Lady Yellowjackets at Rocky Wednesday Night (Oct. 21, 2003)

BILLINGS, MT – The MSU Billings volleyball team soundly defeated RockyMountain College on September 17.  Since then the Yellowjackets (3-16) have lost ten straight matches, including seven to regionally ranked opponents.  The Lady Jackets will try to put that losing streak to an end when they travel down Poly Drive to the Fortin Center Wednesday evening for their second match in the cross-town series this season.

The Yellowjackets have struggled offensively throughout the losing streak.  They had just 14 attack errors and a .280 team hitting percentage in the sweep of Rocky just over a month ago.  Since then, they have had just one match with fewer than 20 errors and their best single-match hitting percentage has been .160.  The lack of offensive production has played a big role in losing 30 of 32 games played.

Jessica Bratton (Fr., Casper, WY) has been the Yellowjackets’ offensive leader lately, posting 40 kills in her last four matches.  She is averaging 2.77 kills per game, second on the team behind Olivia Munro’s (Jr., Toronto, Ontario) 3.50.  Cortney Metzler (Jr., Roundup, MT) has also been productive lately with 34 kills in her last four matches.  She is third on the team with 2.30 kills per game. 

With the offense unable to find its rhythm, the Yellowjackets have had to rely on their defense to keep them in games.  As a team, they rank third in the PacWest for blocks per game (2.22) and fourth for digs per game (16.15).  MSUB’s size at the net played a big role in the first meeting with Rocky, forcing the Bears into a -.101 team hitting percentage.  Metzler, Katrina Dahlgren (Sr., Missoula, MT) and Brittany Uffelman (Sr., Thermopolis, WY) all rank in the PacWest’s top ten for blocks per game.  Metzler and Dahlgren are tied for third in the league, averaging 1.00 blocks per game, while Uffelman is ninth at 0.81.

The Yellowjackets’ solid blocking at the net has been complimented by the defensive play of Alberta Letoa (Fr., Laie, HI) and Munro.  The pair ranks seventh and eighth respectively in the PacWest for digs per game.  Letoa is averaging 3.08 digs from her defensive specialist position while Munro is averaging 3.03 as an outside hitter.

Defensively, MSU Billings will need to stop Rocky’s Katy Furlong and Alyssa Root who average 3.44 and 2.72 kills per game respectively.  Furlong is hitting at a .299 clip, bolstering Rocky’s .182 team hitting percentage.  She also leads the team with 0.66 blocks per game.  Jen Buening has played in every game this season for the Bears and leads the team with 4.57 digs per game.

Rocky will be trying to stay above .500 for the season.  The Bears are 14-13 after winning three of their last four matches.  They are 7-5 at home this season and have won six of the last seven on their home court.