2007 Volleyball Weekly Release #3 (September 4)

Sat., Sept. 8 - at Seattle Pacific, 8 p.m. MDT

Click HERE for this week's Yellowjacket Volleyball Show featuring head coach Sara Schaub and senior middle blocker Alicia Cazemier

The Yellowjackets closed out the non-conference portion of the schedule in fine form, going 4-0 at the Days Inn-Denver West Oredigger Classic in Golden, Colo.  The Yellowjackets defeated Colorado School of Mines, Mesa State, Western State, and Western New Mexico.  MSUB and Concordia-St. Paul were the only two unbeaten teams at the tourney. 

“We’re very excited to go 4-0 at a tough tournament,” said Yellowjacket head coach Sara Schaub.  “We seemed to start every match slow, and we need to work on that.  But it’s good to know we can overcome adversity and fight for the win.  With nine players, we’re rotating people through, and everyone is seeing time.  It was a complete team effort.”

Alicia Cazemier

In the opening match, the host Orediggers gave the Jackets all they could handle.  The Yellowjackets were never down a game in the match, and even though they were out-hit .148 to .087, they won 30-27, 19-30, 30-27, 28-30, 15-12.  Alicia Cazemier and Devon Crotteau each knocked down 19 kills with Cazemier hitting .212 and Crotteau .149.  Crotteau also led the team with 16 digs and eight service aces.  Her service played a big part in helping the Jackets overcome a cold hitting match.  Setter Stefania Aladjova handed out 40 assists.  Jennifer Boe added eight kills and four aces.

In the late match Friday, the Yellowjackets downed Mesa State 32-30, 30-20, 22-30, 30-28.  Cazemier and Crotteau were again the driving forces with 18 and 17 kills respectively.  Crotteau hit .271 and also had 18 digs.  Cazemier hit .269.  Katrina Solomon had a career high 23 digs, and Nicole Kruse picked up 22.  Boe finished with 10 kills and 11 digs.

On Saturday, the Yellowjackets dropped the first game of both matches but ran off three-straight games each time.  Against Western State, the Jackets dropped the first game 30-32 before coming back 30-28, 30-24, 30-18.  Crotteau led MSUB with 18 kills and 15 digs.  She hit .238 for the match and added four aces.  Cazemier doubled up with 14 kills and 10 digs.  She also had four service aces.  Boe added 14 kills and hit .233.  Solomon added nine kills on a .350 attack percentage.  Nicole Kruse picked up 19 digs, and Stefania Aladjova handed out 51 assists.

The Jackets dug into a deeper hole against Western New Mexico.  After losing the opening game 25-30, they fell behind in game two 15-3.  They stormed back to win going away, 30-24, 30-17, 30-25.  Cazemier led the way with 22 kills on a blistering .439 attack percentage.  The 22 kills were just two short of her career high.  Cazemier was the only Yellowjacket named to the all-tournament team.  Crotteau, playing her first season as a Yellowjacket after transferring from Northern Colorado, continued to be a major player in the Jackets’ attack.  Against the Mustangs she had 18 kills, 18 digs, and a .238 attack percentage.  Jessica Lechner added nine kills on a .333 attack percentage.  Solomon was again efficient, adding six kills with just one error for a .556 attack percentage.  Aladjova had 51 assists for the second-straight match.

For her performance at the Oredigger Classic, Cazemier was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball player of the week for the week of Sept. 3, 2007. 

The 6-foot-0 middle blocker from Vauxhall, Alberta, had 73 kills, 35 digs, 16 blocks and six service aces to lead the Yellowjackets to the four wins. She averaged 4.29 kills per game and hit .275 (73-24-178).  Cazemier was named to the all-tournament team, the only Yellowjacket to receive the honor.  For the season Cazemier is averaging 4.40 kills and 1.13 blocks per game.  She’s also averaging 2.13 digs per game as her defensive role has been expanded.

