Sydney Pierce

Photo by: Marley Barboeisel/University of Montana

Class:
Sophomore
Position:
Middle Blocker
Height:
6-4
Hometown:
Billings, Mont.
High School:
Billings West HS

2025 (Sophomore): CSC Academic All-District… Academic All-Big Sky… Started all 28 matches for Montana, playing in 105 out of 106 possible sets… recorded 236 kills, averaging 2.25 per set… ranked 2^nd on the team in kills… hit .328 on the season, the 5^th best percentage for a single season in program history… ranked 10^th in the Big Sky Conference in hitting percentage… ranked 10^th in the Big Sky in service aces with 30, averaging 0.29 per set… 2^nd on the team in service aces… 78.0 total blocks to rank 2^nd on the team, averaging 0.74 per set… 9 solo blocks… 63 digs, averaging 0.60 per set… reached double figures in kills 13 times on the season… season high 15 kills in a four-set win over Idaho State (10/23)… reached 10-plus kills in five straight matches from Oct. 11-25… had 14 kills on .700 hitting at Sacramento State (10/16)… recorded 12 kills on .429 hitting at Portland State (10/18) in Montana’s first win in Portland since 2015… recorded 13 kills on .478 hitting at Idaho State (11/21)… in a road win at Gonzaga, she recorded 13 kills on .591 hitting… hit over .400 in 13 different matches on the season… hit over .500 in five different matches… hit over .700 on three occasions… season high 9 blocks at Utah Valley (8/29)… had 6 matches with 5+ blocks on the year… season high 4 aces in a win over Idaho State (10/23)… had 10 matches with multiple aces… recorded 8 aces in a three-match stretch from Oct. 18-25, all three Montana wins… had 3 service aces vs. Navy (8/30) and vs. Seattle U (9/19).

2024 (Freshman): Academic All-Big Sky… appeared in 19 matches, starting 7 of them… recorded 47 kills, averaging 1.02 per set… hit .294 on the season… totaled 65.0 points, averaging 1.41 per set… 7^th on Montana with 26.0 total blocks… averaged 0.57 blocks per set, the 4^th most on Montana… season-high six kills on two different occasions, doing it back-to-back at Idaho State (10/5) and vs. Idaho (10/10)… hit .500 in the Idaho win with six kills on 12 attempts with zero errors… also had zero errors against Idaho State, going 12K/0E/21 TA over the two-game stretch to hit .571… had multiple kills in 12 of her 19 appearances… at least one kill in 15 matches, including 12 of the final 13… hit over .400 in eight matches… season-high five blocks in win over Idaho (10/10)… had at least one block in the final 13 matches of the season… had multiple blocks in seven appearances.

Career Highs
Kills: 15, vs. Idaho State (Oct. 23, 2025)
Attacks: 36, vs. Montana State (Oct. 11, 2025)
Assists: 12, vs. Montana State (Oct. 11, 2025)
Aces: 4, vs. Idaho State (Oct. 23, 2025)
Digs: 5, at Sacramento State (Oct. 16, 2025)
Blocks: 9, at Utah Valley (Aug. 29, 2025)

High School: A 2024 graduate of Billings West HS… four-year varsity letterwinner… three-time First Team All-State selection… second team All-State as a freshman… school record holder for career kills at West… high school team went 31-0 and won the state championship as a senior… league champions during junior season… also played basketball, earning second team All-Conference honors her first two seasons and first team honors as a junior… basketball state champions her junior season… Academic All-State recipient.

Personal: Parents are Rich and Shelley Pierce… has a younger sister, Brooklyn, who will join the Griz in 2026… plans to major in business marketing.

Coach Lawrence on Pierce: "What really excites us about Sydney is her physicality. She's long, she's really strong, sees the court really well and because she's so tall and her contact point is really high she's able to execute angles offensively and just see the court really well and be terminal."