Wildcats Down Yellowjackets in Four, 3-1

Box Score
Photo Gallery

BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana State Billings started the evening strong, but an offensive surge pushed the Central Washington Wildcats past the Yellowjackets in four sets (19-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-19) Thursday evening at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

“We started out the way we wanted to with a strong attack,” Yellowjacket head coach Steve Smith said. “But we just didn’t play as intelligent in the final three matches, and were unable to defend Central’s attack as the match went on.”

Jen Boe and Devon Crotteau led the Yellowjacket spikers with 13 kills apiece as Jody Lutz had one of her best matches with 11 kills and seven digs. Jill Trabing led the team with 23 digs, while Kayla Neumiller played for an injured Hannah Johnson, recording four kills and three blocks.

The first set was all MSUB, jumping out to an early lead and then capitalizing on hitting errors by the Wildcats to extend an 17-9 lead. The Wildcats made a furious attempt at a comeback, but the Yellowjackets put the clamps down and closed out the set with a kill from Melissa Porter. MSUB outhit the Wildcats in the set .440 to .179.

Central was able to build a small lead in the second set and continued to hold the lead through most of the set. MSUB was able to pull even at 20-20 with a big kill from Neumiller, but an attacking error from Boe gave the Wildcats the lead at 23-22. The set was closed out with a ball handling error and attacking error against MSUB.

The Wildcats controlled the last two sets from start to finish, holding MSUB to .000 hitting in the third and .116 in the fourth. In those two sets, Central hit .345 and .205 respectively.

Central (11-8, 3-5) was led by Kady Try and her 15 kills and eight digs, while Brandie Vea led the team in digs with 25 as Carlee Marble added 40 assists. As a team, the Wildcats hit .182 for the match and out blocked the Yellowjackets 16-8. They collected 64 digs and had five aces for the match.

The loss drops MSUB to 11-9 on the season and 4-4 in the conference. The loss snaps a five match winning streak at home and a two game streak overall. As of right now, MSUB sits in the middle of the conference standings with today’s loss.

MSUB returns to Alterowitz on Saturday, Oct. 17, against conference favorite, Western Washington, starting at 7 p.m. The matchup is pivotal in the overall look of the conference. A win could put MSUB right back in the thick of the conference battle.