2007 Volleyball Weekly Release #11 (October 31)

Sat., Nov. 3 - vs. Seattle University, 7 p.m., Alterowitz Gym
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Click HERE for this week's Yellowjacket Volleyball Show featuring head coach Sara Schaub

Note: The Yellowjackets will be running youth clinics at Alterowitz Gym on Nov. 3 and Nov. 10.  Click HERE for the informational flyer, or call Coach Schaub at 657-2603.
 

The Yellowjackets continued to struggle on the road, dropping two GNAC matches in sweeps last week in Washington.  On Thursday, they were dumped 3-0 in Ellensburg by Central Washington.  On Saturday, league-leading Western Washington made quick work of the Jackets in a 3-0 sweep in Bellingham.  The bad news: the losses extended the Jackets road losing streak to five matches.  The good news: the Jackets finish the season with four-straight matches at home.  At Alterowitz Gym this season, MSUB is 5-1 with the only loss coming to Western Washington.

Central Washington dominated from start to finish Thursday, sweeping Montana State Billings 30-13, 30-19, 30-23.  The loss dropped the Yellowjackets to 15-8 overall and damaged their chances for an at large NCAA Tournament berth.  MSUB was ranked ninth in the Pacific Region in this week’s NCAA poll.

The Wildcats held the Yellowjackets to just 29 kills and a .083 hitting percentage for the match.  Central hit .198 as a team and recorded 21 service aces.  MSU Billings led briefly early in the second and third games, but the Wildcats never trailed after the seventh point of any game.

With the win, Central Washington moved past MSUB for fourth place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings. 

No Yellowjacket hit for double-digit kills in the match.  Jennifer Boe and Devon Crotteau each knocked down nine kills.  Crotteau also had 14 digs.  Nicole Kruse (Huntley) picked up 21 of the Jackets’ 64 digs.  The Yellowjackets did not record a single service ace in the match while serving up eight errors.

It was a bittersweet night for senior Alicia Cazemier.  She needed just two kills to tie Jessica Bratton’s all-time school record for career kills; she finished with three.  Although she became the all-time record holder at MSUB, she had three kills and three errors on 22 attempts.

Conference leader Western Washington won its 12th-straight match Saturday, sweeping Montana State Billings 30-16, 30-23, 30-16.  The Vikings moved closer to a conference championship, improving to 17-4 overall and 13-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  WWU is ranked second in the Pacific Region.

"Western definitely played like the No. 1 team in the conference," said Yellowjacket head coach Sara Schaub.  "They are solid offensively and defensively.  Any mistake we made, they took advantage of."

While Western extended a winning streak that dates back to mid-September, MSU Billings went in the opposite direction with its fifth-straight GNAC road loss.  The Yellowjackets, ranked ninth in the Pacific Region this week, dropped to 15-8 overall and 8-6 in the conference.  MSUB has gone 4-6 in its last 10 matches.

The Vikings jumped all over the Jackets from the beginning, hammering out 15 kills with just three errors in the opening game.  Western Washington posted game hitting percentages of .343, .263, and .457 and finished with a match hitting percentage of .352.  In the third game, the Vikings didn’t have an attack error on 35 attempts.

The Vikings’ Jaime Anderson led all players with 17 kills on a .410 hitting percentage.  Tiana Roma added 10 kills without an error.  Combined, Anderson and Roma accounted for 27 kills with just one error on 60 attempts.  Roma was also in on six blocks.

Boe and Crotteau each had 11 kills for the Yellowjackets.  Cazemier had eight kills.  The Yellowjackets hit just .129 as a team, committing 24 hitting errors to the Vikings’ seven.

From the GNAC:
LAST WEEK: Thursday – Northwest Nazarene 3 at Alaska Anchorage 1 (26-30, 30-25, 30-15, 31-29); Seattle Pacific 3 at Alaska Fairbanks 0 (30-20, 30-21, 30-22); MSU Billings 0 at Central Washington 3 (30-13, 30-19, 30-23); Seattle 0 at Western Washington 3 (30-21, 30-18, 30-14). Saturday – Seattle Pacific 3 at Alaska Anchorage 1 (30-15, 30-19, 29-31, 30-18); Northwest Nazarene 3 at Alaska Fairbanks 1 (23-30, 30-26, 30-19, 30-25);; Seattle 0 at Central Washington 3 (30-23, 30-21, 30-25); MSU Billings 0 at Western Washington 3; Western Oregon 3 at Saint Martin's 1
(30-21, 29-31, 30-16, 30-20).

