Yellowjackets Volleyball Earns Split on Final Day in Hawaii

Box Score

OAHU, Hawaii – The Montana State Billings volleyball team earned a split on its final day at the AQUA Hotels Invitational after dropping the first match 3-0 to PacWest power, Hawaii Hilo, then coming from two games down to defeat Chaminade in a five game thriller, 17-25, 12-25, 25-20, 25-18, 15-10.

“We started out poorly tonight, but what a great turnaround for the girls in the last three games,” said head coach Steve Smith. “After the first two games it was great to see the team impose their will and decide enough was enough and dig down deep to come back and win. Chaminade has a very good team but Whitney (Mickelsen) and Morgan (Moss) were really big on defense for us tonight. Overall, I’m very pleased with our performance this weekend, but we still have a lot of things to work on. The main thing I was impressed with was the building of the teams’ character throughout the tournament. They never gave up and really grew as a team.”

Led again by Devon Crotteau and Jen Boe offensively, MSUB was able to down the Silverswords despite being out hit .203 to .154 as a team. Crotteau and Boe accounted for 32 of the teams’ 54 kills in the match, as Crotteau had 18 kills in 52 attempts for a .192 hitting avg. and added 11 digs and two service aces, while Boe had 14 kills and 11 digs. Hannah Johnson also contributed 10 kills, four digs, and three blocks.  

The first two games were all Chaminade as the Yellowjackets struggled offensively to get anything going. The Silverswords outscored MSUB by a combined 21 points in those two games. Chaminade used a number of large runs to pull away early and build the 2-0 lead in the match.

After the break, MSUB came out looking like a completely different team. The third game was a consistent battle back and forth as the Yellowjackets out hit Chaminade in the third .393 to .152. With the match at 18-18, Crotteau came up with a kill that sparked MSUB and went on to take the third game closing out with a 7-2 run.

The fourth game saw much of the same back and forth action as the third, but MSUB pulled away mid-way through committing only four hitting errors in the game. They used great defense to keep the Silverswords at bay and forced the deciding fifth game.

Carrying the momentum into the final game, MSUB looked pull out the win with an early start. They jumped out to a 7-1 lead with a pair of kills from Johnson and service ace from Crotteau. Chaminade tried to chip away at the lead, but could only get as close as three as the Yellowjackets put the game away with a kill from Crotteau.

Chaminade (1-2) was led by Courtney Lorusso and Kylee Pedro who had 13 and 12 kills respectively. Pedro and Whitney Vivieros tied for a team-high 10 digs each, while Malilimago Toailoa led the team in blocks with six. As a team they hit .203 for the match with 52 kills and 22 errors on 148 attempts

With the split today, Montana State Billings (2-2) also earned a split on their opening weekend trip to the island. They return to action next weekend when they travel to Bismarck, N.D. to compete in the University of Mary Tournament. MSUB will first play Montana State Northern on Friday, Sept. 4, at 5 p.m. then on Saturday, will square off against Minot State at 9 a.m. and University of Mary at 5 p.m.