Yellowjackets Close the Season with a Bang

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BILLINGS, Mont. – The National Guard was at the game shooting T-shirts out of a cannon. That is how Saint Martin’s (4-20, 1-14 GNAC) must of felt as they fell 3-0 (25-14, 25-10, 25-20) to Montana State Billings (7-23, 4-12 GNAC), Thursday night. The Yellowjackets have concluded the 2008 season.

In the first two games, the Jackets swarmed all over the Saints. MSUB fired off 26 kills and hit at a .261 pace. Saint Martin’s had trouble penetrating the Yellowjackets defense. The Saints were held to 11 kills and hit negative .070.

In game three, SMU came a-marching out of the gates. The Saints drove out to an early 4-2 lead. MSUB came back on a 7-2 run to take a 9-6 lead.

Saint Martin’s was not ready to give up the fight. They got a kill and forced the Yellowjackets into three errors to go up 10-9. After a timeout, MSUB went up 20-17 and appeared to be on the verge of victory.

The Saints got a ball handling error from the Jackets and Andrea Tarbet dropped one in to make it 20-19. MSUB gritted their teeth and dug in. Melissa Porter just hammered one right down the heart of the net.

Devon Crotteau then had two aces and a kill to make it 24-19. Tarbet kept the Saints alive hitting the deep corner. On the next play, Porter just stuffed Kristin Anderson to end the match.

“We ended a long season on a good note,” said head coach Dana Cordova. “We lost focus for a bit in the last game. However, we turned it around when we needed to.”

For Montana State Billings, Crotteau recorded her sixth straight double-double with 13 kills and 12 digs while hitting .435%. Jennifer Boe had a solid night with 10 kills, three service aces and 11 digs. Jill Trabing was all over the place with 19 digs. Porter came away with six total blocks.

The match was the final performance for Jessica Lechner. She ended up playing in 417 games, third best in MSUB history. Lechner also finished ranked among the top 10 career in solo blocks, block assists and total blocks. In addition, Crotteau became just the second player in school history to have back-to-back 400+ kill’s seasons.