Griz volleyball finalizes 2026 schedule

The Montana volleyball team has finalized its 2026 schedule as the program enters season 10 under head coach Allison Lawrence.

The schedule will have a different look in 2026 in a couple of ways, starting with the non-conference slate but extending into a new-look Big Sky Conference season.

The Grizzlies will have two home exhibitions before the start of the regular season, hosting Lewis & Clark and Carroll College in late August.

They will then spend the first four weeks of the season on the road, playing in four tournaments away from home in the non-conference. The first 11 matches of the year will all be away from Dahlberg Arena, giving Montana a strong test in the early stages of the season.

"I'm excited about the tournaments that we are in. I am disappointed that we're not hosting a home tournament because the Ellesyn Invitational feels like a big part of our identity, but it just didn't come together," Lawrence said. "It was not for a lack of trying, but the landscape has made it difficult this year."

Instead, the Grizzlies will have three tournaments in the Pacific Northwest that are not only shorter trips from Missoula, but also locations that are close to home for many players on the Montana roster.

Montana opens its season in Pullman, Wash. at a tournament hosted by Washington State. The Grizzlies' opener is against Central Michigan on Friday, Aug. 28. They will then play the host Cougars on Aug. 29.

The Griz will go to Oregon State the next weekend for neutral site matches against Seattle U and Cal Baptist. They face off against the host Beavers on Friday, Sept. 4 in a homecoming match for Lawrence.

Lawrence played her collegiate volleyball at Oregon State and will be returning to Gill Coliseum for the first time as a coach. She still ranks inside the top 10 in career kills and top 20 in digs and points at Oregon State.

The Grizzlies will then head east for three games in Rochester, Mich. at Oakland University's tournament. Montana's will play twice on Friday, Sept. 11, facing off with Eastern Michigan in the morning and Oakland that evening.

After playing multiple matches on the same day three times last season, the Grizzlies will have to do so just once in 2026.

They wrap up the trip to Oakland with a match against UAB.

Montana finishes the non-conference schedule with three matches in Spokane in a tournament hosted by Gonzaga. They open with North Dakota State on Sept. 17, facing off with the Bison for the fourth time in the last three seasons.

They will have a rematch against Seattle U on Friday and then close things out against Gonzaga on Saturday, Sept. 19.

While Lawrence is disappointed to not have a home tournament, she's happy with the locations and opponents that they were able to secure during the non-conference.

"We pivoted to really strong tournaments, three of which are in our region and really close to a lot of our athletes' hometowns or regions," Lawrence said. "We will have a lot of fans and feel like we can kind of be at home in a larger sense."

The Grizzlies will take the spotlight in the Big Sky Conference for the league opener. Montana and Montana State will renew their rivalry on Tuesday, Sept. 22 in the first Big Sky match of the season and the only match that day. The rest of the league will open up two days later.

It's a wrinkle in the schedule as Montana hasn't played a regular season match on a Tuesday since 2021.

"Playing the rivalry match here on a Tuesday night will feel different, but it's all about where we put our focus," Lawrence said. "It will be a good test of how adaptable and how loyal to our goals we are because none of that stuff really matters, it's all just noise in the background."

The league added Utah Tech and Southern Utah for the 2026 season with Sacramento State leaving to join the Big West. Travel partners have changed, and the format of the conference season will be slightly different this time around.

The Grizzlies open with a split week, hosting MSU and then hitting the road to play at Northern Colorado on Thursday.

They start with three of the first four matches at home in Big Sky play, returning to host Eastern Washington and Idaho, the teams that finished 9^th and 10^th in the league last year, on the second weekend of conference play.

They have road trips to Portland State/Northern Arizona, Utah Tech/Southern Utah, and Idaho/Eastern Washington. The Grizzlies will also play in Bozeman in the regular season finale on Nov. 20. They will have a second split weekend in the middle of the season, going to Idaho State and returning two days later to host Weber State.

Idaho State and Weber State are the only opponents that Montana does not play both home and road matches against.

"I think a theme of our conference is who adapts to split weekends, when you go on your difficult road trip, and kind of the timing of how your season plays out with how difficult travel can be in our conference and how good everyone is," Lawrence said. "I don't think that theme is wildly different this year, it will just look a bit different."

The schedule sets up in reverse order. Montana State is the first and last game of the year. Northern Colorado second while also being second to last. It sets the Grizzlies up for four matches against the two new additions to the Big Sky in a three-week span from Oct. 15-31.

"I think there will be some new pinch points this year in the conference schedule that will affect each team in the conference slightly differently," Lawrence said. "I think with the parity in the conference it's all going to be about adaptability in the moment."

The Grizzlies went 17-11 last season and finished 9-7 in Big Sky Conference play to earn the 5-seed at the tournament. The 17 wins were tied for the most by the program since 1999. Over the last four years, Montana has won 55 matches, the best four-year stretch since the 1990s.

University of Montana Athletics

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