Griz bounce back with sweep of Seattle U

Friday, September 18

Spokane, Wash.

3:30 PM (MT)

Montana

4-6,0-0Big Sky

Seattle U

3-6,0-0WCC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Seattle U	23	24	18	0
Montana	25	26	25	3

Montana goes up against Lewis-Clark State in an Exhibition match on Tuesday August 18, 2026, on Robin Selvig Court in Missoula, Montana.

Photo by: Casandra Evans/University of Montana

9/18/2026 8:28:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

For the second time this season, Montana has swept the Seattle U Redhawks. The Grizzlies picked up a bounce-back win on Friday evening in Spokane to snap a four-match losing streak and improve to 4-6 on the season.

Montana came through in the clutch, coming from behind in two of the three sets to get the sweep with scores of 25-23, 26-24, and 25-18.

It completes a perfect season for Montana against Seattle U as they also swept the Redhawks at the ASICS Invitational in Corvallis, Ore. two weeks ago. It's the third overall sweep this year for the Griz.

"I am proud of the team's response from yesterday," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "I think we found a lot of good growth in some system execution that we were looking for from last weekend."

The Griz hit .229 as a team and separated themselves from the service line with 10 service aces compared to just three by Seattle U. It's the second time this season that Montana has reached double digits in service aces as they rank in the top 100 nationally by averaging nearly two per set.

The offense was once again balanced with five different players receiving at least 15 attacks on the night. Gracie Cagle averaged over 10 assists per set, totaling 32 on the night. Her middles were her favorite targets as Josie Blazina and Sydney Pierce both hit over .500 and shared the team high with nine kills each.

"I thought we were organized," Lawrence said. "We were very aggressive from the service line, we hit our technical responsibilities and worked through some problems."

The first set was anything but comfortable for a Montana team that had lost four straight coming in. Seattle U scored the first four points of the match and led 9-3 early to force Lawrence into an early timeout.

The Grizzlies scored three straight out of that timeout, including an early kill for Sydney Pierce, who missed yesterday's match.

Russell finished the first set with six kills on .333 hitting. Gracie Cagle had a terrific opening set with 10 assists, leading to .300 hitting for Montana as a team, and two kills herself on her only two attempts.

The Griz couldn't get over the hump, and three straight from Seattle later in the set gave the Redhawks a 17-12 lead. The Griz inched closer, and then used a 6-0 run to take their first lead of the match at 21-19. Pierce added a second kill, Isa Taylor served up an ace, and Russell delivered a kill to end the Grizzly run.

Josie Blazina finished things off in the first set with a kill to give the Griz the 25-23 victory.

The second set followed much of the same pattern. An early 3-0 lead for the Redhawks, this time quickly erased by Montana with four straight points, including back-to-back aces from Russell.

But the Redhawks were able to pull back in front and build the lead up to five points in the late stages of the set at the exact same 17-12 score as they led by in the first set. The comeback wasn't as quick for Montana this time around, but they would find their way out of the hole once again.

They scored four of the next five to get back within two points, and the Griz finally clawed back to a tie after a block from Blazina and Cagle made it 20-20.

Seattle U had leads at 21-20 and 22-21, but a service error from Seattle followed by Russell's third ace of the set gave Montana its first lead since 6-5. The teams traded points before Pierce ripped her 6^th kill of the match and Annika Wright finished things off with a service ace to make it 26-24.

"They gave us some problems in terms of ball control and serve-receive and started down in the first two sets and were able to just relax and chip away under pressure, point-for-point, to find our best game," Lawrence said.

The Grizzlies had lost four straight sets that were decided by the two-point minimum dating back to Sept. 11. They were able to come through in the clutch situations on Friday evening.

It set them up for an exclamation point of a third set. An early 5-0 run from Montana gave them control early and they never let up, pushing the lead to as many as eight points.

Seattle U was able to get it close at 18-15, but Montana went on another five-point run with kills from four different players, showcasing the balanced offensive attack, to go back up 23-15 and cruise to the win.

Blazina hit .533 with nine kills and Pierce was right at .500 with the same amount. The middle blockers also combined for five total blocks on the night.

Russell had a huge first set with six kills and ended the night with seven, but left her mark at the service line with a career high five service aces.

Madeline Sanderson had a team-high 13 digs.

Montana closes out the Zag Volleyball Classic and the non-conference schedule tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. (MT) against the host Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Griz then open Big Sky Conference play on Tuesday, Sept. 22 against Montana State.