Griz return to the road looking to keep the momentum rolling

Montana (3-3) at Indiana State (2-4)
Friday, Sept. 12 / 9:00 a.m. (MT) / Watch / Live Stats

Montana vs. Butler (4-3)
Friday, Sept. 12 / 12:30 p.m. (MT)

Montana vs. Eastern Illinois (5-0)
Saturday, Sept. 13 / 9:00 a.m. (MT)

PREVIEW
The Montana volleyball team will aim to take the momentum it built in a perfect home weekend on the road to Terre Haute, Ind. this week as they compete in the Sycamores Volleyball Invite.

The Grizzlies (3-3) will play two matches on Friday against Indiana State and Butler before closing out the week against Eastern Illinois.

They head to Indiana red hot after taking nine out of 10 sets in the Ellesyn Invitational sponsored by Homewood Suites and Erck Hotels. Montana's offense got things rolling as the team hit over .300 for the weekend, while the defense was anchored by Big Sky Co-Defensive Player of the Week Alexis Batezel.

It's hard to pick out a true star of the weekend because there were so many potential options. Olivia LaBeau was not Player of the Week, but she did earn a place on the All-Tournament team after hitting a ridiculous .537 with over 3.00 kills per set.

Gracie Cagle led the offense to .306 hitting on the weekend with 11.5 assists per set. Delaney Russell had a team high 38 kills on .265 hitting from the outside. Sydney Pierce hit .412 with 2.80 kills per set out of the middle. Carley Spachman averaged 1.89 blocks per set.

The performances go all the way down the list, including a stellar start from a true freshman. Mylee Blake reached double figures in the kill category in all three matches at home and has now done so in four straight. It's hard to pick just one standout.

"We had so many outstanding individual performances," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "Olivia LaBeau's stat line was insane, I don't know if I've ever seen one like that over the course of a weekend. We had individual performances that led to such a complete weekend by our team and then so many moments that added to little wins inside of sets that allowed us to feel that complete."

When individuals are firing on all cylinders, it leads to a well-operated machine overall. The Grizzlies ran their home winning streak up to five matches dating back to last season. It's the longest streak since the Griz also won five straight at home in 2018.

Montana also relied on their deep roster for the wins. They used 11 players in at least half of the sets last weekend, going deep into their bench and trusting the young players on the roster.

In the closing moments of the final win over Oakland, Lawrence sent out a lineup that included three true freshmen (Blake, Wright, Sanderson) and two sophomores (Russell and Pierce). It truly took a team effort for Montana to come away with the three wins.

"I can think of moments for each player, whether it was freshmen to seniors, that helped with our consistency and won us matches," Lawrence said. "I couldn't be more proud. I don't even know what place to talk about because there were so many good things happening."

Montana started the year 0-3. When they returned home, Lawrence was frustrated with the play but encouraged by how her team had responded in practice. They took the lessons learned from an opening week in which they hit just .078 as a team and turned it into a positive performance in front of the home crowd.

The ability to flush the difficult results of week one and start fresh is a promising sign for Lawrence's young team.

"I think it builds belief and identity," Lawrence said of her team's response. "I think when you start a season coming up short in a tournament and not getting a reward you get stuck in the loop of, 'I thought our strengths were this and then they didn't bring us wins,' so we go back to the drawing board and start adding things to our game."

Now they need to do the same thing following a weekend of wins. The Grizzlies were challenged down the stretch against Oakland as the Golden Grizzlies ruined Montana from taking every single set of the home tournament.

Montana found a counter of their own and won in four. They will look to keep building as they enter the back half of the non-conference schedule this weekend. The Griz will face a strong group of opponents with a combined record of 11-6 through two weeks.

They open with the host Sycamores, who are off to the slowest start of the three opponents Montana will face. Indiana State is just 2-4 but are playing their first home matches of the season.

The Grizzlies will then play a 4-2 Butler team and an undefeated Eastern Illinois side.

WATCH
The first match of the weekend against Indiana State will be streamed on ESPN+. The following two neutral site matches will not be streamed.

MONTANA'S BIG WEEKEND AT HOME
The Griz swept through the Ellesyn Invitational sponsored by Homewood Suites and Erk Hotels with ease last weekend, taking 9 out of 10 sets to get back to .500 on the season. It extended their home winning streak to five dating back to last year. It's the longest streak for UM since also winning five straight in 2018.

Montana came close to a perfect weekend. They won the first eight sets of play before dropping a third set against Oakland. If they would have swept the Golden Grizzlies, it would have been the first time since 1999 that Montana had won three straight matches by a sweep.

