MISSOULA — When you have a perfect weekend at home, the awards are likely to follow. The Montana volleyball team went 3-0 at the Ellesyn Invitational and won nine out of 10 possible sets over the weekend. The performance earned senior libero Alexis Batezel the Big Sky Conference's co-defensive player of the week honor, the league announced on Monday.

Batezel was the key cog in a Grizzly defense that held its opponents to just .178 hitting over the three matches. The senior recorded 56 digs across Montana's 10 sets of action. Her average of 5.60 digs per set ranked ninth in the NCAA in matches played over the week.

"A lot of pressure was put on her to dig with a lot of range and I think she did that really well," head coach Allison Lawrence said. "We block in ways that funnel balls to her

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