THIS WEEK: Thursday – Alaska Anchorage at Saint Martin's; Alaska Fairbanks at Western Oregon; Central Washington at Northwest Nazarene; Western Washington at Seattle Pacific; Rocky Mountain at MSU Billings. Saturday – Alaska Anchorage Western Oregon; Alaska Fairbanks at Saint Martin's; Central Washington at Seattle Pacific, 3 p.m.; Western Washington at Northwest Nazarene, 7:30 p.m.; Seattle at MSU Billings.

NEXT WEEK: Thursday – Western Oregon at Western Washington; Saint Martin's at Central Washington; Seattle Pacific at MSU Billings; Northwest Nazarene at Seattle. Saturday – Western Oregon at Central Washington; Saint Martin's at Western Washington; Seattle Pacific at Seattle; Northwest Nazarene at MSU Billings; Alaska Fairbanks at Alaska Anchorage. (End-of-regular season).

CSTV/AVCA National Division II (Oct. 23) - 27. Western Washington. NCAA Division II Pacific Region (Oct. 24) - 1. Cal State San Bernardino (20-0); 2. Western Washington (14-3); 3. UC San Diego (15-6); 4. Northwest Nazarene (14-6); 5. Cal State L.A. (13-7); 6. Cal Poly Pomona (16-5); 7. Chico State (13-8); 8. Western Oregon (13-7); 9. Montana State Billings (14-7); 10. Seattle Pacific (11-9). (Note: The final regional poll will be released Nov. 7).

NCAA National Statistics (Oct. 21): Individuals (Top 50): Kills - 28. Alyssa Given, SPU, 4.45; 38. Devon Crotteau, MSUB, 4.25; 46. Alicia Cazemier, MSUB, 4.18. Hitting Percentage - 32. Tiana Roma, WWU, .357; 41. Rachael Schurman, CWU, .345. Assists - 50. Katie Robinson, WWU, 11.49. Aces - 11. Alyssa Given, SPU, 0.78; 29. Stefanie Aladjova, MSUB, 0.68; 33. Erin Norris, CWU, 0.65. Digs - 2. Courtney Schneider, WWU, 7.43. Blocks - 9. Angie Alvord, WWU, 1.43; 19. Rachael Schurman, CWU, 1.36; 20. Cammy Dranginis, NNU, 1.35; 22. Emily Powell, SU, 1.29. Team (Top 50): Kills - 43. Western Washington 15.07. Hitting PCT. - 28. Western Washington .248. Digs - 9. Western Oregon 20.86, 32. Seattle 19.60. Blocks - 20. Central Washington 2.66; 37. Western Washington
2.55; 48. Seattle 2.44.

GNAC PLAYERS-OF-THE-WEEK: Alyssa Given, Seattle Pacific (OH, 5-10, Sr., Salinas, CA - Notre Dame) and Jaime
Anderson, Western Washington (OH, 6-0, Sr., SeaTac, WA – Mount Rainier). . .Given had 39 kills, including 28 in a 3-1 win Saturday at Anchorage. Her 28 kills equaled the fourth highest four-game match total in GNAC history. Her .558 attack percentage (28-4-43) against the Seawolves ranks 10th in GNAC history for four-game matches. The 28 kills is also the second highest total this fall for any match. Overall, she hit .367 for the weekend (39-10-79) and also had 21 digs and six aces, moving into first-place on the GNAC all-time career list in aces with 186. She also moved into a tie for third-place in GNAC history in career kills with Meghan Evoy of Western Washington(2001-04) with 1,379 and is 82 short of the all-time mark. . .Anderson had 34 kills and hit for a .372 percentage as the Vikings extended their win streak to 12 with a pair of 3-0 sweeps, their ninth and 10th during the streak. Anderson also had 21 digs, three blocks and three aces.

