Yellowjackets Surprise Seawolves for Title in Alaska (Sept. 4, 2004)
Box Score
ANCHORAGE, AK – The Montana State-Billings volleyball
team won the Aspen Hotels Invitational with a 3-0 sweep of host
Alaska-Anchorage in Saturday’s championship match. The Yellowjackets’
victory stopped the Seawolves’ two-year streak of winning its own
tournament. Anchorage (6-2) had won 11 straight matches at the tournament
over the last three years. MSU Billings improved to 3-1 with the win for
its best start since the 2001 season.
The Yellowjackets gave the Seawolves a test on Friday
night before Anchorage pulled away for a five-game win. Saturday was a
different story with the Yellowjackets controlling the match from the
start to win 30-26, 30-23, 30-20. MSU Billings hit just .174 as a team
for the match, but held the Seawolves to a .085 team hitting percentage.
MSU Billings trailed only twice in the first two
games. Alaska-Anchorage made its best run of the night in the third game,
jumping to an 8-3 lead. The Seawolves led for most of the game until the
Yellowjackets rallied to tie the game for the first time at 17-17.
MSU Billings outscored Anchorage 13-3 from that point to seal the win and
title.
Olivia Munro (Sr., OH, Toronto, Ontario) and Jessica
Bratton (So., OH, Casper, WY) carried the Yellowjackets’ attack with 16
kills apiece. Munro had a .268 hitting percentage for the match, and
Bratton hit .250.
Both players had solid tournaments and finished all
four matches with double-digit kills. Bratton averaged 4.79 kills per game
for the tourney and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
Munro averaged 4.43 kills and 5.14 digs per game to earn all-tournament
honors.
Andrea Donahue (Sr., MB, Whitefish, MT) also had a
good weekend, playing her first matches in a Yellowjacket uniform. She
posted 10 kills and was in on three blocks in the championship match.
Freshman Alicia Cazemier (Fr., MB, Vauxhall, Alberta) added five block
assists. She had 19 total blocks for the tournament for an impressive
1.58 blocks per game average.
Setter Natalie Bills (So., S, Provo, UT) finished the
championship match with 47 assists to average 13.43 per game for the
tournament. Bills, seeing her first action as the Yellowjackets’ starter,
was named to the all-tournament team for directing the Yellowjacket
offense to the title.
The Yellowjackets will open the 2004 home schedule on
Friday when they host MSU-Northern and Minot State in a three-team round
robin tournament. Each team will play each other twice in two days.
There will be three matches each day. Following are the match times and
pairings.
Friday, September 10
12:00 p.m. – MSU Billings vs. MSU-Northern
2:00 p.m. – MSU-Northern vs. Minot State
7:00 p.m. – MSU Billings vs. Minot State
Saturday, September 11
10:00 a.m. – MSU-Northern vs. Minot State
12:00 p.m. – MSU Billings vs. Minot State
5:00 p.m. – MSU Billings vs. MSU-Northern |
