Lady Jackets Sweep into Title Tilt (11/11/05)
Box Score

AUSTIN, TX – There’s an old sports cliché that says it’s tough to beat the same team three times in a row.  The Montana State-Billings volleyball team validated that Friday night when they swept Incarnate Word in the semifinals of the Heartland Conference Championship Tournament and advanced to Saturday’s championship match.

It was only a week ago that the Cardinals (17-17) made their first trip to Montana and left with a pair of conference wins against the Yellowjackets.  Fate paired up those same teams Friday evening in the conference tourney’s second match.  The Yellowjackets (20-7) erased any doubt their two season-ending losses may have created, winning 30-22, 30-27, 30-26.

“We played defense really well tonight,” said Yellowjacket head coach Pa’ulasi Matavao following the match.  “It was probably the best defensive game all year for us.  The girls did nice job of putting together some things we worked on to win this match.  Ali Watson and Jessica Bratton did a good job on the outside controlling the game, and Alicia Cazemier did her usual thing.  Taylor Faught and Jessica Lechner also had really nice games even though it might not show up in the stats.  Overall the kids played really well to get into the championship match.”

The Jackets’ win sets up an all-newcomers championship match on Saturday evening.  Top-seeded Western New Mexico defeated St. Mary’s, 3-0, in Friday’s early pairing to advance to meet the Yellowjackets in the title match.  The Yellowjackets and Mustangs are both in their first seasons as members of the Heartland Conference.  Western New Mexico is currently ranked fourth in the region.  The Yellowjackets and Mustangs will square off for the league title and its accompanying invitation to the NCAA Tournament at 7:00 p.m. Saturday.

The Cardinals led early in all three games Friday, but MSU Billings was able to rally each time and only trailed once after the midpoint of any game.  The Yellowjackets out-hit the Cards .178 to .147 overall and had 13 more kills and 13 more aces.  Just as they did last weekend, the Cardinals out-blocked the Yellowjackets—this time 16-5—but MSU Billings countered the Cards’ blocking with a changeup on defense.

“We did some things differently tonight than we did last weekend,” said Matavao.  “On Monday after we played them we saw some things that we thought could help us.  We went to a different defense and the kids did a great job executing it.  They really picked it up well.  I didn’t think they’d be able to execute it as well as they did, but they did a great job.  Taylor’s service reception was outstanding.  The girls were really pumped up for this one.”

Watson (Jr., Calgary, Alberta) had a huge match with 21 kills and only three errors for a blistering .439 attack percentage.  The 21 kills were the most by a Yellowjacket in any three-game match this season.  She also picked up a team-high 19 digs on the defensive side of the net and added four service aces.  Watson eclipsed the 400-kills mark for the season on Friday, moving her season total to 402.  She became just the fourth player in school history to record over 400 kills in a single season.

“They couldn’t stop her,” said Matavao of Watson.  “She was pounding it down.  Incarnate Word’s whole key tonight was to stop Alicia.  They didn’t expect Ali and Jessica to have big nights.  They ganged up on Alicia.  They did a nice job of blocking her, but then Ali went to work, and Jessica came through at crucial times when we really needed a kill.  Every time they would make a run at us, we went to Jessica and she came through.”

Bratton (Jr., Casper, WY) finished with a dozen kills on 38 attempts.  She was also in on four blocks.  Her 12 kills put her over the 300 mark for the season at 305.  At 961 career kills, Bratton moved up to third all-time in school history.

Lechner (Fr., Pompeys Pillar, MT) added five kills on an efficient .500 attack percentage.  Faught (Fr., Billings, MT) and Nicole Kruse (So., Huntley, MT) each had 11 digs.  Faught also drilled four service aces.  Kruse broke the single season school record for aces last week against the Cardinals with her 61^st.  Alexis Sandru (Jr., Twin Bridges, MT) also played a big role on defense Friday, adding 18 digs and a block.

Setter Natalie Bills (Jr., Provo, UT) handed out 47 assists, matching her three-game high for the season.  She also had eight digs and a match-high five service aces, one short of her career high.  Despite the effort to shut down the middle of the net, Cazemier (So., Vauxhall, Alberta) still had 11 kills.  She was also in on five blocks, giving her a career-best 121 for the season.

Kari Chapman was the only Cardinal in double figures for kills with 12. She was also in on a dozen blocks, four of them solo.  Kim Kvapil and Brandie Garcia each added nine kills, and Hannah Werchan had 22 digs.

“I told the girls they have nothing to lose now,” said Matavao.  “This is where we wanted to be (when the season started).  Western won in three tonight, too, but I think our girls are ready.”

If the Yellowjackets can pull of the upset on Saturday they will win their first-ever conference title and earn their first-ever berth to the NCAA Tournament.  The Jackets and Mustangs split a pair of matches in Billings in September.  Western is 25-4 overall and 18-1 against regional opponents.  The lone loss was a five-game defeat at the hands of the Yellowjackets.