“Right now Alicia is taking the leadership role for our team as a communicator and motivator,” said Yellowjacket head coach Sara Schaub.  “She’s also producing on the court even though the teams we play know she’s our go-to player.  She always has a double block in front of her, but she’s still finding success despite that.  She’s on the court all the time and is becoming a primary passer off the serve.  She’s doing a good job taking on that new role.”

Cazemier entered 2007 as the career school record holder for total blocks, solo blocks, and hitting percentage.  With 15 block assists last weekend, she now also holds that school record with 291.  The next record on Cazemier’s radar is career kills.  Her 1,142 kills place her third all-time, 234 behind Jessica Bratton’s 1,376.  She is 146 kills behind Olivia Munro for second on the Yellowjacket career list.

Click HERE for Jill Trabing's blog about the past week
 

AROUND THE GNAC:   In addition to Cardwell’s 40 kills, Alaska Anchorage also got 25 kills from Joanna Johnson and 24 from Kim Stolk in its wins over Armstrong Atlantic. . .Lindsay Forseth and Cammy Dranginis had 60 and 55 kills, respectively, as Northwest Nazarene split four matches in Hawaii, handing BYU-Hawaii a rare home loss before a crowd of 683.   Forseth also had 70 digs, while Dranginis was credited with 13 blocks.  The two had attack percentages of .240 and .245, respectively.  NNU takes a 6-2 region record, 5-1 against the CCAA, into conference play. . .Angie Wodrich had 45 kills, 33 digs and eight blocks in Seattle Pacific’s four matches at Monterey Bay. . .Rachael Schurman had 74 kills and 15 blocks and Kady Try had 57 kills as Central Washington won one of four matches in Hawaii. . .Andrea Tarbet had 30 kills and 12 aces as Saint Martin’s lost four matches, three of them at Bellingham.

GNAC PLAYERS-OF-THE-WEEK:  Alicia Cazemier, Montana State Billings (MB, 6-0, Sr., Vauxhall, Alberta) had 73 kills, 35 digs, 16 blocks and six service aces to lead the Yellowjackets to four wins in the Days Inn-Denver West Oredigger Classic. Cazemier averaged 4.29 kills per game and hit .275 (73-24-178) in wins over Colorado School of the Mines, Mesa State, Western State and Western New Mexico.  She had 22 kills, two short of her career high, had hit .439 in Saturday’s win over WNMU.

HONORABLE MENTION: Rhea Cardwell, Alaska Anchorage (OH, 5-10, Jr., Prineville, OR – Crook County & Clackamas CC) and Jessica Hill, Alaska Fairbanks (RS, 6-0, So., Colorado Springs, CO – Doherty). . .Cardwell had 40 kills, 44 digs and eight blocks as the Seawolves extended their win streak to four with two 3-2 wins over Armstrong Atlantic.  Hill had 61 kills, 35 digs, 14 blocks and 15 assists as the Nanooks won three of four matches beating Armstrong Atlantic, Hawaii Hilo and Humboldt State.

TOURNAMENT HIGHLIGHTS: Cazemier was the lone MSUB player named to the all-tournament team at Denver though Devon Crotteau had similar numbers, finishing with 72 kills, a team-best 67 digs, 15 aces and eight blocks.  Crotteau had eight aces in the Yellowjackets’ win over Colorado Mines, equaling the second-best single-match total in GNAC history. . . Five GNAC players – WWU’s Jaime Anderson, Emily Castro and Courtney Schneider along with Emily Powell of Seattle and Kayla Mainer of Western Oregon – were named to the all-tournament team in the Western Washington Invitational. . . Anderson led WWU, which won two of three matches and forced Cal State San Bernardino to five games, with 46 kills, six aces and five blocks, while Castro had 37 kills.  Schneider had 87 digs increasing her career total to a GNAC-record 2,023. . Powell had a team-best 19 blocks as the Redhawks split four matches at Bellingham.  Nikole Thompson led SU with 47 kills and also had 31 digs. . .Mainer led Western Oregon with 45 kills and eight aces and also had 46 digs to lead the Wolves to one win in three matches. . .Two Alaska Fairbanks players – Hill and Jessica King - earned all-tournament honors in the Nanook Classic.  The two combined for 117 kills, 56 by King, who also had six aces and nine blocks. . .Alyssa Given averaged 4.29 kills (60), 1.07 aces (15) and hit .238 as Seattle Pacific split four matches at Monterey Bay.  She had eight aces in Saturday’s win over Cal State Monterey Bay, equaling the second-best total in SPU history and also earning a share of the No. 2 position in GNAC history along with Crotteau.

