MSUB Volleyball Sweeps Finale (10/28/06)
Box Score
Coach Matavao post game audio

SAN ANTONIO, TX – The Montana State-Billings volleyball team earned its fourth-straight sweep to finish the regular season unbeaten in the Heartland Conference.  The Jackets downed St. Mary’s University for the second-straight day on Saturday, winning 30-17, 30-23, 30-25.  The win improved the Yellowjackets to 23-4 overall and a perfect 10-0 in the conference. 

“St. Mary’s played really good today, but we were able to match it,” said Yellowjacket head coach Pa’ulasi Matavao.  “We had a pretty good blocking day at the net.  Defensively we were able to get a lot of balls up that they were hitting around the blocks.  The girls really wanted to finish the season strong.  They had that attitude coming into the weekend, and they were able to do that.  They’re really looking forward to the tournament.”

MSU Billings will be the No. 1 seed when they host the Heartland Conference Championship Tournament next weekend.  St. Mary’s, which fell to 18-15, 5-5 with Saturday’s loss, has qualified for the conference tourney as has Dallas Baptist and St. Edward’s.  The conference semifinal matches will be at 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. on Friday, November 3.  The championship match will be at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday.

The Yellowjackets did not trail a point on Saturday until the 15-14 mark of the third game.  They were dominating on offense, posting single-game attack percentages of .231, .455, and .476.  The Jackets hit a combined .386 for the match.  St. Mary’s hit .184 as a team.

The Jackets’ Alicia Cazemier (Vauxhall, AB) led all players with 17 kills on a .654 attack percentage.  Cazemier did not have an error in 26 attempts in the match.  She also had three block assists. 

Ali Watson (Calgary, AB) added nine kills and six digs.  Jessica Lechner (Pompeys Pillar, MT) and Jessica Bratton (Casper, WY) each had eight kills.  Taylor Faught (Billings, MT) and Nicole Kruse (Huntley, MT) each picked up double-digit digs.  Natalie Bills (Provo, UT) handed out 46 assists to go with eight digs.

The Rattlers were led by Samantha Weber’s 10 kills on a .421 attack percentage.  Laura Sudano and Emily Patlan each had eight kills.