The Montana volleyball program has added a pair of middle blockers through the transfer portal with Olivia LaBeau and Carley Spachman signing scholarship contracts for the Grizzlies.
LaBeau joins Montana from Montana Tech, where the Billings native was an NAIA All-American for the Orediggers. Spachman comes to Montana from East Texas A&M. The duo will both be in contention for plenty of playing time in 2025 as head coach Allison Lawrence reloads at the middle blocker position.
There was a level of familiarity with LaBeau. The Grizzly coaching staff had seen her play in person several times at Tech in spring scrimmages, and followed her Oredigger career. Montana Tech has been very successful under head coach Brian Solomon, winning at least 20 matches every year that LaBeau spent with the team.
“I feel like we have a really cool connection with Olivia because we’ve sort of seen her develop at Montana Tech for the last four years and just admired her play as someone in the state that was pretty outstanding and developing well under Brian (Solomon),” Lawrence said.
The team had success, and so did LaBeau. The 6-1 middle blocker had 387 kills and 124 blocks last season, both of which ranked fourth in the Frontier Conference. She was efficient offensively, hitting .342 on the season to rank second in her conference.
“I think you watch her and the first thing that stands out, which matches with a lot of our team right now, is that she has a heavy arm,” Lawrence said. “She’s laterally fast, she jumps well, she does all the middle things and has the quickness and smarts to be an effective middle, but she also just hits hard.”
The Grizzlies were a perfect fit for Labeau. After graduating from Montana Tech, she was looking at graduate schools and found what she needed at the University of Montana. She will continue her athletic and academic career in Missoula.
The opportunity to jump up to the D-I level from her NAIA days is an exciting one for LaBeau. She admits there may be a learning curve, but the veteran has proven herself as a two-time All-Conference player at Tech and is looking forward to this next challenge.
“I think it will be a learning curve at first,” LaBeau said. “I think it will be a lot faster from a defensive standpoint, faster blocking and eye movement, but I think it will be a nice opportunity to see what I can do at that level.”
Coach Lawrence said that LaBeau has a heavy arm. The offensive numbers that she put up at Tech agree with that statement. LaBeau hit over .300 in all three seasons where she played a major role with the Orediggers.
She’s looking to bring that heavy arm, and a veteran presence, to Montana.
“My coach at Tech and I had a funny saying he would just say, ‘Get out there and hit ball hard.’ I would just say OK, that’s what I will do coach,” LaBeau said. “I think I can really help the team offensively and hopefully also with my block moves and stuff being an experienced senior.”
LaBeau will have one final season to play at Montana.
“I’m so excited. I never thought that I would get an opportunity like this to continue playing in my fifth year,” LaBeau said. “It’s just awesome, I love the sport so much and having an opportunity to play with UM, I’m just so excited. I’m excited to hopefully add to the team and culture that they’ve created.”
Carley Spachman will also be concluding her volleyball career with one final year at Montana. The 6-2 middle blocker, originally from Leawood, Kansas, spent the previous three years at East Texas A&M. She started her collegiate career at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas.
Spachman had the best season of her career in 2024, recording 147 total kills on .276 hitting. Spachman also had 94.0 total blocks, averaging 0.87 per set.
After entering the portal, Spachman received an email from the Grizzly coaching staff. She had never been to the state of Montana. It didn’t take long on her visit to get the feeling that she belonged in Missoula.
“I’m so excited. Ever since I have been in the transfer process and they emailed me, I was just super excited to go on a visit because I had never been to Montana,” Spachman said. “The minute I got to campus and met the girls and the coaches, I felt like it was just a great fit and a blessing.”
The fit was mutually beneficial as Montana had a need for a middle blocker with match experience. Spachman certainly fit the bill for Coach Lawrence as she looked to the portal to shore up the front line.
Lawrence said that she wanted to add a veteran presence with composure and great volleyball IQ to the program, and found that in Spachman.
“I think from the first interaction it was very clear that Carley wants to be at a place where she can contribute and give our program all of the experiences that led and built her into the player that she is now,” Lawrence said. “She’s also hungry to learn from the culture that she’s stepping in to as well.”
It was the culture at Montana that Lawrence and her staff have built over the previous eight seasons that attracted Spachman to the program. She came prepared on her visit, going the extra mile to ask specific questions to her future teammates and the staff.
The answers that they gave showed a program that is much closer to a family than a volleyball team.
“The culture within the girls and the coaches stood out. I had multiple questions for all of them about that because it is something I was looking for in my next school,” Spachman said. “The girls talked so highly of the coaches and their teammates and how connected they are and how they support each other.”
Spachman started all 29 matches last season for the Lions, and was fifth on the team with 1.36 kills per set. She had the second-best hitting percentage on the team at .276 and also anchored their defense, leading the team with 94 blocks, 36 more than any other Lion.
When Lawrence watched her film, she saw a player that reflected the stats, but there was also a lot that didn’t appear in any box scores.
“She is fast laterally, she has a fast arm, and you watch her in any game in any of her seasons and she’s working so hard off the ball,” Lawrence said. “I think she has all of the attributes that you look for in an experienced middle but also a middle that is really pushing to get better.”
Spachman said that she is excited to get to Missoula to start building a connection with the other student-athletes and the coaching staff.
“I’m super excited to bring the aspect of leadership just by coming in as a fifth-year and already playing four years of collegiate volleyball,” Spachman said. “I’m also just a very consistent player. I’m very calm, but also very passionate about the game and I just love playing volleyball.”
COACH LAWRENCE ON OLIVIA LABEAU
“She has a really mature presence about her. You talk to her and she’s calm and thoughtful, and she just has a presence that, to me, lets you know that she is a leader on the court and in her life. I think our team has experienced that in how they gravitated towards her on her visit and things like that. She just made relationships with the group quickly and I think built trust in the way that she does very quickly. It feels like an easy, natural fit.”
COACH LAWRENCE ON CARLEY SPACHMAN
“She brings the right combination of leadership, humility, curiosity, and a desire to grow. I think that made us feel really comfortable with her right away in knowing that the transfer was going to be a healthy thing both for her and for our program.”
| First Take
