MISSOULA — The University of Montana volleyball team is gearing up for the 2024 season, and this year’s team will feature multiple new faces and some familiar ones who are looking to start the year strong.
After an 11-18 record last year and going 7-9 in the Big Sky Conference, Griz head coach Allison Lawrence says the players have been competitive early.
“The energy is high, everyone's a little nervous about just roles and where everything is going to settle in, which makes for a very competitive environment and just a very creative environment,” Lawrence said.
“I think we can kind of make this team what we want and the players know that and yeah, they're pushing.”
With the addition of eight new players, including six freshmen and two transfers, Lawrence spoke on the challenges and advantages of coaching a group of young and experienced players simultaneously.
“We've got some oldies that know what's going on and are very productive in practices and will be in matches and then we've got a lot of athleticism in our new players and wisdom in our transfers,” Lawrence said.
“It's different than a freshman who's just new to this level. So I feel like we are experienced and our freshmen bring so much athleticism that they can kind of catch up to the old these in a quicker way.”
For some players, having new faces on the team has made it easier to focus on this year over previous years.
Senior outside hitter Paige Clark says she is using this mindset to set big goals for herself and the team.
“I think being able to let go of last year is a lot to do with it being a new team and we are so hungry to have such a good year and learning from last year but not focusing on it,” Clark said.
“(It’s) not how we wanted to end, but we're going to use what we wanted from last season to build for this whole season.”
This attitude has come to some of the other players as well. Fellow senior Maddie Kremer says a Big Sky Conference title is not out of the question for Griz volleyball this year.
“It would mean everything last year just going out, I don't think we expect anything but that. So it's just going to be amazing. We're really excited,” he said.
Kremer went on to say what Griz Volleyball needs to do to achieve that goal.
“I feel like just play Grizz volleyball, we talked about that a lot. Our system is amazing, the girls that we have on the court are amazing, the girls we have on the bench are amazing. We just play our system and go all out with what we have. I think we're going to be amazing this year,” she said.
The Griz will begin their season at the Grand Canyon Invitational beginning Aug. 30.
