Yellowjackets March on, Sweep Saints 3-0

Box Score

LACEY, Wash. – Montana State Billings was able to hold Saint Martin’s to just a .008 hitting percentage and had 14 blocks as the defense anchored a 3-0 sweep (25-18, 25-16, 25-22) against the Saints Thursday evening at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, WA. The win moves MSUB to 12-10 on the season and 5-5 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and dropped the Saints to 2-16 overall and 0-10 in the conference.

“This was a great win for us tonight,” said Yellowjackets head coach Steve Smith. “The big difference tonight was our defense, 14 blocks is extremely good in a three set match. We were able to get to every junk ball and dig quite a few of their shots, unlike our game against Western Washington. We were also getting some pretty good swings on the ball tonight to score a lot of our points.”

Devon Crotteau had a double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs to lead the Yellowjackets in the victory, while Jill Trabing came away with a match-high 26 digs. Jen Boe nearly missed the double feature with nine kills and 12 digs as Melissa Porter had a team-high seven blocks.

The Yellowjackets set the tone early by jumping out to an early lead at 10-5. Later in the set the Saints closed the margin to three at 19-17 on an MSUB attacking error. The ‘Jackets closed out the set on a 6-1 run with kills from Porter and Hillary Morrison coupled with attacking errors by the Saints. MSUB hit .257 in the set and managed to hold SMU to .024 hitting in the first.

MSUB dominated the second set in much of the same fashion as the first. Building a 13-3 lead early, the Yellowjackets hit just .150 in the set, but managed to hold the Saints to a negative hitting number (-.024) and pulled out to a 2-0 lead in the match.

The third set proved to be the most exciting of the match. The Yellowjackets held a seven point lead late in the set, 22-15, but SMU rallied behind a kill and three mistakes from MSUB to close the gap to three. Crotteau came up with a timely spike but again, the Saints held off match-point three times to get back to within two. The Yellowjackets closed out the match with a kill from Boe and an assist by Morrison.

The Saints were led by Teilissa Tua with eight kills and five blocks and Brianna Bautista’s 12 digs. The Saints hit just .008 for the match with 49 digs and seven blocks as a team.

MSUB hit .168 for the match with 39 kills, 71 digs and the 14 blocks. The ‘Jackets will continue play on the road this Saturday, Oct. 24, in Monmouth, OR against Western Oregon University at 7 p.m.