Griz sweep defending champs to extend winning streak to nine

Thursday, September 25

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

9-3,1-0Big Sky

Sacramento State

7-6,0-1Big Sky

Sacramento St.

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

Griz sweep defending champs to extend winning streak to nine

9/25/2025 10:31:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

There were nearly 1,000 fans in attendance inside Dahlberg Arena on Thursday in anticipation of what many expected to be a tight, thrilling match between the two hottest teams in the Big Sky Conference.

The fans may not have received the close, nail-biting match that was anticipated, but they went home happy as the Montana volleyball team delivered a statement victory by sweeping the defending Big Sky champions Sacramento State 25-21, 25-23, 25-19 for their 9^th straight win.

Thursday night was more than just a win for the Grizzlies. It was a statement. The Grizzlies (9-3, 1-0 Big Sky) hit .354 as a team, the 11^th best hitting percentage all-time for Montana in a Big Sky match, as they extended their home winning streak to six.

"Balanced team effort," head coach Allison Lawrence said of the key to the win. "I think this stat sheet looks a lot like our stat sheets from the last eight matches. To see several athletes not only hitting over .300 but also with these kill amounts is showing how efficient our offense was, the hot hand was anyone Gracie went to, and I think it's just a testament to our ball control."

Delaney Russell led the way with 14 kills followed by Sydney Pierce and Mylee Blake with 11 each. Olivia LaBeau added nine while setter Gracie Cagle pitched in four. All five players hit over .333 in a remarkable offensive effort.

It's the sixth time this season that Montana has hit over .300 as a team, which is already the most in one year since the 1991 championship squad did it seven times. They are hitting .240 on the season now, which would be an all-time program record if the season ended today.

Sacramento State (7-6, 0-1 Big Sky) entered the match having won seven of their previous nine matches. They had not been swept in a road Big Sky match since 2022 and have added multiple trophies to their collection since that match.

Middle blocker Ashlynn Archer had been averaging 4.00 kills per set on .558 hitting over the last six matches. Montana held her under .100 hitting with just three total kills. Lawrence and her staff had a game plan that worked, and her players delivered with big play after big play on the court.

Montana faced deficits early in all three sets, but they never trailed past the 18-point mark in any of them.

"I feel like we had the poise of a team that's been winning," Lawrence said. "We had some breakdowns in our ball control, we know Sacramento State is a great serving team, but we talked a lot about weathering the storm and knowing that we can go on runs because our offense has so much firepower. I think that lets us relax and we're not going to fall apart or get stressed when we have a few mistakes."

The visiting Hornets had a four-point lead early in the first set and forced a Montana timeout at 11-7 when they were hitting .500 with zero errors. Montana responded out of the timeout with five of the next seven points, and kept pulling within one only for the Hornets to reextend the lead.

Freshman Annika Wright tied the set for the first time at 17-all with a service ace. The Hornets went back up one before a 3-0 Grizzly run put the hosts in charge for good. Montana would take 12 of the final 17 points of the set and win it on a huge block from Carley Spachman and Olivia LaBeau.

It was a fantastic display of volleyball on both sides of the net in the first as two of the best teams in the league during the non-conference portion of the schedule traded blow after blow. Montana hit .394 with just two errors while Sacramento State hit .353 with three errors.

Montana, behind the hot hand of Russell, opened up a 7-3 lead early in the second set. Russell provided four of those points as she found a soft spot in the Sacramento State defense with a tip just over the left-side block.

The Hornets answered with a 4-0 run to tie it up at 8 and then went ahead 11-10 off a block. Montana's middles LaBeau and Spachman put Montana back in front but a service error led to a 12-12 tie.

The Griz then had a run of scoring two points for every one that Sacramento State could find that pushed the lead out to 21-16 after a service ace from Cagle. The second set got interesting late as the Hornets took six out of eight points to fend off three Grizzly set points, but in the end Montana went back to Russell for the finishing touch on a 25-23 win.

The halftime break appeared to rejuvenate Sacramento State as they scored the first four points of the third set. The Grizzlies would respond with five straight points with the freshman Madeline Sanderson at the service line to take a 7-5 lead.

Pierce got hot with two straight kills that gave the Grizzlies a 10-6 lead before the see-saw tipped back in Sacramento State's favor with a 4-0 run to tie it back up. Montana relied on their balanced attack to break the match open.

A kill from LaBeau gave the Grizzlies the lead. Then Cagle had a dump for a kill. Then it was Russell for two straight points. Pierce had a kill, Spachman and Mylee Blake combined for a block, and then Blake added a kill of her own. An attacking error from Sacramento State on top of it all, and the Grizzlies suddenly had an 18-13 lead.

It got back within two points at 20-18, but a kill from Pierce and an ace from Wright pushed it out to four, and the crowd started to sense what was happening. The Grizzlies then finished it off with three straight points for a 25-19 victory and a huge ovation from the packed stands.

"It's such a huge lift. Our team loves playing at home and this is why," Lawrence said. "Whether we have 500 or 2,000 people, this place feels so energetic and loyal to us. It gives me goosebumps because when Dana (Hallisey) and I took over, we knew that this place could be a volleyball town and a place where people are buying season tickets and coming out."

Montana's nine-match winning streak now stands alone in 6^th place in program history. Next in their sights is the 1990 team's 10-match winning streak. It's still the longest run of consecutive wins since the 1994 team won 16 straight.

It also is the 6^th straight win for the Grizzlies at home dating back to last year, which is the longest streak since 2011.

Cagle had 38 assists to lead the way for Montana by averaging 12.67 per set. Cagle also shared the team lead with eight digs, joining Russell and Alexis Batezel with that number. Montana hit over .300 in all three sets.

If there was any doubt that this Montana team wasn't the real deal after the non-conference, they answered that in resounding fashion on Thursday night with the big win. It's now 13 wins in the last 17 matches for Montana dating back to last season.

It hasn't been easy, but the team has come together and worked hard during the months after last year's disappointing finish and before the start of this year to put the team in the position that they are in now.

"What I'm so proud of with this team is the work they did in the spring and the summer, both incoming and returning, to be unified and generate so much energy and momentum from within them," Lawrence said. "This is a group that I don't feel like I, or any of our staff, have to lead or push. Their energy takes charge and they are so unified around what they want and it's really fun to see."

Montana will look to extend the winning streak to 10 on Saturday with a road match against Idaho in Moscow. The Grizzlies have won seven straight over the Vandals, who dropped their league opener in three sets at Northern Arizona on Thursday night.