Both matches on the first night of the Wolverine Invitational at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, ended in three sets, but those scorelines don't tell the whole story.

With a 25-22, 25-23, 26-24 sweep of Long Beach State, Montana improved its 2017 record to 3-1 -- an impressive .750 winning percentage for a team that went 5-21 in 2016 and was picked to finish 11th in its conference preseason poll.



"That's a program that's used to winning, so we're taking that win to the bank," first-year Montana head coach Allison Lawrence said.

Cassie Laramee led the Grizzlies with 10 kills, but it was freshman Maddy Marshall who made the biggest impression, putting away nine kills with just one error to hit .421. Three of her kills came in succession at the end of the final set to win the match for Montana.

"When the game was on the line, for a freshman to step up like that and be very efficient, you could see in her body language that she was ready," Lawrence said. "She had her number called and she swung with confidence."

The Wolverines of Utah Valley made their home debut in the second match of the night, a 20-25, 19-25, 23-25 loss to No. 13 Kansas.

Lexi Thompson was the top contributor for Utah Valley, putting away 12 kills hitting .346, but Kansas All-American senior opposite Kelsie Payne set the tone of the match with 18 kills and only two errors, hitting .516.

"I would say half of [Kelsie's] kills were from the back row, which got us out of some binds," Kansas head coach Ray Bechard said. "She was hitting high off hands. It was a really good effort by her tonight."

With the victory, Kansas improves to 4-0 on the season.

The Wolverine Invitational resumes at 4 PM ET, with Kansas taking on Long Beach State. Utah Valley plays Montana at 6 PM ET, and you can watch all the action from Orem right here on FloVolleyball.