The Retort

‘Jackets Down Nanooks on Senior Night, Win Fifth-Straight

November 20th, 2009 by MSUB Athletics For The Retort

The Montana State Billings volleyball team sent three seniors off in style, avenging an early season loss to the University of Alaska Fairbanks, 25-20, 25-22, 25-11 on November 7 at Alterowitz Gymnasium. The win marked the 16th of the season overall and was the Yellowjackets fifth-straight victory.

“It was a pretty good performance by the team tonight,” said head coach Steve Smith. “Fairbanks is a really strong team at the net and gave us some problems, but we were able to overcome that with great ball control. They made some runs at us in all three sets but we hung tough and we were able to get the match-ups we wanted. I’m really happy for the seniors and the way they played tonight in their final game at home.”

Montana State Billings was led by senior Devon Crotteau who recorded another double-double with 17 kills and 11 digs, hitting .538 for the match. Fellow seniors, Hillary Morrison and Jill Trabing both finished their last home match with stellar performances. Morrison finished the night with 34 assists and six digs, while Trabing collected 15 digs for the match.

MSUB controlled the match throughout the night, taking the first set after opening a 19-12 lead midway through. As a team, the Yellowjackets hight .323 in the set and finished the Nanooks on a block by Melissa Porter and Hannah Johnson.

The second set began in the favor of MSUB as they built a 12-4 lead to begin. Fairbanks would close the gap at 22-20 when Heather Lyons had a kill from Alexa Sherman. Jody Lutz finished off the set with one of her nine kills to give MSUB a 2-0 lead going into the break.

In the last meeting between the two teams (Sept. 17), Fairbanks was able to shake off a 2-0 deficit to defeat the ‘Jackets, 3-2, in Fairbanks.

The Yellowjackets would dominate the third set though, as they started off with a 13-5 lead after a service ace by Lutz. MSUB had its lowest hitting percentage of the night, .290, but closed down the match with a 12-4 run to earn the fourth sweep in five matches.

Fairbanks (11-14, 5-9) was led by Melissa Refuerzo and Heather Lyons, as each had nine kills on the night, while Sherman tallied 29 assists and Sherman also added 10 digs to lead the team. The Nanooks hit .115 as a team and collected 40 digs with three blocks and one service ace.

MSUB (16-10, 9-5) hit for .306 as a team and had five service aces to go with 53 digs and eight blocks as a team. Along with the five-game winning streak, MSUB has won seven of its last nine and keep their potential playoff hopes alive.

The Yellowjackets will now hit the road to finish off the conference season with matches on Thursday, November 12, at Central Washington and Saturday, November 14, at Western Washington. MSUB dropped both of its games earlier this season to its next two opponents. The ‘Jackets beat Central Washington, 3-0, and lost to Western Washington. The Yellowjackets now stand at 17-11 overall and 10-6 in the conference.