Montana back home for the final time in 2026 - University of Montana Athletics

The Montana volleyball team returns home for the final time this season on Monday night. The Griz host Northern Colorado to kick off the final week of the season with a Friday night rivalry match against Montana State on the horizon.

The Grizzlies will need to have their best week of the season as they make a final push for the postseason. Montana currently sits in 9^th place in the league standings with the top eight teams making the tournament.

In order to get into the field, Montana will need to finish the season with a pair of wins and have Eastern Washington lose their final two matches at Idaho State and Weber State.

It all starts on Monday night at 7:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Ace Sauerwein on the call.

Montana is coming off a four-set loss at Eastern Washington on Saturday. The Eagles surprised the Griz with the return of their leading attacker, Kalista Lukovich, from injury.
The EWU star was the difference maker as she led the Eagles to a big win for the league standings.

The Grizzlies set program records in the service department on Thursday as they swept Idaho for the 7^th consecutive time, but that aggression came back to bite them in the Eastern Washington match as the Griz had 13 service errors and just two aces.

Northern Colorado comes into the Monday night match fresh off a five-set loss to regular season champion Utah Tech. Prior to that, the Bears had won five straight matches.

There is plenty to play for on the Northern Colorado side as they are currently sitting in a three-way tie for second place with Idaho State and Northern Arizona. Utah Tech clinched the regular season title and the No. 1 seed at the Big Sky Tournament last weekend.

The Bears won the first meeting over Montana 3-1 in Greeley all the way back on September 24. Northern Colorado is currently on a 23-match winning streak against Montana with the last Griz in coming in 2014.

The Griz will look to break that losing streak and keep their postseason hopes alive on Monday night inside Dahlberg Arena.

CAGLE REACHES 2K
Montana setter Gracie Cagle recorded her 2,000^th career assist in last week's win over Idaho. She now has 2,036 assists in her Grizzly career and is closing in on the top 10 in program history. Jennifer Patera is in 110^th with 2,189 assists.

SERVING RECORDS
Montana tied a pair of program records in the win at Idaho last week. The Grizzlies recorded 16 service aces as a team, which tied the most in a three-set match in program history. It's the most in a three-set match for Montana since 1989.

Gracie Cagle also tied the individual three-set record with six service aces. The Grizzly setter tied Karen Goff and Cyndee Jones for the record and is the first Grizzly to get six in a three-set match since 1992.

Montana and Cagle both lead the conference in service aces. The Griz average 1.66 aces per set as a team. Cagle has 41 on the year and is averaging 0.44 per set.

MONTANA NOTES

Montana leads the Big Sky in service aces with 1.66 per set.
Montana is just 1-15 when hitting under .200. They are 7-4 when hitting above .200.
The Grizzlies won in a sweep against Idaho last Thursday. They are now 6-7 in three-set matches. They are 2-12 in four- and five-set matches.
They are 2-17 when committing more errors than their opponents.
UM is 8-8 in the first set of conference matches this year. They have lost four matches when holding a lead after the first set.
In the first nine years under Coach Lawrence, Montana went 24-50 in the first half of league play and 31-43 in the second half. They've improved or matched their record in the back half six times.
UM has not won consecutive matches yet this season. They are 0-8 following a win.
When losing the first set, Montana is just 1-13 this season. The only time they have come from behind was on Sep. 5 vs. Cal Baptist.
The 3-set service ace records for both the team and individual were tied in Montana's win at Idaho. The team had 16 aces with Gracie Cagle recording six. Both numbers tied program records and were the most since 1992 in a 3-set match.
Five Grizzlies have played every set of the season. Delaney Russell, Josie Blazina, Gracie Cagle, Annika Wright, and Madeline Sanderson haven't missed a set.
Madeline Sanderson's 30 digs were the most in a 3-set match in the NCAA since 9/20/25 when Alana Torres-Rivera of Houston recorded 30 against McNeese St.
Montana recorded 65 digs at Northern Arizona. It's the most in a 3-set match by the Griz since 2024 when they had 66 vs. Montana State.
Gracie Cagle's 7 service aces vs. EWU (10/1) were the most by a Big Sky player this season and tied for the 5th most in a single match by any player in program history.

SCOUTING NORTHERN COLORADO (15-12, 11-5 BIG SKY)

The Bears lost in five sets at home to Utah Tech on Friday night. It snapped a five-match winning streak for Northern Colorado. They had dropped just three total sets across those five wins.
Northern Colorado is tied for second int eh league standings with two matches remaining. They play at Montana State on Nov. 18 to finish up their regular season.
Head coach Lyndsey Oates is 407-262 in 22 seasons with the Bears.
UNC leads the conference in hitting percentage at .241. They rank in the top 70 nationally in the category while averaging 13.5 kills per set.
Opponents are hitting .187 on Northern Colorado this year.
Nerea Alvarez-Jorge leads the Big sky in assists, averaging 10.2 per set. She ranks 42^nd nationally in the category.
Alayna Tessena is 3^rd in the conference with 3.52 kills per set.
Summer Snead is hitting .353 this year to rank 4^th in the Big Sky.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE BEARS
Northern Colorado leads the all-time series 32-9 over Montana. The Bears are currently on a 23-match winning streak in the series dating back to 2014.

In Missoula, Montana is 7-12 against Northern Colorado. The last win for Montana in the series was on Oct. 26, 2013.

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Players Mentioned

Josie Blazina

Gracie Cagle

Delaney Russell

Madeline Sanderson

Annika Wright

University of Montana Athletics