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The Yellowjackets started last week with
their destiny in their own hands in terms of making a run at
another NCAA Tournament appearance. When the first NCAA
Pacific Region poll came out on Wednesday they debuted at No. 9.
MSUB had an opportunity to pick up big points on Thursday when
they played at league-leader Western Oregon, but they have up a
2-1 lead and lost 3-2.
On Saturday, the Jackets stumbled badly at last place Saint
Martin's, losing 3-1.
Having slipped all the way to fifth in the GNAC standings, the
Jackets now have their backs against the wall and will need to
go on a winning streak to have a chance of climbing back into
the region's top eight.
After coming within a point of sweeping
league-leading Western Oregon Thursday night, Montana State
Billings let both game and match leads slip away in a 31-29,
21-30, 24-30, 30-22, 15-11 loss.
“It was a hard-fought match by both teams,”
said Yellowjacket head coach Sara Schaub. “Our passing picked
up from last week, and our offense executed well. We didn’t use
momentum from winning games two and three, and it’s always tough
to win the fifth game when you’re on the road.”
The Yellowjackets let the lead slip away
from them in what turned out to be a match-changing first game.
They had two game points but failed to convert. Leading 29-27,
the Jackets committed two attack errors and hit into a block to
fall behind 30-29. Haley Kostrba closed the game with a kill
for the Wolves.
MSUB went on to win the next two games to
take a 2-1 lead in the match, but the lapse at the end of game
one ultimately cost them. The Jackets posted a resounding win
in game two, jumping out to an 18-9 lead on a block by Alicia
Cazemier and
Stefania Aladjova. MSUB built its lead to
as many as 11 late in the game before settling for the
nine-point victory.
MSUB had to battle from behind to win the
third game. They took the lead for good at 14-13 on a kill by Jessica
Lechner. A Cazemier kill gave the Jackets
a six-point lead at 21-15, and a pair of kills by Devon
Crotteau nailed down two of the final three
points of the game for MSU Billings. Crotteau had five kills in
the game.
The Wolves showed in the fourth game that
they aren’t in first place by accident. They jumped on the
Jackets early, scoring the game’s first three points. With
first place on the line, WOU broke from a 7-6 lead to run away
with the game. The Wolves led by as many as 11 late in the game
before the Jackets tried to rally. Three-straight kills from
Crotteau pulled MSUB within 28-22, but it wasn’t enough as the
Wolves tied the match and two games apiece.
The fifth game was close most of the way,
and MSUB led 8-7 as the teams traded sides of the court.
Western pulled away from a 9-9 tie with a 6-2 run to lock up the
match and hold onto the first place tie. After hitting solid
all night, the Jackets had seven kills and eight errors in the
deciding fifth game.
Crotteau finished the night with a
career-high 23 kills and 24 digs. She had a .290 attack
percentage on 62 attempts. Cazemier had 17 kills and was in on
seven blocks.
Jennifer Boe added 13 kills and a career-high 20 digs. The
Yellowjackets out-hit the Wolves 70-61 for kills and .197 to
.164 for hitting percentage.
Saint Martin’s capitalized on numerous
Montana State Billings mistakes Saturday night to defeat the
Yellowjackets 30-16, 21-30, 30-18, 30-28. The Saints entered the night with just one
win on the season while MSU Billings was still fighting for an
NCAA Tournament berth. Saint Martin’s put a serious damper on
the Jackets’ regional ranking hopes and improved to 2-19 overall
and 2-9 in the conference. MSUB, ranked ninth in the latest
NCAA Pacific Region poll, dropped to 13-7 overall, 6-5 in the
Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
“Saint Martin’s did a good job of playing
solid, but I felt like we really hurt ourselves,” said MSUB head
coach Sara Schaub. “I didn’t feel like Saint Martin’s did
anything extraordinary to beat us. We were just a step behind
each play.”
For the second-straight match, the
Yellowjackets lost despite having more kills than their opponent
(56-54). Saint Martin’s out-blocked MSU Billings 12-6, and took
advantage of a 12-point swing on ball handling errors. MSU Billings was whistled for an amazing 17 ball handling errors
in the match.
Cazemier and Crotteau had their usual nights for MSU
Billings, posting 19 and 16 kills respectively. Cazemier hit
.368 and Crotteau hit .217. Lechner had nine kills on a .214 hitting
percentage.
