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The University of Montana volleyball team, sitting in fourth place with three weekends of regular-season Big Sky Conference matches remaining, will play its first multiple-match road trip since mid September when it travels this week to Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona.

The Grizzlies (10-12, 6-5 BSC) will play the second-place Bears (16-9, 9-2 BSC) Thursday at 7 p.m. in Greeley, Colo., and the sixth-place Lumberjacks (7-13, 4-7 BSC) Saturday at 7 p.m. in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Montana handed Northern Colorado its first Big Sky loss of the season in four sets (25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20) when the teams met in Missoula Oct. 10. One night earlier the Grizzlies swept the Lumberjacks in straight sets, 25-18, 25-19, 25-23.

What’s at stake: With four teams making the Big Sky Conference tournament, which will be held Nov. 27-28 in Cheney, Wash., Montana is holding on to fourth place by a half game over fifth-place Sacramento State (15-11, 5-5 BSC) and two games over NAU.

Northern Colorado has won four straight and five of six since losing to Montana to stay within half a game of Big Sky leader Portland State (16-7, 10-2 BSC). The 2009 regular-season champion will not only win a championship this season but also earn hosting rights to the 2010 Big Sky tournament.

With success at home this weekend, which is key with its final three matches of the season on the road, Northern Arizona could move all the way up into a tie for fourth depending on other Big Sky outcomes Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Most recently: Montana lost its second consecutive home match with a three-set loss to Portland State Friday night, then came back to get an important split on the weekend with a 3-1 victory Saturday over Eastern Washington, which had entered the match in a first-place tie with PSU.

Northern Colorado won both matches of its Idaho State-Weber State road trip, but by the slimmest of margins, downing both opponents in five sets. Against the Bengals Friday, the Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead, saw ISU rally to tie it at 2-2, then pulled out a 15-13 win in the fifth set.

Saturday’s win was even more dramatic. UNC lost the opening two sets to WSU handily, 25-20 and 25-19, and trailed in the third set 24-20 before coming all the way back for 28-26, 25-22 and 15-8 wins.

Northern Arizona snapped a two-match Big Sky losing streak with a convincing 3-0 sweep at Weber State Friday, 25-22, 25-22, 25-16, then lost at surging Idaho State Saturday, 20-25, 19-25, 25-20, 16-25.

Coach Jerry Wagner’s views: “Three thoughts come to mind when I look at this week and where we stand. First, we’re a good road team, and we’ve shown that all season. We play well at a lot of different places because we play hard and we play for each other.

“Second, this team controls its own (postseason tournament) destiny. We’ve created that opportunity because we are forging ahead by focusing only on things we have control over. What we can control is playing as hard as we can one opponent at a time and preparing for that opponent as hard as we can.

“The year we didn’t make the tournament (in 2007), we had to hope people did this or did that. We had to have things happen that were out of our control. Now we’re back in control, and I’m happy about that.

“Third, we’ve learned what it takes to be successful, and that’s working hard and together with the players and talent we have available. We have the people that carry us night in and night out offensively, and we’re adding a little something to that every week. That’s why we’re in the position we’re in.

“The teams we’ll be facing this week are going to be preparing hard because they have all kinds of goals, just like we have all kinds of goals. If we’re going to be successful, we understand how that’s going to happen. Not by looking forward or dwelling on what’s over and done with, good or bad, but by focusing on what’s happening here and now this week and how hard we prepare.

“I want to keep it as simple as possible for the team. Play as hard as you can and things will turn out as they are supposed to.”

Griz earn split against Big Sky leaders: Montana closed the month of October with a split against Portland State and Eastern Washington last Friday and Saturday at the West Auxiliary Gym. The Vikings and Eagles entered the weekend in a tie for first place in the Big Sky Conference.

The Grizzlies played well in a high-level match against PSU Friday but dropped a 25-20, 25-23, 25-22 decision. The consistent Vikings hit .300, .293 and .294 in the three sets to finish at .296 for the match.

Montana’s middle blockers, junior Jaimie Thibeault and sophomore Brittany Quick, had 19 kills on .385 hitting.

