2005
Volleyball Wrap Up
BILLINGS, MT – For the Montana State-Billings
volleyball team, a small number equated to big success in 2005.
With just eight players on the roster—two subs on the bench—the
entire season, the Yellowjackets posted the best season in school
history and advanced to the Heartland Conference Championship Game
in their first year in the league.
The future, at least the 2006 season, looks
bright for head coach Pa’ulasi Matavao’s squad. The entire gang
of eight will return next year with five seniors and a wealth of
experience. All eight players saw action in at least 77 games in
2005, and six of the eight played in all 103 games. The most
experienced and talented team during Matavao’s tenure will also
have the luxury of hosting the Heartland Conference tournament in
2006 by virtue of the Jackets’ second place finish at the
conference tournament this year.
“As far as any team I’ve ever had, this team
was close as a team,” said Matavao. “Maybe it has something to do
with having a small roster, I don’t know. But I know the kids
coming back kept in contact with everybody over the summer, even
the new kids that were coming in. We had a really nice chemistry
through the whole year. That was the thing—they were always there
for each other. When somebody was struggling, somebody else would
pick it up.”
Even so, the team as a whole didn’t struggle
very often during their run to a 20-8 overall record and their
first-ever winning conference record (7-5). The Yellowjackets won
their first five games out of the gate, including a 4-0 record at
a tournament in Arkansas. MSU Billings won the tournament and
junior outside hitter Ali Watson (Calgary, Alberta) was named the
tournament’s MVP.
“We went to the first tournament trying to
find our identity,” said Matavao. “Preseason was hard having a
small roster. Alicia Cazemier didn’t show up until a week before
we went off to the first tournament. [Cazemier was playing for
Team Alberta all summer in Europe and Canada.] Ali stepped up in
that first tournament and started asserting herself. We saw
Alexis Sandru playing for the very first time as a full time
starter and trying to find her role. Jessica Bratton, who we
moved to the right side in the preseason, responded really well to
help us in that spot. Nicole Kruse, who was new, played really
well at that tournament. So we kind of knew then that if we stuck
to it and the kids kept playing well, we had a chance to be a
really nice team this year.”
The Jackets’ longest losing streak of the
season came the following week at a tournament in Denver, where
they went 2-2. They dropped their middle two matches of the
four-match tourney, including a loss to Mesa State, which
eventually went on to the NCAA Tournament.
MSU Billings responded with a six-match
winning streak, its longest of the season. The Yellowjackets
closed out the tournament in Colorado with a win and followed by
winning all four matches at a tournament hosted by
Montana-Western. The sixth victory in the streak came at home on
September 16 when the Jackets defeated St. Mary’s (TX) in their
first-ever Heartland Conference match.
“We had more kids that understood the system
and knew their roles better this year,” said Matavao of the fast
start. “We’ve had Jessica, Natalie, Alicia, and Alexis here.
Even though this was the first year Nicole played with us, she was
with us in the spring. I think it made it really easy for the
kids to play during the fall because they’ve had the experience of
the system. Plus, it helps when you have a kid like Ali who can
come in and play well right away.”
They Jackets ended up splitting the weekend
series with St. Mary’s. The following weekend they split a pair
of matches with eventual league champion Western New Mexico, which
went on to earn the No. 4 seed in the Southwest Region at the NCAA
Tournament. Even though the split with the Mustangs left the
Jackets at just 2-2 in the conference, it was a confidence boost
to play so well against the team that was unanimously picked to
win the conference.
“The kids were really excited about competing
for the conference,” Matavao said. “Once we got into conference
play and saw that we had a chance at it, that gave the kids
something to shoot for at the end of the season. I’ve never seen
a team get as excited about a season as these kids were this
year.”
That excitement generated another five-match
road winning streak following the loss to Western. The streak
started with a dominating win over cross-town rival Rocky Mountain
College. The Yellowjackets then flew south for four conference
matches at the start of October. They didn’t drop a game in
sweeping Dallas Baptist and Oklahoma Panhandle State twice each.
Two weeks later they split two conference matches at St. Edward’s
(TX) to clinch a spot in the conference tournament.
MSU Billings closed out the regular season
with three matches at home. They again breezed through Rocky
Mountain to close out the month of October. Their final two
matches of the season were important conference matches against
visiting Incarnate Word. The Cardinals surprised the
Yellowjackets, winning both nights at Alterowitz Gym to steal the
No. 2 seed at the following week’s conference tournament.
In an odd twist, the Yellowjackets earned the
No. 3 seed at the conference tourney, setting up a first round
rematch with Incarnate Word just six days after the Cardinals had
spoiled the Jackets’ home finale. MSU Billings responded with a
defensive wrinkle and new determination, sweeping the Cardinals
3-0 to advance to the conference title match against Western New
Mexico. The Mustangs prevailed 3-1, but the experience left the
Yellowjackets eager for their next chance.