HONORABLE MENTION: Erin Norris, Central Washington (OP, 5-10, So., Spokane, WA - Mead) had 23 kills, eight aces and six blocks as the Wildcats kept alive their hopes for a winning season with a pair of 3-0 wins. Norris hit .400 (23-7-40) in the two matches. Her eight aces gave her a school-record 61 on the season.

AROUND THE GNAC: Western Washington posted a .356 hitting percentage in its victories. In addition to Anderson’s 34 kills, Emily Castro had 21. Tiana Roma had 18 kills and a team-best nine blocks, while Courtney Schneider added 52 more digs to her GNAC-record career total, which now stands at 2,401. . .Cammy Dranginis (29), Loni Evenson (27) and Lindsay Forseth (24) combined for 80 kills as Northwest Nazarene extended its win streak to six. Dranginis also led the Crusaders with 13 blocks and Forseth had a team-best 41 digs. . .Seattle Pacific more than doubled its opponents hitting percentage (.287 to .135), had 20 more aces (27-7) including nine by Joelle Perez and eight by Angie Wodrich and twice as many blocks (16-8) in wins over Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage. . .Rachael
Schurman had 22 kills, 11 aces and seven blocks in Central Washington’s two wins. The Wildcats had a 30-3 ace advantage as they outscored MSU Billings and Seattle 43-22 from the service line. . .Kayla Mainer led four players in double figures with 22 kills in Western Oregon’s win at Saint Martin’s. Shealun Campisi led the Saints with 13 kills. . .Alaska Anchorage’s Joanna Johnson had 35 kills and 42 digs, including 37 in a 3-1 loss to Northwest Nazarene. . .Megan Thigpen led Alaska Fairbanks with 22 kills and 24 digs and Erica Gage had 11 blocks. . .Nikole Thompson had 27 kills, twice as many as any of her teammates, in Seattle University’s two matches at Bellingham and Ellensburg. . .MSU Billings’ Jennifer Boe and Devon Crotteau each had 20 kills in losses to CWU and WWU. 

Click HERE for complete GNAC release

MSUB defeated Rocky 3-1 at Rocky in early October.  The Bears were led by nine kills apiece from Sarah Madinger, Shanda Veldhuisen, and Jessica Eliasson.

All-time Series:  MSUB leads series 26-9
Last Meeting:  MSUB def. RMC 3-1 on Oct. 2, 2007 at RMC

Nikole Thompson leads the Redhawks' attack at 3.94 kills per game and is second on the team with 269 digs.  Libby Graff averages 2.79 kpg, and Emily Powell adds 1.29 blocks per game.  The Redhawk offense is directed by setter Jamie Mellies' 10.63 assists per game.

All-time Series:  Series is tied 1-1
Last Meeting:  SU def. MSUB 3-1 on Oct. 6, 2007 in Seattle
 

A player had 30 or more kills in a match — Nov. 12, 2004 (Jessica Bratton, 33 vs. Western New Mexico)

A player had 25-29 kills in a match — Sept. 30, 2006 (Jessica Bratton, 25 vs. Texas A&M-International)

A player had 60 or more assists in a match — Sept. 2, 2006 (Natalie Bills, 66 vs. Fort Lewis)

A player had 25 or more digs in a match — Aug. 25, 2007 (Nicole Kruse (30) vs. Minn. St. Moorhead)

A player had 5 or more aces in a match — Oct. 2, 2007 (Devon Crotteau, 5 vs. Rocky Mountain)

A player had 10 or more blocks in a match — Sept. 29, 2007 (Alicia Cazemier, 11 vs. Cent. Washington)

The team had an attack percentage over .300 — Oct. 20, 2006 (.400 vs. Oklahoma Panhandle State)

The team had 70 or more kills in a match — Oct. 11, 2007 (70 vs. Western Oregon)

The team had 70 or more assists in a match — Sept. 2, 2006 (77 vs. Fort Lewis)

The team had 100 or more digs in a match — Sept. 8, 2006 (116 vs. Central Okla.)