Crotteau and
Katrina
Solomon each had 14 digs. Nicole Kruse added 13 digs. Boe added nine kills and 10 digs. Hillary
Morrison handed out a career-high 14
assists while backing up starting setter Aladjova. Aladjova had 36
assists, but was called for 10 handling errors.
Record Watch: There's a chance
that the all-time school record for kills could happen at
Alterowitz Gymnasium. Alicia Cazemier enters the week with
1,339, only 37 behind record holder Jessica Bratton's 1,376.
Cazemier will need two good matches to make it happen on her
home court, needing almost 19 kills each night. If she
doesn't reach the record, it will probably fall by the end of
next week. MSUB is on the road at Central Washington and
Western Washington next week.....Cazemier also needs just seven
total blocks to reach 500 for her career. She already
holds the school record, but 500 will be a worthy milestone.
In the GNAC, the career record for total blocks is 402 and has
stood since 2002. Cazemier won't be eligible for the GNAC
record book because MSUB wasn't a GNAC member for her four
years....Cazemier and Devon Crotteau are quickly climbing the
single season school record list for kills. Both went over
300 last week with Crotteau raching 332 and Cazemier 329.
It's doubtful that either can reach Dian Vargo's record of 526,
but each should get to 400. Only seven times in the
program's history has a player reached 400 kills in a season,
and only once have two players done it in the same season.
Cazemier and Ali Watson each had over 400 in the 2005 season.
From the GNAC:
LAST WEEK: Tuesday – Saint Martin’s 1 at Pacific
Lutheran 3 (30-20, 26-30, 30-20, 30-27). Thursday –
Western Washington 3 at Alaska Anchorage 0 (30-24, 30-17,
30-14); Central Washington 3 at Alaska Fairbanks 1 (30-21,
27-30, 30-26, 30-26); MSU Billings 2 at Western Oregon 3 (31-29,
21-30, 24-30, 30-22, 15-11); Seattle 3 at Saint Martin's 1
(30-19, 31-29, 27-30, 30-19). Saturday – Central
Washington 3 at Alaska Anchorage 0 (30-17, 30-21. 30-18);
Western Washington 3 at Alaska Fairbanks 0 (30-18, 30-13,
30-24); Seattle 0 at Western Oregon 3 (30-24, 30-27, 30-19); MSU
Billings 1 at Saint Martin's 3 (30-16, 21-30, 30-18, 30-28);
Seattle Pacific 1 at Northwest Nazarene 3 (30-27, 30-21, 28-30,
30-19).
UPCOMING: Thursday – Alaska Anchorage at MSU
Billings; Alaska Fairbanks at Seattle; Western Oregon at
Northwest Nazarene; Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific; Central
Washington at Western Washington. Saturday – Alaska
Anchorage at Seattle; Alaska Fairbanks at MSU Billings; Western
Oregon at Seattle Pacific; Saint Martin's at Northwest
Nazarene. (All matches begin at 7 p.m.).
CSTV/AVCA National Division II (Oct. 9) - 28. Western
Washington. NCAA Division II Pacific Region (Oct. 10) -
1. Cal State San Bernardino (17-0); 2. Western Washington
(11-3); 3. Cal State L.A. (10-6); 4. Cal Poly Pomona (13-4); 5.
Chico State (11-6); 6. Western Oregon (11-5); 7. UC San Diego
(11-6); 8. Northwest Nazarene (11-6); 9. Montana State Billings
(12-5); 10. Seattle Pacific (9-8). (Note: Regional polls
will also be released on Oct. 24 and Nov. 7).
NCAA National Statistics (Oct. 7): Individuals (Top 50):
Kills - 28. Alyssa Given, SPU, 4.40; 38. Alicia Cazemier, MSUB,
and Devon Crotteau, MSUB, 4.25. Hitting Percentage - 29. Rachael
Schurman, CWU, .363; 41. Tiana Roma, WWU, .347. Assists - 42.
Stefania Aladjova, MSUB, 11.65. Aces - 7. Alyssa Given, SPU,
0.81; 19. Stefania Aladjova, MSUB, 0.74; 50. Devon Crotteau,
MSUB, 0.62. Digs - 2. Courtney Schneider, WWU, 7.46. Blocks - 6.
Angie Alvord, WWU, 1.41; 22. Emily Powell, SU, 1.34; 23. Rachael
Schurman, CWU, 1.31; 47. Cammy Dranginis, NNU, 1.21. Team
(Top 50): Hitting PCT. - 38. Western Washington .241.