“At the end of the season when we lost the
championship match to Western, we were sitting in the room and
nobody talked about what just happened,” said Matavao. “They
said, ‘We know now what it takes to get here.’ Everybody was
talking about next year. The kids were excited for the
opportunity to play for the championship. Everybody has that
taste now.”
Without a senior on the team in 2005, the
Yellowjackets will be expected to make a return trip to the
conference tournament in 2006. If that happens, volleyball fans
in Billings will get the taste of the postseason as well. With
Western New Mexico leaving the conference next year to join the
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the Heartland Conference
bylaws stipulate that MSU Billings, as the conference runner up,
will host the conference championship tournament.
“I gave the kids a couple weeks off after the
season before we had our individual meetings,” Matavao said.
“Everyone that came in here said they can’t wait to get started
again. I’ve never had that with a team before. They’ve already
started. They’re on their own lifting weights and running. Our
off season stuff has always been really hard on our team, and I
think it helps when it comes to the fall. This year they’re
really excited about coming back in the spring to get started.”
When the Yellowjackets do get back to
business in the spring, they should have plenty of talent to work
with. The 2005 Lady Jackets made 20 different entries into the
school’s individual single season record book and eight entries
into the single season team record book. Four Yellowjackets—half
the team—earned all conference honors, including three first-team
selections.
Cazemier, a 6-foot-0 middle blocker, was the
runner up in the league’s player of the year voting and was
selected to the all-conference first team. She was also named to
the Daktronics All-Southwest Region second team. Only a
sophomore, the Vauxhall, Alberta native has already planted her
name a number of times in the school record books. In 2005 she
posted all-time top 10 numbers in seven different categories, and
she is listed in the career record book’s top 15 in eight
different categories.
“We saw Alicia last year as a freshman and
people kind of got a taste (of what she can do),” Matavao said.
“She came into her own this year. I think we can build on the
kids we have. We’re trying to build around Alicia now. She’s
only coming into her junior year. In the past we kind of built
our team around Olivia Munro. Now that she’s moved on and our
other outsides are good enough, and we have a player like Alicia,
our recruiting has kind of gone around her.”
Cazemier had a monster year both offensively
and defensively. She became just the fourth player in
Yellowjacket history with over 400 kills in a season, and she did
it by hitting at a .358 clip, second best in school history.
Cazemier also put her name in the record books with 123 total
blocks (5th), 86 block assists (5th), 37
solo blocks (6th), 1.19 blocks per game (6th)
and 3.96 kills per game (6th).
Yellowjacket fans will watch Cazemier ascend
the school career record books rapidly over the next two seasons.
She already ranks first in school history for hitting percentage,
second for blocks per game, sixth for kills per game, sixth for
total blocks, sixth for solo blocks, sixth for block assists,
tenth for kills, and fourteenth for service aces. In addition to
getting the job done on the court, Cazemier has excelled in the
classroom. The chemistry major was named to the ESPN The Magazine
All-District VII third team.
When defenses teamed up on Cazemier in the
middle, the Yellowjackets had hitters on the outside that put up
big numbers. Watson was named to the Heartland Conference first
team and Bratton was named to the honorable mention team. The
pair combined for 733 kills.
Watson, in her first year as a Yellowjacket
after transferring from Sheridan College, had the third-best
season in school history for kills with 414. Her kills per game
average of 4.02 was second-best in the conference and sixth-best
in school history. Watson also played a huge part in the Jackets’
defense, leading the team in digs with 393. Her big numbers both
offensively and defensively earned Watson all-conference first
team honors.
Bratton, now a three-year veteran, had
another solid year and was named to the all-conference honorable
mention team. The Casper, Wyo., native moved to the right side at
the beginning of the season to fill a void Matavao desperately
needed filled. Despite a reduced number of opportunities, she
still posted 319 kills, good for fourteenth on the single season
list.
Bratton will enter her senior campaign within
reach of the school record for career kills. With 976 kills in
three seasons, she needs 312 kills in 2006 to catch Olivia Munro
atop the school record book. Bratton’s only collegiate season
with fewer than 300 kills was her freshmen year when she had 254.
As any volleyball fan knows, a team’s offense
is only as good as its setter. And the Yellowjackets had one of
the league’s best setters. Junior Natalie Bills (Provo, UT)
earned first team all-conference honors in 2005 after leading the
league in assists. She handed out 1,256 assists, the second-most
for a season in school history. Her 12.19 assists per game
average ranked 29th nationally in NCAA II. Bills now
holds two of the top three assists seasons in Yellowjacket
history. She also had 55 service aces, matching her sophomore
season total.
