Marathon match goes in favor of Weber State - University of Montana Athletics

Saturday, October 24

Missoula, Mont.

2:00 PM

Montana

6-15,2-8Big Sky

Weber State

13-7,6-4Big Sky

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Weber St.	23	25	21	25	15	3
Montana	25	23	25	14	13	2

Photo by: Noah Epps/university of Montana

10/24/2026 6:45:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Volleyball matches don't get much closer than the one between Montana and Weber State on Saturday afternoon inside Dahlberg Arena. Five sets, three of which were decided by two points. Nearly 200 total dis and 130 combined kills Two and a half hours of action.

In the end, the visiting Wildcats emerged victorious 23-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-14, 15-13.

Montana (6-15, 2-8 Big Sky) had three players reach double figure kills and hit .191 as a team with 63 total kills, but Weber State's offense hit at a .246 clip to power them to the five-set win.

The Grizzlies had chances, opening the final set on a 6-0 run to force an early Weber State timeout with the momentum and a crowd of nearly 1,000 fans on their side. Weber State (13-7, 6-4 Big Sky) had the answers, scoring 15 of the final 21 points to come from behind for the win.

Montana scored the first point of the match and never gave up the lead in the first set in an impressive opener. The Grizzlies led 5-2 early with kills from three different players as Gracie Cagle masterfully spread the ball around to run the offense.

Weber State forced a tie at 10-all but gave it right back to Montana on a service error. Delaney Russell extended Montana's lead with an ace on the very next point.

The service game played a key role in the opening set. The Wildcats outhit Montana .438-to-.262 in the first, but they committed three errors at the service line with zero aces. Montana, meanwhile, had three aces with just a pair of errors to make up ground.

The Wildcats pulled level again at 13, 15, 17, 18, and 19-all before the Grizzlies built a little bit of a cushion, once again via the service game. After a 19-19 tie, an error on the serve from Weber followed by an ace from middle blocker Sydney Pierce gave Montana a two-point lead.

Mylee Blake had a terrific first set and punctuated it late with three kills in the final five points to push Montana up 24-22. She ended the first set with seven kills on .500 hitting as Montana claimed the opener.

The Grizzlies had their best offensive set of the match in the second set, hitting .317 with 16 kills and just three errors. This time the roles were reversed as Weber State won despite the Grizzlies hitting an impressive percentage.

It was tight in the early going with neither team leading by three points until a late Wildcat run put them ahead 17-13. They scored six out of eight points overall during the stretch to end it with a 20-15 lead, but Montana battled back.

Blake once again came up clutch for the Griz with three late kills. She started a Montana run with the final kill in the stretch. Cagle followed it up with a swing of her own on the right, Russell added a kill, and Blake dialed up a service ace to cut the Wildcat lead to 23-22.

Lexie Carlson had two late kills for the Wildcats to pull out the two-point win and level the match at one set apiece.

The seesaw tilted back in Montana's favor in the third set. The Grizzlies scored seven of the first 10 points to establish a big lead early. They continued to add to it following kills by Stone, Blake, and Cagle to make it 10-4 Montana.

Weber State pulled back some points late to get within three points on a couple of occasions, but Montana never allowed them closer than that as they won the third set 25-21.

Stone had five kills on .625 hitting in the third set and Russell also had five kills as Montana hit .255 as a team. They also stepped up the defense in the third set with a pair of team blocks that helped them hold the Wildcats to just .128 hitting.

Weber State went on a 10-0 run early in the fourth set that gave them complete control as they saw out a 25-14 win to force a fifth set.

In the fifth, it was Montana that claimed the early momentum. Gracie Cagle, the Big Sky leader in aces, started it off with an ace at the service line. She kept the Wildcats out of rhythm early and Montana played team volleyball to build a lead.

Russell, Blake, and Pierce all had kills during the opening stretch and Stone and Pierce combined for a block as the Griz led 6-0.

The lead grew to 8-3 before Weber State started the comeback. The Wildcats scored seven of the next eight points to take the lead at 10-9. After an efficient offensive night for the Grizzlies through the first four, they tightened up a bit in the final set, committing seven attacking errors. It was the most in a set by the Griz all night.

After a 10-10 tie, Weber State scored four of the next five to set up triple match point. The Grizzlies held off two of them with a kill from Russell and an attacking error by the Wildcats, but they finished the match off on Carlson's 22^nd kill of the night.

Russell recorded her fifth double-double of the season in impressive fashion as she recorded 15 kills and a career high 27 digs. She led the team in digs on the night by averaging over 5.0 per set.

Mylee Blake had a season high 16 kills. Alex Stone recorded a career high 13 kills, doing so on .333 hitting in an efficient night on the outside.

Gracie Cagle recorded a double-double with 29 assists and 12 digs. Madeline Sanderson recorded 21 digs.

Montana will hit the road next week to play undefeated Utah Tech and winless Southern Utah.