Yellowjackets Outlast Vulcans in Five Games (Nov. 3,
2003)
Box Score
BILLINGS, MT – The MSU Billings volleyball team held
on to win its second PacWest Conference match in a row Monday, 3-2 over
Hawaii-Hilo (30-19, 27-30, 30-28, 26-30, 16-14). In a match-up between
two teams that have been evenly matched over the past few years, Olivia Munro’s
23 kills paced the Yellowjackets, who improved to 6-17 overall and 2-7 in
the PacWest. The Vulcans dropped their fifth-straight match since
knocking of 17th-ranked Hawaii Pacific a week ago, falling to
6-15, 3-6.
“Tonight they were on defensively and we were on
defensively,” said Yellowjacket head coach Pa’ulasi
Matavao, who became the program’s winningest coach with the victory.
“That really kept us both in the games. Both teams were picking up a lot
of balls.”
The match was the third in the last five between
MSU Billings and UH-Hilo to go five games, with Yellowjackets and Vulcans
each winning in five on the other team’s court last season. MSUB
continued to ride the play of Munro (Jr., Toronto, Ontario), who had over
70 attempts for the fourth-straight match Monday. While Munro had another
strong match, adding 17 digs to her 23 kills, the difference in the match
was the production from the Jackets’ other hitters.
Cortney Metzler (Jr., Roundup, MT) finished with 13 kills and just one error on 32
attempts (.375 hitting percentage). She also had 11 digs and five block
assists. Jessica Bratton (Fr., Casper, WY) added 17 kills with a .227 hitting
percentage.
“We found a little extra offense tonight,” said
Matavao. “Cortney gave us 13 kills and we need the right side to give us
something to balance our offense. Jessica came out firing, and it was big
for us to have those two extra hitters playing well tonight. Hilo is a
good defensive team, probably one of the best defensive teams in the
conference.”
The Vulcans took an early 4-2 lead in the fifth and
deciding game, but the Yellowjackets tied the game at 4-4 on a Sandy Beal (Sr.,
Troy, MT) kill and a Vulcan error. The game was tied once more at 5-5
before the Jackets opened an 8-5 lead at the midway point. UHH was able
to rebound to tie the game at 10-10, followed by ties at 11, 12, 13, and
14. A Tiffanie Ollison attack error for the Vulcans and a Bratton kill
for the Yellowjackets closed the game and the match.
“That match could have gone either way,” said
Matavao. “It came down to who was going to make the last two or three
plays of the night and it just happened to be us. Looking at the stats
with them having five kids in double digits for kills, it’s a good thing
we were picking up a lot of digs and blocking well to make up for that.”
MSU Billings out-blocked the Vulcans 16-10 in the
match. Katrina Dahlgren (Sr., Missoula, MT) had five solo blocks and five
block assists to go with six kills. Kari Jones handed out 56 assists and
picked up 16 digs. Alberta Letoa recorded a match-high 25 digs.
The Vulcans were led by Ollison’s 19 kills. Sara
Pilgreen and Emily Hutchinson finished with 16 kills apiece. The same
teams meet again Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in a non-conference match.
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view photos of Lady Yellowjackets vs. University of Hawaii-Hilo |