AROUND THE REGION:  GNAC teams completed the first two weeks of their pre-conference schedule with a cumulative record of exactly .500.  Only once (in 2004 when GNAC teams finished two matches above .500) have conference teams finished a season with more wins than losses. . . GNAC teams are 22-23   against the Pacific Region, including 17-18 against CCAA teams and 5-5 against PacWest opponents. 

Click HERE for the complete GNAC weekly release
 

Cammy Dranginis and Lindsay Forseth average 3.66 and 3.19 kills per game respectively.  Dranginis is hitting at a sizzling .323 clip through eight matches, ranking her third in the GNAC.  She also averages 1.06 blocks per game.  Dranginis and Forseth each rank in the top 11 in the conference for kills.  Forseth leads the team in digs at 3.69 per game.  The Crusaders' offense, which ranks second behind Western Washington with a . 228 team hitting percentage, is guided by setter Allison James and her 9.96 assists per game.

All-time vs. MSUB: Series tied 1-1
Last Meeting: MSUB won 3-2 in Billings on Oct. 12, 2000
 

Alyssa Given is averaging 4.20 kills per game on a .206 hitting percentage.  She ranks second in the GNAC for kills, behind only the Yellowjackets Alicia Cazemier, and leads the league in service aces with 29 in 30 games.  Angie Wodrich is adding 2.90 kpg, 15th-best in the league.  Freshman setter Joelle Perez is averaging 10.10 assists per game, and Torii Mount is one of just five players in the league averaging over four assists per game at 4.03.

The Falcons will host cross-town rival Seattle University on Thursday before welcoming the Yellowjackets on Saturday.  MSUB has never beaten SPU in 13 tries.  The closest they've come was a 3-2 loss last year at an early season tournament.

All-time vs. MSUB: SPU leads series 13-0
Last Meeting: SPU won 3-2 in Durango, Colo. on Sept. 2, 2006
 

A player had 30 or more kills in a match — Nov. 12, 2004 (Jessica Bratton, 33 vs. Western New Mexico)

A player had 25-29 kills in a match — Sept. 30, 2006 (Jessica Bratton, 25 vs. Texas A&M-International)

A player had 60 or more assists in a match — Sept. 2, 2006 (Natalie Bills, 66 vs. Fort Lewis)

A player had 25 or more digs in a match — Aug. 25, 2007 (Nicole Kruse (30) vs. Minn. St. Moorhead)

A player had 5 or more aces in a match — Aug. 31, 2007 (Devon Crotteau, 8 vs. Colo. Mines)

A player had 10 or more blocks in a match — Aug. 25, 2007 (Alicia Cazemier, 10 vs. Colo. St.-Pueblo)

A player had 5-9 blocks in a match — Sept. 1, 2007 (Alicia Cazemier, 5 vs. Western N.M.)

The team had an attack percentage over.300 — Oct. 20, 2006 (.400 vs. Oklahoma Panhandle State)

The team had 70 or more kills in a match — Oct. 17, 2006 (72 vs. Rocky Mountain College)

The team had 70 or more assists in a match — Sept. 2, 2006 (77 vs. Fort Lewis)

The team had 100 or more digs in a match — Sept. 8, 2006 (116 vs. Central Okla.)

