BOZEMAN — Allison Lawrence said this was the best single-season series between the Montana and Montana State volleyball teams in the past several years.
A gutsy effort in a hostile environment Friday night made sure Lawrence's Grizzlies found their way back in the win column against their arch nemesis.
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The Griz survived a match that featured 19 ties and several tense moments to claim a 19-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-14 victory over the Bobcats and reclaim the rivalry's Main Line Trophy.
Montana snapped a five-match losing streak to the Bobcats, and put the hush on a huge crowd of 4,617 at MSU's Worthington Arena in the process.
UM also avoided an overall three-match skid and now has a measure of momentum as it looks toward the final four matches of its regular-season schedule.
"Feels incredible," a shivering Lawrence, Montana's ninth-year coach, said outside the Grizzly locker room just moments after being drenched with water in the postgame celebration. "Montana State's been playing so well this season and for the past several years. It makes for such an exciting and unpredictable rivalry game.
"This was the best Griz-Cat series, I think, of the last several years because of how tight it's been."
Montana State beat Montana in five sets in Missoula on Oct. 11, but the Bobcats couldn't overcome a spread-out attack that produced 17 kills from springy outside hitter Delaney Russell and 12 more from 6-foot-1 Mylee Blake.
The Grizzlies were without injured 6-1 middle blocker Olivia LaBeau for the second consecutive match, but Maddie Pyles helped pick up that slack with eight kills on 17 attempts and two block assists.
"We knew it was going to be a very back-and-forth match," Russell said. "I think our ability to come together and simplify what we practiced and execute the best we could was the difference."
After dropping the first set, Montana overcame a second set that featured nine ties. A crucial moment occurred late in the set when Lawrence challenged a call on a ball that went out of bounds, seemingly last touched by the Grizzlies.
But the official, after video review, reversed the call and Montana went up 23-20 and were able to close out the set and tie the match. Lawrence was 2 for 2 on coach's challenges.
"There's that momentum swing, and to see the points flip ... any chance you can get some momentum in this kind of game it ends up helping you in your favor," Lawrence said.
Montana State was led by Camryn Greenwald and Karli Heidemann, each with 13 kills. Joelie Spelts had 12 kills. But MSU, after hitting .333 in the opening set, hit at a .098 rate in the fourth set and was unable to push the match to the limit.
Great Falls CMR alum Lauren Lindseth finished with 16 digs as she continues to climb the school's all-time chart. Freshman Teagan Jaynes served up 50 assists.
Montana got 10 kills each from Billings West product Sydney Pierce and Carley Spachman, the latter of which hit .421. Alexis Batezel had 17 digs and Gracie Cagle added 46 assists.
Montana improved to 15-8 overall and 7-5 in the Big Sky. MSU is now 11-12 overall and 6-6 in the league. MSU still leads the all-time series 67-62, and third-year Bobcats coach Matt Houk is now 7-2 against the Griz.
"It feels great," Russell said. "This rivalry is incredible, and we're so lucky to be in a state that has this insane rivalry. And to be on top at this point is awesome, but we are split (this season) and they're a really good team, and we may see them again."
