Griz dominate in season opener

Friday, August 28

Pullman, Wash.

1:00 PM (MT)

Montana

1-0,0-0Big Sky

Central Michigan

0-1,0-0MAC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Montana	25	25	25	3
Central Mich.	17	14	21	0

8/28/2026 4:52:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

You couldn't draw up a better start to a season than what Montana volleyball opened up with on Friday afternoon in Pullman. The Grizzlies began the year with a sweep of Central Michigan, winning 25-17, 25-14, 25-21.

It was a clinical team effort from Montana as the team hit .270 while holding Central Michigan to just .163. The Griz raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first set and never let up. They did not trail all day and were only tied once in the entire match.

"It was a good start. I thought our starters did a great job of, regardless of the rhythm of the match, holding to our structure and hitting their details and playing really smart volleyball," head coach Allison Lawrence said.

The Grizzlies start the season 1-0 for the first time since 2022.

Gracie Cagle set the tone from the very opening point. The Griz setter served to start the match and had a kill on the first point on a setter's dump. She would go on a long run at the service line, getting the Grizzlies off to a 6-0 start.

"Gracie's serve has the ability to stifle an opponent all by itself," Lawrence said. "I think having that momentum grab early relaxed us in the first match of the year especially with a lot of extra adrenaline. I think that relaxed us and allowed us to just take it a point at a time."

The Chippewas were able to get back within two points, but Montana responded with a 5-0 run, again with Cagle at the service line, to regain control at 16-9. They leaned on the defense the rest of the way, limiting Central Michigan to just .067 hitting in the first set.

It was a similar start in the second set as Montana started out 5-1 ahead after a long service run from Delaney Russell that featured two aces. They went up 13-5 after a 6-0 run with freshman Isa Taylor, who started her first career match, serving.

The Griz ended the second set on a 5-0 run for a massive 25-14 victory. Montana had 12 kills and five service aces in the second set, pulling away from the Chippewas in impressive fashion.

Cagle started the Griz off with another 3-0 start at the service line in the third set and they went up to another 12-5 lead in the third. Montana led by as many as 11 points, holding off a late Chippewa rally to win 25-21.

For the season opener, Lawrence liked her team's ability to play clean volleyball and keep the errors to a minimum.

"I feel like we were low-error and it felt like we weren't giving a lot of points away," Lawrence said. "It felt good to watch our team execute well and not do the early season thing, which is to be a little more high error. I think that was a component of our success last year that is great to see this group carry over."

The Grizzly service game had Central Michigan out of rhythm offensively all day long. The Griz had eight service aces, led by Cagle with three. Russell and Taylor each added two aces.

No player reached 10 kills for Montana with Russell leading the way with eight kills on 333 hitting. Cagle, the setter, was second on the team with seven kills. She did so on just nine attacks, hitting .778 in the match.

Josie Blazina had six kills on n.33 hitting and Sydney Pierce and Taylor each added five kills. Cagle had 21 assists.

Madeline Sanderson, the libero, led the team with nine digs.

"I thought both setters distributed well and Gracie got our middles involved and kept them involved," Lawrence said. "She put a lot of balls in transition to Sophia, and I just think it was a really balanced offense and our attackers were very patient."

Montana will take the 1-0 start into a tough match with tournament host Washington State tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. (MT).

"Washington State has a lot of talent, a lot of size, and they are playing at home. The environment is really fun and high energy so I think we're in for a big battle," Lawrence said. "I love today as a preparation. I think we found our rhythm and served and passed well in gym that is tough to do that in, so I'm excited to see what happens."