MISSOULA — Paige Clark has been named the offensive player of the week in the Big Sky Conference, the league announced Monday. Montana's senior outside hitter from Idaho Falls had a big weekend at the Kangaroo Klassic in Kansas City, averaging 4.64 kills per set as Montana went 2-1.
It’s the fourth career player of the week honor for Clark, who joins Linde Eidenberg and Karen Goff-Downs as the only four-time winners in program history.
Clark, who recently recorded her 1,000th career kill at Montana, was impressive in all three matches for the Grizzlies as she increased her season average to 3.87 kills per set. She had 13 in the first match, and then had 19 in each of Montana’s two matches to close out the weekend.
“I think her weekend on a whole, she entered that gym as a playmaker and we relied on her to do that,” head coach Allison Lawrence said. “It’s a pretty normal role for Paige to be in, but it was fun to see her range and her execution throughout the whole weekend.”
It helped lead Montana to a 2-1 record at the tournament with wins over Bradley and host Kansas City on Friday. Montana finished the non-conference schedule at 5-6, winning five games during the preseason stretch for the third time in four years with Clark as part of the program.
Clark had a double-double in Montana’s sweep of Bradley on Friday morning, leading the Grizzlies with 13 kills and adding 10 digs. She hit .237 in the win.
On Friday evening in the second match of the day, Clark was held in check through the first two sets with just three kills and a negative hitting percentage. Montana was tied at the time, but ran away with the match in sets three and four largely due to Clark’s comeback performance.
She recorded eight kills each in the third and fourth sets, which Montana won 25-19, 25-20, to finish the match with 19 total kills. In a warm gym, on the second match of the day, Clark rallied her team for the win.
“We’ve been talking about emotional agility and we were in a rough spot, in our second match of the day, playing a team that is very physical and offensive and playing well,” Lawrence said. “The decision in that moment for Paige was to regroup, double-down on her feedback loops with her setters and passers, and trust that she could work her way out of that. I think a lot of those kills that she got after that point were impressive and aggressive, feet to the ball, hitting sharp angles around the block.”
It was a theme that carried through the weekend for Montana as Clark had several big sets. Clark had at least five kills in six of the 11 sets that Montana played, and she had several game-changing runs of three or four straight kills that shifted momentum in Montana’s favor.
“I think when you have your go-to-arms, they have to produce again and again and do it in tight spots,” Lawrence said. “She knows that and she wants the ball. I think it’s such a sign of her attitude and how she’s communicating. She feels at her best when the pressure is the highest.”
Clark also had 22 digs on the weekend and led the team with four service aces. She leads the Big Sky Conference and ranks 67th in the country with 0.47 aces per set this year, and even on the points that didn’t end in an ace, her serving kept the Grizzlies’ opponents out of system.
“She point-scored on her serve so well the whole weekend,” Lawrence said. “It was a huge part of the game that she was running points and influencing points in a huge way. She’s just scoring from every spot on the court.”
Clark and the Grizzlies will open Big Sky Conference play this week with a home match against Northern Colorado on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Dahlberg Arena. The Griz will then hit the road for a Saturday contest at Portland State.
