Griz volleyball opens practice looking for bounce back year in 2025

Scenes from Montana volleyball's first practice of the season on Aug. 5, 2025.

Photo by: Marley Barboeisel/University of Montana

Griz volleyball opens practice looking for bounce back year in 2025

8/6/2025 10:20:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball program hit the floor for the first practice of the 2025 season on Tuesday. They did so with a young team, one that consists of 12 underclassmen and just four players that have been with the program for longer than two years.

The Grizzlies have been on the rise under head coach Allison Lawrence, who is entering her 9^th season at the helm in 2025. A large reason for that was the outgoing players from last year's team as five starters and three others wrapped up their Grizzly careers in 2024.

The large turnover marks Tuesday as an almost unofficial beginning of a new era of Grizzly volleyball. There are eight newcomers on the team and plenty of the players who see the floor this season may be doing so for the first time as Grizzlies whether they are transfers, true freshmen, or returning redshirts.

"In our spring preparation with our athletes who are returning, with our transfers that we recruited in, and with our incoming freshman class for the two years we've been recruiting those freshmen, we've been talking about this year as a turning of a page," Lawrence said. "Not as a reaction to anything that happened in previous years, just that it feels very natural."

There has been a certain amount of consistency within Lawrence's program over the past half-decade. They have reached at least 10 wins in four consecutive seasons. It's just the third such streak in program history. But there was also disappointment at the bitter end last year as the Grizzlies missed the fall Big Sky Tournament for the first time in six years after a 10-17 campaign.

The goal now for this young bunch of players is to not only get back into the tournament but to start their own legacy in Missoula.

"This is a new phase for our program and as we've climbed out of 2017 and built things from the ground up, I feel like from where I sit now it feels like the next step in a progression and a fresh start in an exciting way," Lawrence said. "I think the freshmen all committed on the common understanding and premise that they are inheriting something great, but also that they have to build something new with it."

Montana will have senior leadership at the top with Maddie Pyles and Alexis Batezel. Batezel has played over 300 sets in more than 80 matches in her career. The libero enters her senior season with exactly 1,000 career digs and should easily move into the program's top 10 list by the end of the year.

Pyles has nearly 200 sets of experience in her career and had a breakout season in 2024 with 197 kills, 178 digs, and 72 blocks. The all-around athlete should factor heavily into Montana's success this year.

They are also joined by returning players that got a taste of what the future might hold with last year's late-season winning streak. Montana took 12 out of 14 possible sets over a two-week stretch with wins over three tournament teams.

During that stretch, young players like Gracie Cagle, Delaney Russell, and Sydney Pierce all played key roles. Montana appeared to be out of playoff position with a month left in the year but rallied to go into the final match with a chance to still make the tournament. The excitement of that run and the level of play that they reached hasn't been forgotten over the offseason.

"I think there is definitely momentum that was felt in very deep ways through the entire roster, and especially the younger parts of the roster and through our recruiting class, that make this feel like a continuation of that momentum and that we can build off it," Lawrence said. "It was a glimpse of what those younger players can do as they contribute more and more."

Pyles and Batezel are the only two seniors that have been at Montana all four years, but Lawrence and her staff bolstered the team's experience level with a pair of graduate middle blocker transfers in Carley Spachman and Olivia LaBeau.

Lawrence said she is excited for the duo to bring in their experiences from previous stops to help the rest of the team learn and grow. Spachman recorded over 200 kills and 125 blocks at East Texas A&M while LaBeau was an NAIA All-American down the road at Montana Tech.

The Grizzlies lost three middle blockers over the offseason, but reloaded at the position with transfers, incoming freshmen, and returners changing position.

"I think just tactically we are bringing in two middles that match and push the work ethic and have great blocking experience," Lawrence said. "They have a ton of experience at the collegiate level blocking, which is something that you can't get in a freshman and takes time to teach. Offensively both are also very powerful and productive."

Montana's incoming freshman class could also make an instant impact on the floor. There are five true freshmen on the roster. There are also a pair of redshirt freshmen in Alex Stone and UNC Asheville transfer Grace Ryland.

"Youth brings unpredictability because they don't have any patterns established in their body of work, but it is really exciting," Lawrence said. "You kind of assume there are going to be some breakout, on-fire moments and then some moments where we're out of system and finding our way back to our structure."

Lawrence said that the things that have stood out to her most about the group after spring practices is how hardworking they are and how much power they have. She highlighted the athleticism of the entire roster, saying that there are powerful arms at every position.

The Grizzlies also have a pair of setters in returner Gracie Cagle and freshman Annika Wright that Lawrence said are capable of "high level things to showcase that power."

The team consists of "a lot of grinders," according to Lawrence, who said that there are a lot of people with high motors that should characterize the group's dynamic this year. It's a high-energy squad that feeds off each other and leans into the emotional moments on the floor.

"I think this year we have a lot of emotive players that kind of feed off the relentlessness and that only grows. It's a gritty team, and we're going to have to be," Lawrence said. "We're undersized in some positions and you have to make up for that with sheer work ethic and smarts, and I think we're capable of doing that."

This season serves as an odd inflection point for Griz volleyball. They have become more competitive under Lawrence, culminating in a 17-win season in 2022 that allowed her to recruit this batch of 12 underclassmen. They followed that with 12 wins in 2023 and 10 in 2024.

