Yellowjackets Set For Home Opener This Weekend

Click Here for PDF

HOME SWEET HOME
This weekend’s 2009 MSU Billings Tournament will serve as the home and conference opener for the 2009 season. Coming into the tournament the Yellowjackets are 4-3 on the year and will start off tournament play with GNAC foe Northwest Nazarene Friday, at 1 p.m. This year’s tournament features the Crusaders, along with Northern State, University of Mary and Dickinson State. 

A LOOK BACK
Last weekend the Yellowjackets went on the road to Bismarck, N.D., for the second tournament competition of the season in the Expressway Inn Invitational, hosted by the University of Mary. MSUB finished the weekend going 2-1.

After going 2-2 in Hawaii, MSUB looked to carry in momentum from the final match with Chaminade. Facing intra-state foe, Montana State Northern, the Yellowjackets got off to a slow start offensively, falling behind 2-1. In the fourth game MSUB took control with slim 25-23 win and took all of the momentum into the fifth game, dominating 15-7.

The second day of the tournament picked up where the first day had finished. MSUB came out in the first match of the day, sweeping Minot State 3-0, 25-21, 25-16, 25-14. The Yellowjackets out hit Minot State .438 to .128 during the match.

The final match of the day proved to be the most exciting and bitter of the tournament for MSUB. At 2-0 the Yellowjackets jumped on tournament host Mary, with two convincing wins, 25-17 and 25-18, but as MSUB had done to its opponents three times before, Mary bounced back to take the final three games, 25-23,25-19 and 15-10. 

A GRAND MILESTONE
Four Players in MSUB volleyball history have eclipsed 1,000 kills in their career. Last weekend, Devon Crotteau made it five. Crotteau entered the 2009 season just 127 kills shy of the mark. With 19 kills in the final match against the University of Mary last weekend, Crotteau comes into the tournament with exactly 1,000 kills.

She is now fifth on the all-time kills list at MSUB, trailing fourth place, Brandee Sayles (1994-97), by 43 kills. Crotteau also became the 22nd player in GNAC history to record 1,000 career kills.   
The Montana State Billings volleyball squad just completed their first road trip of the year in Hawaii. Competing at the AQUA Hotels Invitational, MSUB went 2-2 to open its season and the new era of head coach Steve Smith.

ABOUT NORTHWEST NAZARENE
The Crusaders enter the weekend with a 4-4 record overall on the season. Last weekend Northwest Nazarene traveled to Denver, Colo. for the 2009 Premier Challenge Tournament, hosted by Regis University. After opening the season 3-1, the Crusaders went 1-3 at Regis, falling to three of this week’s top 25 teams, Tampa (5), 3-0, Metro State (14), 3-0 and Southwest Minnesota State (12), 3-1. Head coach, Jared Sliger, welcomes back five seniors, three juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen. Northwest Nazarene was picked to finish third in the GNAC after finishing last season 16-9, 10-6 in the conference.   

INSIDE THE SERIES...
This will be the tenth time that these two schools have met on the court. As it stands, the Crusaders hold a 6-3 advantage over the Yellowjackets, including taking the last four in the past two seasons. The Yellowjackets are 1-2 at home, 0-3 at home and 2-1 on nuetral courts. 

ABOUT NORTHERN STATE
The Wolves enter this weekend’s tournament with a 2-2 record on the year after competing at the Augustana Tournament Aug. 28 and 29. NSU dropped its first match of the tournament against Regis, 3-2, before rebounding with wins over Augustana (3-2) and Chadron State (3-1). They closed out the tournament with a loss to Southwest Minnesota State, 3-0. Three players were named to the all-tournament team, Jordan Schaffer, Whitney Morsching and Megan Gilbraith. Head coach Lisa Schriver returns one senior, six juniors, three sophomores and welcomes six freshmen to this seasons squad.

INSIDE THE SERIES...
This will be the fourth meeting between the two schools, with the Wolves leading the series 3-0. The Yellowjackets are 0-2 on a neutral court and 0-1 at home. The last meeting took place last season, Sept. 13, a 3-1 victory for Northern State in Billings

ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF MARY
In the third match of the weekend, MSUB will square off with a familiar foe, University of Mary. The Marauders, after sweeping the Expressway Inn Invitational, are 5-2 coming into the weekend. Last weekend Mary knocked off the Yellowjackets in a five game marathon (3-2) after sweeping Minot State (3-0) and dumping Montana Northern in a five game match (3-2). This will be the second of three meetings with Northern State on the season. Mary returns three seniors, eight juniors, three sophomores and welcome a quartet of freshmen to the team.