The team had 15 or more blocks in a match — Sept. 29, 2007 (16.0 vs. Cent. Washington)

The team had 10-14 blocks in a match - Oct. 20, 2007 (12.0 vs. Alaska Fairbanks)

Kills
Season – 1. Diane Vargo (526); 11. Devon Crotteau (390); 12. Alicia Cazemier (375)
Career – 1. Alicia Cazemier (1,385); 14. Jessica Lechner (512)

Assists
Season – 1. Natalie Bills (1,327); 8. Stefania Aladjova (1,029)
Career – 1. Gina Langer (4,354)

Digs
Season – 1. Diane Vargo (440); 19. Devon Crotteau (349); 22. Nicole Kruse (346)
Career – 1. Gina Langer (1,530); 4. Nicole Kruse (1,139)

Service Aces
Season – 1. Nicole Kruse (62); 2. Stefania Aladjova (60); 7. Devon Crotteau (51)
Career – 1. Gina Langer (178); 4. Nicole Kruse (119); 5. Alicia Cazemier (110)

Total Blocks
Season – 1. Deb Dianda (169); 14. Alicia Cazemier (100)
Career – 1. Alicia Cazemier (503); 13. Jessica Lechner (166)

Solo Blocks
Season – 1. Alicia Cazemier (67)
Career – 1. Alicia Cazemier (162); 20. Jessica Lechner (33)

Block Assists
Season – 1. Deb Dianda (119); 9. Alicia Cazemier (81)
Career – 1. Alicia Cazemier (341); 12. Jessica Lechner (133)

Attack Percentage
Season – 1. Andrea Donahue (.373)
Career – 1. Alicia Cazemier (.307); 5. Jessica Lechner (.226)

Kills per Game
Season – 1. Diane Vargo (4.61)
Career – 1. Ali Watson (4.10); 6. Alicia Cazemier (3.51) 

Assists per Game
Season – 1. Natalie Bills (12.52)
Career – 1. Natalie Bills (12.16)

Blocks per Game
Season – 1. Alicia Cazemier (1.52)
Career – 1. Alicia Cazemier (1.27) 

Digs per Game
Season – 1. Connie Meyer (4.75)
Career – 1. Connie Meyer (3.96); 5. Nicole Kruse (3.75)

Games Played
Career – 1. Gina Langer (462); 4. Alicia Cazemier (395); 13. Nicole Kruse (304); 14. Jessica Lechner (301)

Sara Schaub was hired as the Yellowjackets' tenth head coach since the program was reinstated in 1984. Schaub’s coaching experience was most recently at Division I Eastern Michigan University where she was the first assistant since 2002.  She helped the Eagles to the program’s first Mid-America Conference West Division Championship in 2005.  Schaub’s responsibilities were recruiting, practice organization, and leading a successful volleyball camp program at Eastern.   

“I am extremely excited and honored to be the next head coach at MSU Billings,” said Schaub.  “I am very grateful to Dr. Gray and the entire search committee for giving me this opportunity.  I feel very fortunate to join such an upbeat and visionary department.  I look forward to working with the student-athletes, building an exciting program, and being part of the Billings community.”

Schaub, originally from Huron, Ohio, was a four-year starter for the Eastern Michigan Eagles as an outside hitter.  Schaub is the only player in Mid-American Conference history to average over four kills and four digs per game in the same season.  She currently holds the record at Eastern Michigan for career attack attempts and is second for career kills and digs, sixth for career aces, and seventh for career block assists.

Schaub graduated from Eastern Michigan in 2001 with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration in Accounting Information Systems.  She also holds a Master of Science in Accounting, graduating Magna Cum Laude from EMU in 2002.  In her free time, Schaub is an avid beach volleyball player and has participated in the Association of Volleyball Professionals, Extreme Volleyball Professionals, and Midwest Professional Volleyball Association, winning many events.

Jay Christensen begins the season as a first-year assistant coach for the Lady Yellowjackets. With a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science-Sports Medicine, he also is a second year graduate student in the athletic training program. 

Christensen moved to Billings from Laie, Hawaii, and comes with a varied athletic background. All-state in soccer and four-time state champion in swimming, he played soccer for a U-17 team throughout Europe and after high school helped represent the United States, swimming in Sydney, Australia, in 2000. 

He enjoys surfing, golfing, swimming, basketball, soccer and reading.  Jay, his wife Cassandra and son Kai live in Billings.

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