October 13, 2007

Saints Upset Lady Jackets, 3-1
Box Score
MSUB Season Stats

LACEY, Wash. – Last place Saint Martin’s capitalized on numerous Montana State Billings mistakes Saturday night to defeat the Yellowjackets 30-16, 21-30, 30-18, 30-28. 

The Saints entered the night with just one win on the season while MSU Billings was still fighting for an NCAA Tournament berth.  Saint Martin’s put a serious damper on the Jackets’ regional ranking hopes and improved to 2-19 overall and 2-9 in the conference.  MSUB, ranked ninth in the latest NCAA Pacific Region poll, dropped to 13-7 overall, 6-5 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

“Saint Martin’s did a good job of playing solid, but I felt like we really hurt ourselves,” said MSUB head coach Sara Schaub.  “I didn’t feel like Saint Martin’s did anything extraordinary to beat us.  We were just a step behind each play.”

For the second-straight match, the Yellowjackets lost despite having more kills than their opponent (56-54).  Saint Martin’s out-blocked MSU Billings 12-6, and took advantage of a 12-point swing on called ball handling errors.  MSU Billings was whistled for an amazing 17 ball handling errors in the match.

Alicia Cazemier (Vauxhall, Alberta) and Devon Crotteau (Casper, Wyo.) had their usual nights for MSU Billings, posting 19 and 16 kills respectively.  Cazemier hit .368 and Crotteau hit .217.  Jessica Lechner (Pompeys Pillar) had nine kills on a .214 hitting percentage. 

Crotteau and Katrina Solomon (Billings) each had 14 digs.  Nicole Kruse (Huntley) added 13 digs.  Jennifer Boe (Casper, Wyo.) added nine kills and 10 digs.  Hillary Morrison (Evansville, Wyo.) handed out a career-high 14 assists while backing up starting setter Stefania Aladjova (Sofia, Bulgaria).  Aladjova had 36 assists, but was called for 10 handling errors.

The Saints were paced by 14 kills from Shealun Campisi and 11 kills from Andrea Tarbet.  Tarbet was also in on a match-high eight blocks.  The Saints hit .214 as a team.  Kanoe Kalalau handed out 43 assists and dropped in four service aces. 

The Yellowjackets, losers of three straight and four of their last six, will try to rebound with two home matches next week.  They host Alaska Anchorage on Thursday and Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday.  Both matches start at 7 p.m. at Alterowitz Gym and will be streamed live on the web at www.pennatlantic.com.