Yellowjacket Volleyball Drops Pair in Colorado (August 29, 2003)

Golden, CO – The Clash in the Foothills Tournament provided a bumpy start to the 2003 volleyball season for MSU Billings as the Yellowjackets dropped their first two matches.  MSUB fell 3-0 to Colorado School of Mines in the early afternoon match and 3-1 to Chadron State College in the first evening match.  Colorado-Mines and Colorado Christian University are co-hosting the tournament with matches being played on both campuses.

In the Yellowjackets’ opening match of the tournament, co-host Colorado School of Mines swept through MSUB, 32-30, 30-20, 30-15.  Olivia Munro (Jr., OH, Toronto, Ontario) was the only Yellowjacket to notch double-digit kills with 14.  She had an impressive .243 attack percentage to go along with a team-high nine digs on the defensive side of the ledger.  However, the Jackets didn’t get much offensive production beyond Munro, hitting a combined .073 as a team.  In the game three loss, MSUB only managed four kills against nine errors.

In the evening match-up, the Yellowjackets were able to put together more offense, but it wasn’t enough as the Lady Eagles managed 17 more digs.  Chadron took the first two games, 30-22 and 30-26 before MSUB was able to regroup and win the third game, 30-20.  The Yellowjackets couldn’t hold the momentum in game four as the Eagles soared to a 30-24 victory in the decisive game four.

Munro again paced the Yellowjacket hitters with 16 kills, adding 18 digs.  Katrina Dahlgren (Sr., MB, Missoula, MT) added 15 kills, five block assists and one solo block, while Jessica Bratton (Fr., OH, Casper, WY) had ten kills and nine digs in her second collegiate match.

MSU Billings will wrap up its portion of the Clash in the Foothills Saturday with matches against Wayne State University at 10:00 a.m. and Ouachita Baptist University at 4:00 p.m.  The early game will be played at Colorado Christian and the afternoon game will be at Colorado Mines.