MISSOULA — The Montana volleyball program has announced five new players joining the program for the 2027 season. The Griz are bringing in two players from Colorado, twins from Oregon, and a local product from Frenchtown as part of the 2026 class.
Twins Addison and Avery Herber join the Griz from South Salem HS in Oregon. Addison is a middle blocker while Avery is the top outside hitter in the state of Oregon. Grace Bovaird is a middle blocker from Fort Collins, Colo.
Jersey McCollum is a setter that also comes to the Griz from Fort Collins, and local product Rachel Walls will travel down the road from Frenchtown to join Montana.
“This is a very athletic class, a very physical class and a very driven class,” head coach Allison Lawrence said. “I think they add a lot of pieces. It’s a bigger class, and we’re adding a lot of size and talent to our offense. We’re adding a lot of length and power.”
GRACE BOVAIRD (6-1 MB / Fort Collins, Colo.)
Bovaird played for a very successful prep program at Rocky Mountain High School, who are currently in the midst of a playoff run with a 21-4 overall record in 2026-27. Bovaird is a four-year letter winner for the program.
“She is so fast off of the ground, she elevates so easily off of one foot, and is just a very explosive and powerful middle who is very versatile,” Lawrence said. “She had a really good high school season and I think the sky is the limit for her.”
Her team were the 2026 Front Range League Champions as Bovaird hit .272 and averaged nearly three kills per set with 62 total blocks on the year easily a team high.
After an injury took away much of her high school career, she was able to make big strides last year to quickly gain attention in the recruiting world.
“She was relatively unseen and unevaluated and was kind of making her return and recovery to the court, and is just so impressive,” Lawrence said. “I think because of the injury, she hasn’t even scratched the surface of physically what she will be able to do. She’s just getting back into her game and already playing so well at the same time.”
She also played club volleyball with the Colorado Juniors for coach Kevin Marquis. She played alongside fellow Griz commit Jersey McCollum for the club team. The team double-qualified for nationals and earned a GJNC National Bid.
The Juniors also took first place at the SLC Showdown USA Division.
ADDISON HERBER (6-1 MB/RS / Salem, Ore.)
Herber and her twin sister, Avery, will both join Montana in 2027 after highly successful prep careers together. Addison was a 6A Second Team All-State Selection at South Salem HS this year and earned First Team All-Central Valley Conference honors.
“Addison is a really smart player and is really efficient,” Lawrence said. “She just knows how to score, and I think she is someone who has a really high volleyball IQ and knows how to manage points. She reads the game really well and is extremely competitive.”
As a junior, the was an honorable mention to the 6A All-State team in her first season at that level. Addison earned First-Team All-State honors as a middle blocker at the 2A level at Western Christian in her first two seasons in high school.
The Herber sisters helped lead Western Christian to the 2024 Tri-River Conference Championship and South Salem to the 2026 Central Valley Conference Championship.
“She has size, she has power, and she loves to play,” Lawrence said. “You can watch her and just see that she loves playing, she loves competing, and she loves being in the big moments.”
She earned Academic All-Conference twice in the Tri-River Conference and was a two-time Central Valley Conference Honor Roll recipient.
Addison was a two-time varsity letter winner in basketball, first on a state title team at Western Christian in 2023-24 and again at South Salem in 2024-25. She also earned a varsity letter in golf in 2026.
She played her club volleyball for the North Pacific Juniors.
AVERY HERBER (6-2 OH/RS / Salem, Ore.)
Herber is Prep Dig Volleyball’s top-ranked outside hitter in Oregon’s 2027 class and the No. 2 overall recruit from the state this year. She has stacked up honors at South Salem HS playing alongside her twin sister Addison.
“I think that Avery has size, power, length, and ball control, and whenever you have that combination in an athlete, on top of the fact that she’s a driven competitor and a great teammate, it’s really exciting,” Lawrence said.
Avery earned 6A First Team All-State honors to go with OSAA 6A First Team All-State Tournament honors this year. She was Third Team All-State in 2025 while being named to the second team for the tournament.
Her first two seasons also saw her earn honors at the 2A level at Western Christian. She was First Team All-State as a sophomore and Second Team All-State as a freshman at that level.
“She’s someone that knows volleyball really well and she influences all sides of the game,” Lawrence said. “She’s been a go-to player on all of her teams and is used to being someone who is counted on and who wants the ball at the end of matches.”
The Herber sisters helped lead Western Christian to the 2024 Tri-River Conference Championship and South Salem to the 2026 Central Valley Conference Championship.
Avery also won a 2A state championship in basketball as a sophomore and was named All-Conference in the sport at South Salem in 2024-25. She was also a varsity letter winner in golf in 2026.
She earned Academic All-Conference twice in the Tri-River Conference and was a two-time Central Valley Conference Honor Roll recipient.
She played her club volleyball for the North Pacific Juniors.
JERSEY McCOLLUM (5-11 S / Fort Collins, Colo.)
McCollum compiled an impressive resume at Timnath Middle HS at the 4A level in Colorado. A four-year starter and three-time captain for her high school team, McCollum has gained statewide attention for her play.
“Jersey is very technically trained and has such clean footwork, such poise, and such strong court presence,” Lawrence said. “She’s just very technically and tactically trained and aware and savvy.”
She was named the 2026 Conference Player of the Year and is a four-time All-Conference First Team selection from 2023-26. PrepDigs Colorado named her the #2 recruit in the state, had her on the Best Setters list, along with other features about her play.
Her team has reached regionals four straight years and made the 4A Colorado State Tournament three times in her career.
“Adding a setter with her size and length that also has her experience, knowledge of the game, and command of the game is a really big thing for us,” Lawrence said. “We have a lot of talent at that position and Jersey has some versatility where she’s hit for her high school team and played a lot of different positions.”
In addition to a successful high school career, she also played club volleyball with the Colorado Juniors for coach Kevin Marquis. She played alongside fellow Griz commit Grace Bovaird for the club team.
McCollum is also talented on the beach where she has qualified for the USA Volleyball Beach Tour and AVP Nationals multiple times.
RACHEL WALLS (5-9 OH/DS / Frenchtown, Mont.)
Walls comes from just down the road in Frenchtown where was has earned All-State honors every season she has played with the Broncs. Walls also earned First Team All-Conference every year of her high school career and was named the League MVP in 2025.
She will lead the Broncs next week at the 2026 Class A State Championship in Bozeman, where Frenchtown qualified as the 3-seed out of the west.
“Rachel has been really fun to recruit because when you’re recruiting someone local, you see the development from a younger age and you know people that coach her,” Lawrence said. “She’s very talented as an attacker and as a ball handler and is just gritty. It will be fun to see her compete and bring that competitive edge.”
Walls has been a team captain for Frenchtown in back-to-back seasons and has totaled over 1,250 digs and kills in her decorated career in the orange and black.
In addition to the athletic success, Walls has also earned Academic All-State honors every year of her high school career.
“I’ve always been so impressed that every time Rachel stepped into a gym with players older than her, players maybe further along in development, her level of play always rose to the level of the gym. That’s happened at our camps and with her club teams, but a lot of the time she’s also been the top level in the gym. She just gets better in every environment.
Her Frenchtown teams have finished in the top four at state her first three seasons, including a runner-up finish in 2024. They have won two divisional and two conference championships with Frenchtown.
She played her club volleyball with the Montana Volleyball Academy.
