LaBeau shines in dominant Montana victory

Friday, September 5

Missoula, Mont.

12:00 PM

Montana

1-3,0-0Big Sky

Oakland

0-4,0-0Horizon

Oakland

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Montana

9/5/2025 3:51:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

In a battle to figure out which Grizzly is best, it was Montana that came away with a decisive victory on Friday afternoon in Missoula. Montana defeated the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in straight sets to kick off play in the Ellesyn Invitational sponsored by Homewood Suites & Erck Hotels.

The Grizzlies (1-3) used the big arm of transfer Olivia LaBeau to race past the Golden Grizzlies. LaBeau hit a staggering .769 in the match, converting 10 of her 13 swings on the day into kills while not committing a single error.

The Montana Tech transfer was an NAIA All-American last season and is quickly proving that she belongs at the D1 level.

"Olivia is so versatile," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "She does great things as a middle, we had her there in the last set. Then on the right, her ability to use slide footwork to hit a ball off one foot or two feet, the pace that she hits at, the height of her contact point is very terminal, so to have an arm like that on the net that is that productive when you get the ball to it is really exciting."

LaBeau's big day helped Montana hit .319 as a team in a 25-18, 25-17, 25-17 sweep of the Golden Grizzlies. Montana had 17 kills in the first set while hitting .180. They then looked unstoppable over the final two sets as they recorded 32 kills to just four errors for a hitting percentage north of .400.

The offense struggled during the opening weekend at the Utah Valley Invitational. After that tournament, Lawrence and the staff worked with the team on specific points to improve upon coming back home.

The Grizzlies more than delivered by hitting over .300, a number they didn't reach during the entire non-conference schedule last year. Montana hit over .300 as a team just three times in the 2024 season.

"I think the points that we needed to address last week that we talked about in the locker room after the tournament and worked on in practice all week really showed up for us," Lawrence said. "I think what led the charge in that was our passing core of (Madeline), Delaney, Alexis, Miley, that serve-receive group was so solid and allowed our offense to feel in rhythm."

Montana trailed 9-6 early in the opening set but used a 5-0 scoring run with Gracie Cagle at the service line to pull away. They would only extend that lead down the stretch on their way to a 25-18 win that ended with Cagle again on the service line for a 6-0 run.

The Grizzlies had 17 kills in the opening set, the most since a 19-kill set in a win over Eastern Washington last November.

In the second set the teams traded points all the way to a tie at 17-all before Cagle once again stepped up to the line. She had two aces, Mylee Blake added three kills, and the Grizzlies poured some additional points as part of an 8-0 run to end the second set.

Montana had 16 kills and just two errors in the second set which led to a .378 hitting percentage.

The Griz led big early and coasted down the stretch in the third, and once again Cagle made some key plays in the service game with back-to-back aces down the stretch. The setter ended the match with a career high six aces. It's the most aces by a Grizzly since Elise Jolly had six against Prairie View in 2022.

"Unbelievable serving effort," Lawrence said. "She has a nasty serve, and one of our charges for her this season was, she had that same nasty serve but she ended a lot of her own runs. It's been a big goal for her training in the offseason and she executed that perfectly."

Montana hit .483 in the final set, converting 29 swings into 16 kills with just a pair of errors.

Cagle also had 34 assists as she orchestrated the impressive Montana attack. LaBeau had a staggering success rate but it was true freshman Mylee Blake that led Montana in kill on the day. Blake had a dozen kills on 28 attacks for the best left-side performance by a Grizzly this season.

Blake saw opportunities last week as she had 49 swings across the three matches, but Friday afternoon felt a bit like a coming-out party for a player that has battled injuries throughout fall camp.

"This felt like a debut for her just because she hasn't been 100 percent coming into the fall and battled that all last club season," Lawrence said. "I think as she gains volume, she's such an instinctual player with her ball control and attacking. She's so long that the length is going to get her kills. She's really smart, really coachable, and I thought managed her role really well."

Sydney Pierce also had 10 kills on .533 hitting as the Grizzly middles stole the show with their attacking prowess. Carley Spachman added four kills with just a single error to give the trio 24 combined kills and just three errors.

LaBeau played on the right side for the first two sets before sliding to the middle in the third. The production from that position opened up the rest of the floor for Blake and Delaney Russell, who had nine kills.

"Our middles and right sides were just unstoppable and it was really fun to see," Lawrence said. "We've been talking about that being a strength of ours since the season started and that piece of our game has to show up. It allowed our lefts to work into their own games and find their own range. I thought it was a really good team effort, good support of each other, and just consistent pressure."

The offense stole the show but Montana's defense also held Oakland to just .187 hitting in the match. The Griz had just four blocks, three of which came from Spachman, but forced balls into areas where the back row could get to them.

Alexis Batezel had a big day with a match-high 19 digs to average over 6.0 per set. Cagle added 10 digs for her third double-double in the first four matches.

Montana gets win number one on the year but will have its hands full with a doubleheader. They host North Dakota State at 9:00 a.m. before a rematch with Oakland at noon.

"Any time you play two teams back-to-back there is added stress to manage both and manage that type of a day," Lawrence said "We're going to need our whole roster, and part of what we did in this third set was to get people on the court and comfortable and use as many athletes as we could to have everybody ready to go tomorrow."

The Bison and Golden Grizzlies will meet Friday night at 5:00 p.m. for a neutral site match inside Dahlberg Arena. Oakland fell to 0-4 with the loss to Montana. North Dakota State enters the weekend 3-0 after sweeping their home tournament to close out August.

"We have to be sharp and make sure we're resting as hard as we just played in ways where we're back ready to go tomorrow morning," Lawrence said. "NDSU is a very dynamic team and coming off a 3-0 weekend at home so we're going to have to be at our best."