Assists - 48. Montana State Billings 13.61. Digs - 6. Western
Oregon 20.90, 30. Seattle 19.59. Blocks - 23. Central Washington
2.62; 40. Western Washington 2.48; 42. Seattle 2.46.
GNAC
PLAYERS-OF-THE-WEEK: Cammy Dranginis, Northwest Nazarene
(MB, 6-0, So., Nampa, ID - Skyview) and Erin Norris, Central
Washington (OP-MB, 5-10, So., Spokane, WA - Mead). . .Dranginis
had 17 kills, 10 blocks and two aces in NNU’s 3-1 home win over
Seattle Pacific, its first win over the Falcons in more than
four years. Her six solo blocks was just one off the GNAC
single-match record of seven. . .Norris had 21 kills, 11 aces
and nine blocks in two road wins in Alaska. Norris has had 20
aces in her last four matches to increase her season total to
51. She now ranks third in the conference in aces and is the
leader in conference games with 40 in 41 contests. She also
ranks fifth in the GNAC in blocks, averaging 1.17 per game.
HONORABLE
MENTION: Stacey Bennett, Western Oregon (OH-MB, 6-3, Jr.,
Portland, OR - Westview) netted 35 kills, including a
career-best 19 in Saturday’s 3-0 sweep of Seattle. The 19 kills
are the most for a GNAC player this fall in a three-game match.
Bennett also hit .380 (35-8-73) in the Wolves’ two victories and
added seven blocks. . .Jaime Anderson, Western Washington (OH,
6-0, Sr., SeaTac, WA – Mount Rainier) led the Vikings with 29 ½
points (24 kills, three aces, 5 blocking assists) in sweeps at
UAA and UAF. Anderson also had 22 digs. . .Kirstyn Druzianich,
Saint Martin’s (RS, 6-0, Fr., Puyallup, WA - Bellarmine) had 23
kills, 29 digs and five blocks and hit for a .375 average as the
Saints split two conference matches. She also had six blocks in
a non-conference loss to Pacific Lutheran.
AROUND THE
GNAC: Rachael Schurman led Central Washington with 25 kills
and 16 blocks in its two wins in Alaska. The Wildcats out
blocked their two opponents 28-17 and held them to .063 attack
percentage. . . Much of Western Oregon’s advantage in its home
wins over MSU Billings and Seattle came at the serving line.
The Wolves only out hit their opponents by 10 points (.174 -
.164), but outscored them in service situations 39-18 (13 aces,
26 opponent errors compared to five aces, 13 opponent errors). .
. .Western Washington’s Courtney Schneider had 44 digs in two
matches increasing her career total to 2,328, which is sixth on
the NCAA Division II all-time career list. Her career average
of 6.86 is on pace to set a NCAA record. The NCAA doesn’t
recognize per game performances until an athlete has completed
their eligibility. . .Shealun Campisi had 44 kills and 40 digs
and accounted for 51 points in three matches. In SMU’s two
conference matches, she had 27 kills and 27 digs. . .Nikole
Thompson had 28 kills to move into third-place on Seattle
University’s career kill list with 1,120. Josie Christiansen
led the Redhawks in their two matches with 12 blocks. . .Joanna
Johnson led Alaska Anchorage with 25 kills and Rachel Kidwell
had 26 digs in losses to WWU and CWU. Jessica King led Alaska
Fairbanks with 22 kills against the same two opponents. . .MSU
Billings’ Devon Crotteau had 39 kills and 38 digs and scored 43
points and Alicia Cazemier had 36 kills, eight blocks and 41 ½
points in road losses at Western Oregon and Saint Martin’s. The
Yellowjackets had a 40-20 deficit on reception errors and
ball-handling errors in the two matches. . .Alyssa Given had 18
kills and 18 digs in Seattle Pacific’s loss at Northwest
Nazarene.
W-L RECORDS:
Five GNAC teams were ranked in the Top 10, including three in
the Top 8, in the first NCAA Pacific Regional poll released
last Wednesday. The next poll will be released Wednesday, Oct.
24. . .Western Washington has won nine straight, seven by 3-0
margins, while Western Oregon has won seven straight. Alaska
Anchorage has lost five in a row. . .GNAC teams are 39-41 in
non-conference matches following Saint Martin’s 3-1 loss at
Pacific Lutheran Tuesday. The only remaining non-conference
contest is Nov. 1 when Montana State Billings hosts Rocky
Mountain. . . GNAC teams finished 22-25 against Pacific Region
opponents, including 17-18 against CCAA teams and 5-7 against
the PacWest. |
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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.