The Grizzlies hit .306 as a team on the weekend, eclipsing the .300 mark two times in the three matches. They did so just three times total in 2024. Montana also averaged 18.2 digs per set over the three matches. That number ranked 7^th nationally in matches played last week.

BATEZEL EARNS CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Senior libero Alexis Batezel earned a place on the Utah Valley Invitational All-Tournament team after the first weekend of play. She upped her play in week two and found herself named the Big Sky Co-Defensive Player of the Week as a result.

Batezel led the Big Sky for the week of action and ranked 9^th nationally with 5.60 digs per set. She had 31 digs in Montana's win over Oakland to set a new career high mark.

She becomes the first Grizzly since 2022 to earn the Big Sky's Defensive Player of the Week honor.

LABEAU NAMED TO ELLESYN INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
If you were wondering how long it would take NAIA transfer Olivia LaBeau to catch up to the speed of the D1 level, you got your answer this weekend. The former Montana Tech Oredigger lit up the Ellesyn Invitational by averaging 3.10 kills per set on a staggering .537 hitting percentage.

"It was great. Missoula has such a big community pull and everyone was so welcoming and friendly and supportive," LaBeau said of her first matches in Missoula. "My family was there, our fans were there, and it was just super contagious energy. The team really gelled and it was just really fun to get some of those wins."

LaBeau had 31 kills and committed just two errors in the three matches. She added 10 blocks (1.00 per set) to earn a spot on the All-Tournament team.

This season, LaBeau is hitting .341 with 2.57 kills per set.

"Going from NAIA to D1 has been so fun and it's just been a different level of competitiveness. It's a little bit faster paced, but it's been fun to see what I've been able to do and to go into like a next gear. It's been really fun."

DOUBLEHEADER (X3)
Stop us if you've heard this one before, but Montana will be playing a doubleheader this weekend. The Grizzlies have back-to-back matches on Friday morning against Indiana State and Butler.

It's the third time this season that Montana has played in consecutive matches on the same day, including at their own home tournament. They went 2-0 in their latest doubleheader, but dropped both in the first.

"That tournament schedule was not ideal for us to come away with three wins, for sure," Lawrence said. "Luckily we were able to beat NDSU in three or else that rest time in between matches would have been more like 10 minutes instead of the 35 that we ended up getting. I think our team managing that piece shows a lot of their maturity and their hunger to be great."

The depth of Montana's squad has allowed them to rotate plenty of players in and out, but the back-to-back matches is still taxing on everyone involved from players to coaches.

"We have a lot of depth and use a lot of our roster in matches, but it's still hard for an entire team to navigate that with fatigue," Lawrence said.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM HONORS
Montana has had two players named to All-Tournament Teams this year. Alexis Batezel earned the recognition after the first week of play at the Utah Valley Invitational. The Grizzly libero averaged 3.50 digs per set on the opening week of play.

Olivia LaBeau earned the All-Tournament nod following the Ellesyn Invitational after her blistering performance offensively. LaBeau hit .537 with 31 kills and just two errors in Montana's three wins.

GRIZ NOTES

Head Coach Allison Lawrence is going for her 80^th career win at Montana this weekend. She enters with an overall record of 79-145 in her 9^th season with the Griz.
Alexis Batezel ranked 9^th in the NCAA during the first week of September with 5.60 digs per set.
Gracie Cagle leads the Big Sky with 9.68 assists per set this season. Last weekend, Cagle averaged 11.5 in Montana's three wins to rank 9^th in the entire NCAA for matches played during the week.
Cagle set a new career high with 52 assists in Montana's win over Oakland.
Carley Spachman is averaging 1.48 blocks per set through six matches to rank 32^nd in the NCAA and second in the Big Sky Conference.
Delaney Russell recorded a career high 22 kills against Oakland on Sept. 6. Russell led the Grizzlies in kills on the weekend and improved drastically from week one, hitting .404 in the big match against Oakland.
Sydney Pierce recorded a career high 12 kills on .409 hitting in Montana's win over Oakland (9/6). It's the second time this season that Pierce has reached double-digit kills on better than .400 hitting.
Freshman Mylee Blake has opened up her Grizzly career in very impressive fashion through two weeks. Blake averaged 11 kills per match in Montana's three wins at home. She has recorded at least 10 kills in four straight matches.
Montana has been clutch in close-match situations through the first two weeks going 4-1 in sets decided by two points.
The Grizzlies finished last season 4-1 in the final five matches, going on a four-match winning streak. They now have seven wins in the previous 11 matches, while having just six in the previous 24.
This would be Montana's 5^th streak of at least four straight wins under Coach Lawrence if they are able to take the opener on Friday. The Grizzlies have won five straight under Lawrence just once. They did so to end non-conference and start Big Sky play in 2022.
Montana hit over .300 as a team three times last season. They have already done so twice through six matches in 2025.
Good stats typically lead to wins. Montana is 3-0 when they have more assists than their opponent. They are also undefeated with more blocks and with fewer attacking errors.