The Grizzles came back 24 hours later for an impressive 25-21, 25-22, 19-25, 25-23 victory over Eastern Washington to knock the Eagles from a tie for first down to third in the league standings.

Montana hit .286 in the win, with Thibeault, redshirt freshman Paige Branstiter and senior Whitney Hobbs all finishing with double-figure kills.

Around the Big Sky Conference: Portland State (10-2 BSC), Northern Colorado (9-2 BSC) and Eastern Washington (9-3 BSC) are separated from the rest of the pack by at least two games in the loss column. Those three teams will all face each other over the next two weeks, starting this Friday with EWU’s trip to PSU.

UNC will travel to the Northwest to face the Eagles and Vikings the following weekend.

Remaining schedules (listed by current standings):

Portland State (16-7, 10-2 BSC): EWU (11.6), NAU (11.13), UNC (11.14), at SAC (11.20)
Northern Colorado (16-9, 9-2 BSC): UM (11.5), MSU (11.7), at EWU (11.13), at PSU (11.14), NAU (11.21)
Eastern Washington (15-8, 9-3 BSC): at PSU (11.6), UNC (11.13), NAU (11.14), at SAC (11.21)
Montana (10-12, 6-5 BSC): at UNC (11.5), at NAU (11.7), SAC (11.13), at WSU (11.20), at ISU (11.21)
Sacramento State (15-11, 5-5 BSC): WSU (11.6), ISU (11.7), at UM (11.13), at MSU (11.14), PSU (11.20), EWU (11.21)
Northern Arizona (7-13, 4-7 BSC): MSU (11.5), UM (11.7), at PSU (11.13), at EWU (11.14), at UNC (11.21)
Idaho State (10-14, 4-8 BSC): at SAC (11.7), WSU (11.14), MSU (11.20), UM (11.21)
Weber State (5-19, 3-9 BSC): at SAC (11.6), at ISU (11.14), UM (11.20), MSU (11.21)
Montana State (3-18, 1-10 BSC): at NAU (11.5), at UNC (11.7), SAC (11.14), at ISU (11.20), at WSU (11.21)

Northern Colorado notes: The Bears are 4-1 at home in Big Sky play, with only a 3-1 loss to Eastern Washington blemishing their record ... UNC is hitting .260 in Big Sky Conference matches, second only to Portland State’s .266 ... Northern Colorado hit .292 in last weekend’s road sweep and had 23 total team blocks to ISU and WSU’s combined 11 ... Freshman outside hitter Kelley Arnold had 39 kills in two matches last weekend ... The Bears have five players averaging better than two kills per set.

History: Montana leads the series against Northern Colorado, 5-4 ... The two teams first met in 2004 ... The Grizzlies are 1-2 in matches at Greeley, with losses in their last two trips.

Northern Arizona notes: The Lumberjacks hit just .009 in their 3-0 loss at Montana last month ... Freshman libero Anna Gott leads the Big Sky in digs at 4.51 per set ... Freshman outside hitter Lauren Campbell leads NAU in kills at 2.68 per set ... Northern Arizona is hitting .176 while allowing its opponents to hit .239 ... The Lumberjacks are 3-6 at home this season, 2-4 in league ... One of NAU’s home wins was over Eastern Washington. The team’s only other Big Sky wins have come against eighth-place Weber State (twice) and ninth-place Montana State (once).

History: Montana leads the all-time series against Northern Arizona, 28-22 ... The teams have split their 22 matches in Flagstaff ... The Grizzlies lost 11 of 12 matches at NAU between 1995 and 2006 but have won the last two meetings in 3-0 sweeps.

Montana notes: Junior Jaimie Thibeault ranks 16th nationally in hitting percentage (.388) and 26th in blocking (1.30/s) ... Thibeault leads the Big Sky Conference in hitting percentage; senior Taryn Wright leads the league in service aces (0.40/s) ... Montana leads the Big Sky in blocks during league play ... Wright had 14 service aces in UM’s last five matches ... Sophomore Brittany Quick hit .378 last weekend with a team-high nine blocks ... Montana has won its last two Big Sky road matches in 3-0 sweeps (at Montana State and at Sacramento State).