Yellowjacket Volleyball Suffers Sweep at Humboldt Tournament (Sept. 5, 2003)

ARCATA, CA – Missing their starting setter, the MSU Billings volleyball team struggled offensively Friday, losing 3-0 to Sonoma State and 3-0 to Humboldt State on the opening day of the North Coast Inn Classic at HSU. 

Starter Kari Jones (Jr., Hermiston, OR) will miss all of this weekend’s matches because of an injury sustained in a match last weekend.  Freshman Alberta Letoa (Laie, HI) is starting in her place this weekend at Humboldt State and earned her first collegiate start Friday afternoon.  In two matches, she handed out 55 assists.

In the early afternoon match, MSUB fell to Sonoma State 30-23, 30-27, 30-25.  The Jackets were led by Jessica Bratton (Fr., Casper, WY) and Cortney Metzler (Jr., Roundup, MT) who each finished with 11 kills.  Bratton added 11 digs and Olivia Munro (Jr., Toronto, Ontario) had nine digs and nine kills.  The Seawolves out-hit the Jackets .288 to .217.

In the Jackets’ second match of the day, Humboldt State picked up its first win of the season with a 30-24, 30-20, 30-25 sweep.  Munro finished with 11 kills and 12 digs, while Bratton added 10 kills.  But the team managed just a .104 combined hitting percentage, including a .021 percentage in the final game.

MSU Billings, now 2-4 overall, will take on Sonoma State and Humboldt State again on Saturday in the three-team round robin tournament.