SCOUTING INDIANA STATE (2-4)

The Sycamores went 5-25 in 2024 with a 2-16 record in Missouri Valley play. They are 237-178 overall in 14 seasons under head coach Ashlee Pritchard.
Indiana State is coming off a 1-2 weekend at the NIU Invitational in DeKalb, Ill. They ended the tournament with a three-set sweep over Merrimack.
This will be the first home match of the season for the Sycamores. They were just 1-9 at home in 2024 and have lost four straight in Terre Haute.
They have played very balanced matches through six with a team hitting percentage of .190 and an opponent hitting percentage of .218. Both numbers rank narrowly outside the top 200 in the country.
The Sycamores have 39 service aces total this year to rank 72^nd in the NCAA.
Kira Holland has been a high usage player for Indiana State, ranking 13^th in the NCAA with 269 total attacks this season. Holland averages 3.65 kills per set to rank 2^nd in the Missouri Valley.
At the net, ISU doesn't have any players averaging more than 1.00 block per set. Ella Scott leads the way with 21 total blocks (0.91/set).
Hadley Hardersen leads the Sycamores with 3.14 digs per set.
This is the 3^rd all-time meeting between Montana and Indiana State. The teams have split the previous two with Montana losing in five sets on the road in 2003 and winning the most recent meeting in 2009 on a neutral floor in a sweep.

SCOUTING BUTLER (4-3)

The Bulldogs went 7-23 in 2024 and finished with an RPI of 242. Head coach Kyle Shondell is in his 7^th season with an overall record of 73-120-1.
Butler went 1-2 last weekend at the Iowa Invitational in Iowa City. The Bulldogs defeated Loyola-Chicago in straight sets, were swept by Iowa, and dropped a five-set match to Illinois State.
Butler fell to #14 Purdue in straight sets on Tuesday night inside Hinkle Fieldhouse.
They opened the season at home by going 3-0 in the Big Dawg Kickoff. They took 9 out of 12 sets on the weekend with wins over Evansville, Purdue Fort Wayne, and Middle Tennessee State.
They are hitting .214 this season while holding opponents to .203 hitting. Butler ranks 71^st in the NCAA in total assists (276) and 74^th in kills (296).
Setter Kaylee Finnegan is leading the Big East and ranks 27^th nationally this season with 10.3 assists per set.
Alaleh Tolliver averages 3.78 kills per set on .239 hitting to lead the Bulldogs. She also has a team-high eight service aces.
Zoe McDonald leads the team with 1.13 blocks per set.
This is the 2^nd all-time meeting between Montana and Butler. The Grizzlies won the only previous matchup 3-2 at Wichita State in 2000.

SCOUTING EASTERN ILLINOIS (5-0)

In the first year under new head coach Ryan Millar, the Panthers have come out red hot. Eastern Illinois has won all five matches with three of them coming via a sweep. They have dropped just four total sets this year.
They are one of 37 undefeated teams remaining at the NCAA D1 level.
The Panthers went 9-19 overall and 5-13 in Ohio Valley Conference play.
Eastern Illinois has had a stingy defense this season, averaging 16.16 digs per set to rank 24^th in the NCAA. They have also averaged 2.18 blocks per set and are holding opponents to just .136 hitting as a result. They rank 28^th in the NCAA in opponent hitting percentage.
They have hit .212 as a team through five matches.
Lilli Amettis was named the MVP of the Saluki Bash Tournament. Amettis had 38 kills, 7 blocks, and 41 digs in 11 sets of action.
Setter Catalina Rochaix averages 9.63 assists per set to rank 55^th nationally.
Destiny Walker sees a high percentage of the Panthers' swings, averaging 11.7 attacks per set to rank 19^th nationally. Walker also averages 3.94 kills per set to rank 74^th in the NCAA.
Seven different players average at least 2.00 digs per set for the Panthers, led by Ariadna Pereles at 3.79.

UP NEXT
Montana wraps its tournament play this weekend. They close out the non-conference schedule on Sept. 18 and 19 with a road match at Gonzaga and a neutral site match against Seattle in Cheney.

Griz return to the road looking to keep the momentum rolling

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alexis Batezel

Mylee Blake

Gracie Cagle

Olivia LaBeau

Sydney Pierce

Delaney Russell

Carley Spachman

University of Montana Athletics

Griz return to the road looking to keep the momentum rolling

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alexis Batezel

Mylee Blake

Gracie Cagle

Olivia LaBeau

Sydney Pierce

Delaney Russell

Carley Spachman

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