There are great veteran leaders on the team, but the youth of Montana will be the storyline in 2025.

"I think the general theme would just be that this group gets to decide the next trajectory of the program," Lawrence said. "This group is going to be together for a long time, and it's really cool that whatever trajectory they decide to put the program, they themselves can carry it for longer just because they are younger."

Montana opens the season on August 29 at the Utah Valley Wolverine Invitational. When they do so, many will be getting their first taste of collegiate volleyball. There is a lot of potential in the group, which makes this year both exciting and nerve-wracking for supporters.

The upperclassmen will be there every step of the way, guiding the young players and helping mold the future of Griz volleyball. Point-by-point, match-by-match, Montana will be looking to improve every step of the way.

"It would also indicate such a legacy for the seniors. It is their wisdom that will ultimately push this thing in the right direction and then the underclassmen just have to push," Lawrence said. "I think that's our mindset and then we just have to be patient enough to be comfortable exactly where we are in a match or in the phase of the season and be tough enough to bounce back whenever or to be able to hold momentum when we have it."

PRESEASON NOTES

Montana won 10 matches last season. It's the 4^th straight season that the Grizzlies have recorded double-digit wins, their longest streak since doing it in 7 straight seasons from 2005-11.
Two starters and three letterwinners return for Montana this season. Alexis Batezel returns after serving as Montana's libero for the past two seasons while Maddie Pyles returns at the outside hitter position.
Batezel enters her senior season with exactly 1,000 career digs. She averaged 4.08 digs/set last season, which ranks 2^nd in the Big Sky Conference among returning players.
Head Coach Allison Lawrence is entering her 9^th season at Montana. Lawrence will match former coach Jerry Wagner for the second-longest tenure in program history this year trailing only Dick Scott's 21 seasons.
Lawrence ranks 3^rd in program history with 76 career wins.
Montana missed the Big Sky Conference Tournament last season for the first time since 2017, excluding the spring 2020 season. The Grizzlies finished 5-11 in conference play and placed 9^th.
The Griz won four of their final five games in 2024 behind a rotation change, sliding freshman Delaney Russell into the starting lineup.
Montana needs to replace five starters from the 2024 season, including three-time All-Big Sky selection Paige Clark. Clark ended her career with 1,273 kills, the 6^th most in program history.

BATEZEL'S CLIMB UP THE ALL-TIME RANKS
Senior libero Alexis Batezel finished her junior year with exactly 1,000 career digs. She had 371 total digs last year while playing through an injury. She will have the chance to rise as high as the top 5 in program history for career digs this season.

Batezel is currently just 155 digs behind Sadie Ahearn for a spot in the top 10. She needs 271 total this year to reach the top five in Griz history. She trails Brittney Brown by 452 for third place. There is a large gap between 2^nd and 3^rd in program history.

REINFORCING THE MIDDLE
Montana went into the transfer portal this season for a pair of players, and both of them could make an instant impact on the middle of the floor. Carley Spachman (East Texas A&M) and Olivia LaBeau (Montana Tech) should compete for a starting spot at the middle blocker position this year.

Spachman started all 29 matches last season for East Texas A&M. She averaged 1.36 kills per set on .276 hitting and had 94 blocks, averaging nearly 1.0 per set.

LaBeau comes to Missoula from just down the road in Butte where she was an NAIA All-American at Montana Tech. LaBeau ranked 4^th in the Frontier Conference in both kills (387) and blocks (124) last year and will look to make the leap to the D-1 level.

They join sophomore Sydney Pierce at the position. Pierce, from Billings, broke into the rotation as a true freshman and totaled 47 kills and 26.0 blocks.

THE NEW BATCH
Montana has 18 players this season with nearly half of the roster brand new for 2025. There are five true freshmen andn three transfers on this year's Grizzly roster. In addition to Spachman and LaBeau, the Grizzlies also brought in defensive specialist Grace Ryland from UNC Asheville.

Ryland did not appear in a match for the Bulldogs and will be a redshirt freshman in 2025.

Montana has five true freshmen on the roster hailing from four different states. Head coach Allison Lawrence and her staff bolstered several position groups with a solid core of young, talented players.

This is the second straight season that Montana has had eight newcomers, matching a record for teams coached by Lawrence.

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.

Montana will open the season with a double, playing Utah Valley at 12:30 p.m. and Boise State at 5:00 p.m. on August 29. 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.

EARLY TO RISE
Montana will have to get used to playing early in the day during its non-conference schedule this year. The Grizzlies play only two games that start later than 4:00 p.m. (MT) out of 11 total games.

The Grizzlies will have six games starting at noon or earlier, a big adjustment from the conference schedule when they will be playing most matches at 2:00 or 7:00 p.m.

THE ELLESYN INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY HOMEWOOD SUITES & ERCK HOTELS

Montana will be hosting a tournament during the non-conference portion of the schedule for the fourth straight season. It is once again named after Elle Farmer, who joined the program through Team IMPACT prior to the 2022 season.

The three-team tournament will feature four matches over the course of two days on Sept. 5 and 6. The Grizzlies will open the tournament at 12:00 p.m. on Friday against Oakland. Oakland and North Dakota State will then play at 5:00 p.m. that evening.

Montana will play two matches on Saturday morning. The Grizzlies and Bison will meet at 9:00 a.m. followed by a showdown between the Grizzlies and the Golden Grizzlies at 12:00 p.m.