UM volleyball not rattled by second straight loss to Eagles

In the aftermath of a decisive 3-0 loss to Eastern Washington on Saturday, the University of Montana volleyball team is still confident that they can succeed.

“We still have a ton of faith in our team and what we’re doing,” UM junior setter Shelley Boyd said. “Eastern just had it, and sometimes that’s going to happen in a sport; one team’s going to bring it and one team’s might not be so on.”

Montana’s rhythm appeared to be off in all of the three games. UM outside hitter Claudia Houle, who is used to recording kills in the upper teens or even twenties, was only able to collect 10 kills. However, Houle was the only Griz to get double-digit kills as the Eagles increased their net defense on UM sophomore outside hitter Micaela Parker, who only managed three kills.

“What I saw on the court tonight wasn’t the team that we’re used to being,” UM head coach Jerry Wagner said.

In all three games, the Eagles came out with a tempo that Montana couldn’t keep up with.

“My hat’s off to Eastern, they were able to serve tough and really get us into some predictable situations this time around and that’s how you treat it,” Wagner said.

EWU’s Brittney Page, Chrystal Johnson and Addie Webster all recorded double-digit kills against Montana. EWU hit over .300 for two of the three games while Montana struggled to keep it above .100, finishing the match at .083.

“I think, of course, we’re not satisfied by the result, but at the end you need to look not only at the result, but at the plays and stuff,” Houle said. “We didn’t play as bad as the results show, but of course we need improvement.”

Houle said that in the Big Sky Conference, all of the nine teams are pretty equal and that the rankings don’t mean anything. She said that just because a team, like the Eagles, is ranked seventh or eighth, doesn’t mean that they’re not as strong or capable as the first- or second- place teams.

“We can’t look at the ranking or anything, but just try to play our best all the time,” Houle said.

Nearing the halfway point of Big Sky Conference play, Montana (7-9, 4-3 Big Sky Conference) is confident that the team will be much stronger the next time they face the Eagles.

“When it comes time again to play them, we’re going to be a lot more ready the second time; we’re not going to take anything for granted,” Boyd said.

Wagner said this loss isn’t something that will rattle UM.

“We broke through some teams by ourselves, and the last time I looked we’re still 4-3 and we’re ahead of the Eagles,” he said.

The Griz are back on the court this week against top-ranked Sacramento State on Thursday night.

“We’re going to give it all in practice,” Houle said. “Perfect practice makes perfect games and perfect players, so the thing is don’t look at what happened this weekend or this week and just keep working hard.”