boise State closed the first set with five of the final six points.

It was a better offensive set for Montana. The Griz had 15 kills to just six errors, hitting .225 against the Broncos in the opener.

Montana couldn't rally from that point. They fell behind early in the second and trailed by as many as nine in a 25-19 loss and then dropped the third set 25-20. The Griz didn't take a lead in either of the final two sets.

"I think the state we were in at the end of the first match carried into Boise State. We didn't have much time and all that, but we just didn't reset to our structure," Lawrence said. "The second match was really frustrating. A lot of details dropped on our structure and assignments and how we play. When we weren't ball controlling perfect, we weren't able to stick to any of our scout."

The Broncos held the Grizzlies under .100 hitting in both of the final two sets.

Olivia LaBeau led Montana in the second match with 10 kills on .333 hitting. LaBeau, a transfer from Montana Tech, settled into at the D1 level in her second match, hitting from multiple spots on the floor with success.

LaBeau, and the rest of Montana's middles and right sides, had a good day overall. Spachman was second on the team with 9 kills vs. Boise State and Pierce hit .250 and added seven more blocks to bring her total for the day up to 16.

"I think some bright spots for Boise State were Olivia LaBeau really getting going," Lawrence said. "She settled in and we got her on the slide, we got her going in front, and it was fun to see. When we ball controlled well there wasn't much of an answer for our middles and right."