Lady Jackets Upset No. 21-ranked Chaminade, 3-1 (Oct. 26, 2004)
Box Score

BILLINGS, MT – The Chaminade Silverswords climbed from No. 25 to No. 21 in Tuesday morning’s American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 poll.  On Tuesday evening, Montana State-Billings dominated play at the net to knock off the Silverswords, 3-1 (30-32, 30-27, 30-25, 30-20).  The Yellowjackets out-blocked Chaminade 23-6 to improve to 12-9 overall.  Chaminade lost for just the fourth time this season to fall to 14-4.  It was the Yellowjackets’ second win against a nationally ranked opponent, the last coming on September 11, 2001 against BYU-Hawaii.

As it turned out the Yellowjackets were just one point away from a three-game sweep.  They led 29-25 in the first game following an Alicia Cazemier service ace.  Chaminade survived four straight game points to tie the game at 29-29.  The Swords then held on against a fifth game point at 30-29 before two consecutive attack errors from the Yellowjackets gave Chaminade a 1-0 advantage in the match.

MSU Billings led for much of game two before Chaminade rallied to take a 23-22 lead.  An 8-4 Yellowjacket run—including four blocks—lifted MSUB to a three point win.  The second game was the Jackets’ best hitting game of the night with 15 kills and just four errors for a .262 hitting percentage.

The block became the theme of the night as the Yellowjackets record a season-high 23.  Andrea Donahue (Sr., Whitefish, MT) blocked a career-high 12, with eight solos; Cazemier (Fr., Vauxhall, Alberta) blocked a career-high 10; and Cortney Lennan (Sr., Roundup, MT) blocked a career-high eight.

The Yellowjackets broke away from a 3-3 tie in the third game to lead by as many as eight points on three occasions.  MSUB coasted to a five-point win and gained the momentum in the match.  The Jackets out-hit the Swords .205 to .123 in the third game.

After trading points to a 6-6 tie in the fourth game, the Yellowjackets pulled away for their largest margin of victory of the night, 30-20.  They held Chaminade to just a .024 hitting percentage for the game, forcing 11 Silversword errors.  Olivia Munro (Sr., Toronto, Ontario) served five straight points to boost the Jackets’ lead from 7-6 to 13-6, blowing the game open.  Chaminade couldn’t close to within less than five points the rest of the match.

Munro had a solid night offensively and defensively, finishing with a team-high 15 kills and 18 digs.  Cazemier added 13 kills to her 10 blocks.  She committed just one error on 22 attempts for a .545 attack percentage.  Lennan added seven kills against just one error.

Jessica Bratton (So., Casper, WY) and Donahue knocked down 10 kills apiece.  Setter Natalie Bills (So., Provo, UT) dished out 40 assists to go with eight digs and four service aces.  She now leads the PacWest for service aces at 0.57 per game. 

In the back row, Joanna Petersen (Sr., Butte, MT) had her best match of the season, picking up a season-high 17 digs.  Libero Alberta Letoa (So., Laie, HI) added nine digs.

Three Silverswords reached double-digit kills in the match.  Valasi Sepulona had 19 kills and 14 digs.  Kahala Kabalis finished with 17 kills and 16 digs.  Patti Hardimon added 15 kills.  Kalae Araujo picked up a match-high 26 digs.

MSU Billings continues PacWest play next Monday and Tuesday when they host Hawaii-Hilo.  The Yellowjackets are only one win away from the first winning season in the program’s history.  MSUB has posted a .500 record twice but has never been over .500 for a season.