Lady Jacket VB Splits on Opening Day (8/25/06)
Match 1 Box Score
Match 2 Box Score

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – The Montana State-Billings volleyball team won its opening match of the season Friday morning, sweeping Quincy University 3-0 at the Mountain Lion Invitational.  The Yellowjackets closed out the first day of the 2006 season with a 3-1 loss to Fort Lewis College. 

After a shaky start in the first game of the day, the Yellowjackets cruised to a 31-29, 30-16, 30-25 sweep of Quincy University.  The Jackets trailed at game point in the first game, 29-27.  They rallied to win four straight points, taking the game on a Natalie Bills kill.  After hitting just .085 as a team in the first game, the MSUB offense found its stride and trailed at only three points the rest of the match.  The Jackets hit .265 in game two and .297 in the final game for a match attack percentage of .203.  Quincy, meanwhile, hit just .025 as a team.

Bills (Provo, UT) handed out a match-high 37 assists to go with three kills and five digs.  Ali Watson (Calgary, AB) and Alicia Cazemier (Vauxhall, AB) each knocked down 13 kills to lead all players.  Watson also had 10 digs and all three of the team’s service aces.  Cazemier was in on three blocks.  Jessica Bratton (Casper, WY) added eight kills, and Jessica Lechner (Pompeys Pillar, MT) chipped in with five.  Nicole Kruse (Huntley, MT) led all players with 19 digs, while Taylor Faught (Billings, MT) added a dozen.

The Hawks (1-1) didn’t have a player reach double digit kills in the match.  Sara Harman knocked down eight kills to go with a team-high 11 digs.  Katie Ebbing had seven kills.

In the nightcap the Yellowjacket offense suffered its own consistency problems.  After a tough game-one loss, 31-29, MSUB had more attack errors than kills in the second game to fall behind 2-0.  The Jackets bounced back for a hard-fought 30-28 win in the third game before succumbing 30-23 in the fourth game to drop the match.  For the match the Yellowjackets hit just .141 as a team.

The Jackets were paced by Watson’s 21 kills and 22 digs.  Bratton added 19 kills on a team-high .250 hitting percentage.  With her 27 kills on the day, Bratton became the third player in Yellowjacket history to eclipse 1,000 career kills with 1,003.  She is now 40 kills behind Brandee Sayles for second all-time in school history.

Cazemier finished with 11 kills and four blocks, while Bills handed out 51 assists to go with 14 digs.  Kruse picked up 21 digs, while Alexis Sandru (Twin Bridges, MT) added 19 digs.

The Skyhawks’ Nicole Schwab and Leeane Greenwade led an efficient attack with 23 and 20 kills respectively.  Schwab hit a blistering .413 for the match to anchor the Skyhawks’ team .240 attack percentage.  Sara Feehan matched Watson’s 22 digs for match-high honors. Fort Lewis (3-0) out-blocked the Yellowjackets 14-7, led by Cora Vorwald’s eight blocks.

The Yellowjackets conclude play at the Mountain Lion Invitational with two matches on Saturday, beginning with a 10:45 a.m. match against Armstrong Atlantic.  The Pirates are the defending champions and preseason favorite in the Peach Belt Conference.  The Jackets wrap up the tournament against tourney host UC-Colorado Springs at 3:15 p.m.