Jackets Trio Sweeps HLC Honors (10/31/06)

BILLINGS, MT – On the final week of the regular season, three Montana State-Billings volleyball players swept Heartland Conference player of the week honors.  Alicia Cazemier was named the offensive player of the week, Natalie Bills was the setter of the week, and Nicole Kruse was the defensive player of the week.

The Yellowjackets closed out the regular season with two road sweeps at St. Mary’s University last weekend.  The victories wrapped up a perfect Heartland Conference regular season for the Yellowjackets, who improved to 23-4 overall and 10-0 in the conference.  The Yellowjackets also completed the regular season with a 9-0 record in road matches.  MSUB will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Heartland Conference Championship Tournament, which will be held in Billings this Friday and Saturday.

Cazemier, a junior middle blocker from Vauxhall, Alberta, was nearly flawless in leading the MSUB offense.  She had 27 kills on 41 attempts with just one attack error in the two matches.  In Saturday’s season finale, she pounded out 17 kills without an error.  The Heartland Conference leader for blocks, Cazemier was also in on nine blocks for the weekend. 

Bills, a senior setter from Provo, UT, guided the Yellowjacket attack, averaging 14.67 assists per game to raise her conference-leading average to 12.29 apg.  In doing so, Bills set up her teammates to hit for a combined .305 attack percentage in the two matches.  Bills is the MSUB school record holder for career assists per game average.

Kruse, a junior libero from Huntley, MT, averaged 3.67 digs per game to help hold the Rattlers to .065 and .184 attack percentages in the two matches.  Kruse finished the regular season ranked fifth in the Heartland Conference for digs per game average at 4.08.