Bills will enter her senior season already in
the school career record book for three categories. She currently
holds the school record for assists per game at 11.98. Her 2,455
career assists are second all-time, and she is third all-time for
service aces (110).
“Natalie and Jessica were our team captains
this year, and they did a really good job of keeping the team
together,” Matavao said. “As far as playing as a team, this was
the best team I’ve ever had, and it’s probably going to help again
next year. Of course Jessica is always going to give us those
numbers that she’s given us in the past couple years.”
Sandru, a junior from Twin Bridges, Mont.,
had a career season in her first year as a full-time starter on
the outside. She averaged 2.00 kills and 3.38 digs per game.
With her 348 digs she quietly climbed to fifteenth all-time with
600 career digs.
With the limited roster, all eight players
had to contribute for the team to be successful. That included
four newcomers, two of which were freshmen. Along with Watson and
Kruse, Jessica Lechner and Taylor Faught were first time
Yellowjackets.
“The new kids that came in, personality-wise,
they were perfect for the team,” said Matavao. “In the past
couple years we’ve been doing more research on the kids coming in
as far as personality, trying to find the right piece to fit in.
Last year we did a lot of research on Taylor and Jessica before we
brought them in. Ali didn’t commit to us until really late, so we
had an opportunity to make some phone calls to find out what kind
of kid we were getting.”
Kruse and Lechner, former Huntley Project
High School standouts, each played in over 100 games. Kruse, a
sophomore libero, was second on the team with 354 digs and set a
new school record with 62 service aces. Lechner, a freshman
outside hitter, was fifth on the team with 144 kills. Faught, a
freshman out of Billings West High School, had 39 aces in 77
games.
“With this group, the thing that stands out
the most is the camaraderie and the girls’ being a tight group,”
Matavao concluded. “This year they formed a tight bond where they
were not only friends off the court, but on the floor they were
really tough to break down. These kids went through last year and
saw they could win. That kind of carried on this year and the
feeling of having a winning season builds. They’re expecting more
out of themselves now. When they lose a game, they can’t wait to
get back to practice and get to the next game where they can
redeem themselves.
“With the group we had this year, they know
what it takes now to get there, and they’re hungry for that
opportunity next year. I think we have enough talent on the team
that we can get to the conference tournament. By adding a good
middle and maybe a defensive player, I think that might be good
enough to get us out of the conference and to the regional.”
Single Season Records set in 2005
Natalie Bills – 2nd for assists (1256)
Natalie Bills – 2nd for assists per game (12.19)
Natalie Bills – 3rd for service aces (55)
Jessica Bratton – 11th for kills per game (3.10)
Jessica Bratton – 14th for kills (319)
Alicia Cazemier – 2nd for hitting percentage (.358)
Alicia Cazemier – 4th for kills (408)
Alicia Cazemier – 5th for total blocks (123)
Alicia Cazemier – 5th for block assists (86)
Alicia Cazemier – 6th for solo blocks (37)
Alicia Cazemier – 6th for blocks per game (1.19)
Alicia Cazemier – 7th for kills per game (3.96)
Taylor Faught – 16th for service aces (39)
Nicole Kruse – 1st for service aces (62)
Nicole Kruse – 15th for digs (354)
Nicole Kruse – 17th for digs per game (3.44)
Ali Watson – 3rd for kills (414)
Ali Watson – 6th for kills per game (4.02)
Ali Watson – 8th for digs per game (3.82)
Ali Watson – 10th for digs (393)
Career Records of 2005 Yellowjackets
Natalie Bills – 1st for assists per game (11.98)
Natalie Bills – 2nd for assists (2455)
Natalie Bills – 3rd for service aces (110)
Natalie Bills – 21st for games played (205)
Jessica Bratton – 3rd for kills (976)
Jessica Bratton – 5th for kills per game (3.44)
Jessica Bratton – 9th for games played (284)
Jessica Bratton – 11th for hitting percentage (.183)
Jessica Bratton – 14th for block assists (101)
Jessica Bratton – 17th for total blocks (121)
Alicia Cazemier – 1st for hitting percentage (.312)
Alicia Cazemier – 2nd for blocks per game (1.23)
Alicia Cazemier – 6th for kills per game (3.17)
Alicia Cazemier – 6th for total blocks (239)
Alicia Cazemier – 6th for solo blocks (76)
Alicia Cazemier – 6th for block assists (163)
Alicia Cazemier – 10th for kills (615)
Alicia Cazemier – 14th for service aces (56)
Nicole Kruse – 7th for digs per game (3.44)
Nicole Kruse – 10th for service aces (62)
Alexis Sandru – 13th for games played (239)
Alexis Sandru – 15th for digs (600)
Ali Watson – 1st for kills per game (4.02)
Ali Watson – 3rd for digs per game (3.82)
Ali Watson – 14th for hitting percentage (.175) |