The team had 10-14 blocks in a match - Sept. 1, 2007 (11.0 vs. Western State)

The team had 15 or more blocks in a match — Aug. 25, 2007 (15.0 vs. Minn. St. Moorhead)

Kills
Season – 1. Diane Vargo (526)
Career – 1. Jessica Bratton (1,376); 3. Alicia Cazemier (1,142)

Assists
Season – 1. Natalie Bills (1,327)
Career – 1. Gina Langer (4,354)

Digs
Season – 1. Diane Vargo (440)
Career – 1. Gina Langer (1,530); 5. Nicole Kruse (924)

Service Aces
Season – 1. Nicole Kruse (62)
Career – 1. Gina Langer (178); 4. Nicole Kruse (108); 6. Alicia Cazemier (95)

Total Blocks
Season – 1. Deb Dianda (169)
Career – 1. Alicia Cazemier (437); 16. Jessica Lechner (125)

Solo Blocks
Season – 1. Alicia Cazemier (67)
Career – 1. Alicia Cazemier (146)

Block Assists
Season – 1. Deb Dianda (119)
Career – 1. Alicia Cazemier (291); 16. Jessica Lechner (98)

Attack Percentage
Season – 1. Andrea Donahue (.373)
Career – 1. Alicia Cazemier (.309); 4. Jessica Lechner (.249)

Kills per Game
Season – 1. Diane Vargo (4.61)
Career – 1. Ali Watson (4.10); 6. Alicia Cazemier (3.44) 

Assists per Game
Season – 1. Natalie Bills (12.52)
Career – 1. Natalie Bills (12.16)

Blocks per Game
Season – 1. Alicia Cazemier (1.52)
Career – 1. Alicia Cazemier (1.32) 

Digs per Game
Season – 1. Connie Meyer (4.75)
Career – 1. Connie Meyer (3.96); 3. Nicole Kruse (3.83)

Games Played
Career – 1. Gina Langer (462); 8. Alicia Cazemier (332); 15. Nicole Kruse (241); 16. Jessica Lechner (238)

Sara Schaub was hired as the Yellowjackets' tenth head coach since the program was reinstated in 1984. Schaub’s coaching experience was most recently at Division I Eastern Michigan University where she was the first assistant since 2002.  She helped the Eagles to the program’s first Mid-America Conference West Division Championship in 2005.  Schaub’s responsibilities were recruiting, practice organization, and leading a successful volleyball camp program at Eastern.   

“I am extremely excited and honored to be the next head coach at MSU Billings,” said Schaub.  “I am very grateful to Dr. Gray and the entire search committee for giving me this opportunity.  I feel very fortunate to join such an upbeat and visionary department.  I look forward to working with the student-athletes, building an exciting program, and being part of the Billings community.”

Schaub, originally from Huron, Ohio, was a four-year starter for the Eastern Michigan Eagles as an outside hitter.  Schaub is the only player in Mid-American Conference history to average over four kills and four digs per game in the same season.  She currently holds the record at Eastern Michigan for career attack attempts and is second for career kills and digs, sixth for career aces, and seventh for career block assists.

Schaub graduated from Eastern Michigan in 2001 with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration in Accounting Information Systems.  She also holds a Master of Science in Accounting, graduating Magna Cum Laude from EMU in 2002.  In her free time, Schaub is an avid beach volleyball player and has participated in the Association of Volleyball Professionals, Extreme Volleyball Professionals, and Midwest Professional Volleyball Association, winning many events.

Jay Christensen begins the season as a first-year assistant coach for the Lady Yellowjackets. With a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science-Sports Medicine, he also is a second year graduate student in the athletic training program. 

Christensen moved to Billings from Laie, Hawaii, and comes with a varied athletic background. All-state in soccer and four-time state champion in swimming, he played soccer for a U-17 team throughout Europe and after high school helped represent the United States, swimming in Sydney, Australia, in 2000. 

He enjoys surfing, golfing, swimming, basketball, soccer and reading.  Jay, his wife Cassandra and son Kai live in Billings.

Back to Top