Griz fall twice in Oakland

Friday, September 11

Rochester, Mich.

10:00 AM (MT)

Montana

3-3,0-0Big Sky

Eastern Michigan

6-2,0-0MAC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Eastern Mich.	25	26	25	3
Montana	21	24	21	0

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Montana	26	15	18	0
Oakland	28	25	25	3

Montana goes up against Caroll in an Exhibition match on Monday, August 24, 2026, on Robin Selvig Court in Missoula, Montana.

Photo by: Kassidy Gerono/University of Montana

9/11/2026 8:20:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana volleyball fell in straight sets in both matches on Friday at the Golden Grizzly Invitational in Rochester, Mich. The Grizzlies fell to Eastern Michigan in the morning and host Oakland on Friday night.

Montana falls to 3-4 on the season after the losses.

"Today was very disappointing," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "I don't think we were thinking through the game well. We muscled through some moments, but ultimately came up very short against teams that were able to make adjustments and find our weaknesses and keep hammering them."

Eastern Michigan 3, Montana 0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-21)

Montana opened the day with a tough defeat at the hands of Eastern Michigan, falling in straight sets to an Eagles team that improved to 6-2 on the year with the win. The Eastern Michigan defense held Montana to just .136 hitting, blocking seven Grizzly attacks.

Delaney Russell led Montana in the match with 16 kills on .159 hitting. Madeline Sanderson matched her career high with 20 digs in the match, averaging nearly seven per set.

In an early start, the Grizzlies were forced into an early timeout six straight points from Eastern Michigan made it 6-2 out of the gates in the first set. They extended the lead to as many as six points early on but a 5-1 run from the Grizzlies got them within a point at 11-10.

After a timeout from Montana at 19-13, Sophia Vella helped the Grizzlies make a late push, recording back-to-back kills during a 3-0 Grizzly run that made it 19-16. Eastern Michigan pushed it back out to a six-point lead at 24-18 and withstood a late 3-0 run from the Grizzlies to close it out at 25-21.

Lawrence mixed things up in the second set, bringing freshman Kaylee Paulson in off of the bench early. Paulson had three kills in Montana's first seven points as the Grizzlies led 10-7.

Eastern Michigan punched back, scoring eight of the next 10 points to lead 15-12 at the media timeout. The Eagles kept the lead late, pulling ahead 22-18 before Lawrence used her final timeout of the set.

The break proved a useful one for Montana. Sydney Pierce recorded two straight kills and Gracie Cagle added a service ace to get Montana back within one. They tied the set up at 22-all on a kill from Russell that forced an Eastern Michigan timeout.

Out of that break, Russell ripped back-to-back kills to extend the run to 6-0 in favor of Montana and give the Grizzlies double set point. The chance slipped through Montana's fingers after three straight kills gave Eastern Michigan set point. An error by the Griz ended it with Eastern Michigan winning 26-24 to take a two-set lead.

The Eagles closed things out in the third set. Once again, Montana had an early lead, but Eastern Michigan came back to tie it up at 12-all. They would score nine of the next 13 points to pull ahead 21-16.

Russell added four kills and an ace late to get Montana back within three, but it wasn't enough as Eastern Michigan held on for a 25-21 win in the final set.

The match featured 11 lead changes and nearly 20 ties.

Sophia Vella had six kills on .211 hitting. Paulson had her best day as a Grizzly with four kills on .333 hitting. Josie Blazina and Sydney Pierce each had four kills. Gracie Cagle had 26 assists.

Oakland 3, Montana 0 (28-26, 25-15, 25-18)

Montana had short rest for the second match and played without starting middle blocker Sydney Pierce, who was resting with Montana playing three matches all within a 24-hour period.

Once again, a single set swung momentum severely in the match. This time it was the opening set. Montana had a set point, but dropped four of the final five points in the set to lose 28-26.

The fatigue from the day set in from there for the Grizzlies as they dropped the final two sets by scores of 25-15 and 25-18.

The absence of Pierce forced Lawrence to experiment with her rotation and had eight different players record a kill. There was some great experience for younger players, but the Grizzlies couldn't find their rhythm offensively.

"It didn't feel like a positive today because the changes were more about how do we find some kills and string together some momentum," Lawrence said. "But I think matches like this are going to show us what adjustments we can make and those will only get stronger over time."

Montana had early leads in the first let, going ahead 9-5 after a kill from Josie Blazina. Oakland took the lead back with a 7-1 run and would eventually lead 20-18 late. The see-saw tipped back and forth from there.

The Griz had a 4-0 run. The Golden Grizzlies responded with four straight of their own to go up 24-22.

Oakland had double set point, but Blazina stepped up with some more big plays in what was already a big set for the Grizzly middle blocker. Blazina had a kill to cut the lead to one and then recorded a solo block, her third of the opening set, to tie things up at 24-all.

An error from Oakland gave Montana set point in the first, but Oakland took a time out and responded with four of the next five points to win the opener 28-26.

It was all Oakland from there. The lead changed hands a few times early in the second set, but Oakland went on a 13-1 run to take control. They would win the second set by 10 points.

In the third, the Golden Grizzlies pulled ahead early, Montana got it tied at 4-all, but Oakland led the rest of the way.

Montana hit .097 as a team with 22 attacking errors on the day. The Grizzlies were also negative from the service line with just three aces and seven errors.

Blazina led the attack with 10 kills, the first time in her career that she has reached double figures. Blazina hit .364 while also recording a career high in blocks with five.

Mylee Blake, making her first start of the season, had eight kills on .182 hitting.

"I was really disappointed with today and our staff and team need to band together to find a lot better look tomorrow," Lawrence said.

Montana finishes the Golden Grizzly Invitational with an 8:30 a.m. (MT) match against UAB. The Blazers swept the opening day, winning in four against both Oakland and Eastern Michigan.