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THIS WEEK: Montana State Billings has a pair of GNAC matches at home this week. The Yellowjackets will take on Western Washington, Thursday, Oct. 23 and Central Washington on Saturday, Oct. 25. Both matches are scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.

CENTRAL WASHINGTON: The Wildcats (13-8, 5-4 GNAC) are led by Rachael Schurman who is averaging 2.94 kills per game with 81 total blocks while hitting .294. Brandi Vea is averaging 6.33 digs per game, which currently leads NCAA Division II. CSU leads the series 4-1.

NO. 12 WESTERN WASHINGTON: The Vikings (14-2, 6-2 GNAC) knocked off Saint Martin’s on Oct. 18 to snap a two match losing streak. Megan Amundson is pounding out 3.70 kills per game with three digs per game. Angie Alvord is sizzling the nets with a .337 hitting percentage. WWU leads the series 6-0.

LAST MATCH: Despite setting two school records, Montana State Billings watched as Rocky Mountain College rallied for a 3-2 (25-27, 20-25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-13) win on Oct. 14. Individual match records were set by Devon Crotteau (kills) and Hillary Morrison (assists).

Each game was back-and-forth action all the way. In Game 1, Rocky Mountain had the lead at 25-24. Jessica Lechner powered home the ball to tie the match. Crotteau then got back-to-back kills to finish off the Battlin’ Bears. In Game 2, the key moment came when at 20-19, the Jackets got three kills and a service ace to go up 24-19. That effectively ended the game.

In Game 3, RMC came back from a 21-18 deficit to take the game 25-22. The two teams then slugged it out in each of the last two games. The Battlin’ Bears used the momentum to take the fourth game. In Game 5, Crotteau smashed the ball off a RMC player to make it 14-13, Rocky. Kath Hinrichsen then sent the ball down the line to win the match for Rocky Mountain.

For Montana State Billings (5-18), Crotteau had a monster night with 34 kills, 21 digs and hit .444. It was her fourth straight double-double and her 34 kills broke the mark of 33 set by Oliva Munro against Western New Mexico (Nov. 14, 2003). She also tied the GNAC mark set by Mandy Veley (Western Oregon) in 2004. Morrison had a strong performance as well with 73 assists. That broke the mark of 66 set by Natalie Bills against St. Mary’s (Texas) (Sept. 17, 2005). Jennifer Boe had 15 kills and 14 digs, Lechner had 13 kills and five total blocks while Ashley Welborn had 10 kills, 11 digs and hit .333. Jill Trabing collected 17 digs while Melissa Porter had five block assists.