INSIDE THE SERIES...
This will be the fifth meeting all-time between the Marauders and Yellowjackets. With last weekend’s win for the Maruaders the series is now tied at two games apiece. The Yellowjackets are 0-1 at home and away but are 2-0 on neutral site courts. Before last weekend, the last meeting between the two schools was Sept. 12, 2008 in Billings, a 3-2 loss for the Yellowjackets.

ABOUT DICKINSON STATE
The Blue Hawks got off to a slow start under first year head coach Ryan Platt as the team went 0-4 in its first tournament of the year. The second week yielded different results as Dickinson State rolled to a 3-1 record at the Dakota Wesleyan/Mt. Marty Tournament in Mitchell and Yankton, S.D. Getting wins over the University of Montana-Western, Dakota Wesleyan and Briar Cliff help the Blue Hawks come into this weekend’s tournament with a 3-5 record overall. This is also the second trip of the year to Billings for the Blue Hawks as they traveled to Rocky Mountain College two weeks ago for the DAC/Frontier Crossover Tournament. The Blue Hawks have three seniors, three juniors and seven sophomores returning while adding four freshmen to this year’s squad.

INSIDE THE SERIES...
This will be the seventh meeting between the two schools. The Yellowjackets are 1-5 all-time against the Blue Hawks. The lone win came back on Oct. 9, 1987 with a 3-0 sweep at home. MSUB is 1-4 at home and 0-1 at neutral sites when facing the Blue Hawks. This will be the first meeting between the two schools since Sept. 20, 1997, a 3-1 loss at home for the Yellowjackets.

LOOKING AHEAD
After the Yellowjackets volleyball squad finishes play this weekend it will turn its attention to conference play in its third year of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

The conference season will get back underway (NNU starts the conference season for MSUB this weekend) with a road trip to Alaska Sept. 17 and 19. The Yellowjackets will play Alaska Fairbanks first and then go up against Alaska Anchorage before returning to Billings to play Rocky Mountain College Sept. 22.

The month of September will be wrapped up with a pair of home games on the 26 and 28 against Saint Martin’s University and the return trip of Alaska Anchorage.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2009
Former Fort Hays State coach Steve Smith (44-82, 4 years) takes over at Montana State Billings and has six letter winners available off last year’s team, which looks to improve on last season and build a new winning tradition.

Among the six is outside hitter Devon Crotteau (6-0, Sr., Casper, WY – Northern Colorado), who was one of the top kill producers in the GNAC, averaging 3.89 to rank second in the conference.

Crotteau also ranked 10th in kill percentage (.246), netted 3.19 digs per contest and contributed 29 aces and 36 blocks.

Also back are outside hitter Jennifer Boe (5-8, Jr., Casper, WY – Kelly Walsh), setter Hillary Morrison (5-10, Sr., Casper, WY – Chadron State) and libero Jill Trabing (5-8, Sr., Buffalo, WY).

Boe averaged 2.51 kills and 2.75 digs. Morrison was credited with 7.36 assists and Trabing had 3.52 digs.

Smith’s first MSUB team will include only two other letter winners – middle blocker Melissa Porter (6-3, So., Redmond, UT – North Sevier) and defensive specialist Whitney Mickelsen (5-4, So., Aurora, UT – North Sevier) – along with five freshmen.

YELLOWJACKETS TABBED EIGHTH
The Montana State Billings volleyball team was selected eighth in the annual Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason poll. The Yellowjackets received 15 points behind conference favorite Western Washington with 60 points.
Returning for MSUB is one of the league’s top kill producers in Devon Crotteau. Last season she ranked second in kills per game, averaging 3.89. Joining Crotteau as returning letter winners will be Jennifer Boe, Hillary Morrison, Jill Trabing, Melissa Porter, and Whitney Mickelson.

Yellowjackets Ink Two-Sport Product
Kayla Neumiller signed with the Yellowjackets for the 2009-2010 season.  Neumiller plans on competing in both volleyball and track & field. Neumiller lettered all four years in high school in volleyball and was an all-state selection as a junior and senior.  She was a first team all-conference selection for three years and earned state all-tournament honors as a senior. Neumiller recorded 330 kills, 48 blocks, 83 aces and 406 digs during her senior year and amassed over 1,000 kills (1,026), 211 aces and 161 blocks in her high school career.