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BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings volleyball team played some of their best volleyball in recent weeks on Thursday night in front of their home crowd, but it was not enough to lift the Yellowjackets over the University of Alaska Anchorage, the second-ranked team in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, as the 'Jackets fell 3-0 (25-19, 25-23 and 25-20) to the Seawolves inside Alterowitz Gymnasium.
 
After the loss, MSUB is now 9-14 overall for the 2011 season and sit 3-11 in league action while UAA improves to 15-6 overall and now match the 24^th-ranked Seattle Pacific University with an 11-2 mark in the GNAC. SPU owns the tiebreaker between the two and remains one game ahead in the race for the 2011 GNAC volleyball crown.
 
“I feel like we played a lot better tonight overall than we have been playing,” said head coach Steve Smith shortly after the conclusion of the match. “We were hitting a little better but we still have some work to do.”
 
Anchorage opened the match by hitting .324 as a team to claim the first set 25-19. MSUB made a late surge in the second set, holding the Seawolves to a .156 hitting percentage, but fell just short to enter intermission down 0-2 after the 25-23 set.
 
Despite being down in sets and falling behind early in the third set, the feisty 'Jackets made another late surge to try to keep the match alive, but they once again fell just short as Anchorage claimed the third and final set 25-20.
 
Freshman hitter Monica Grimsrud led the Yellowjacket attack with 13 kills in the match. She also tallied six digs and one solo block.
 
Senior Melissa Porter and sophomore Taylor Adams each recorded seven terminations in the match while freshman Chelsey Walter had six terminations of her own to go along with one solo block as well as a block assist. Adams hit an impressive .636 as she did not commit a single error in the match (7-0-11).
 
Jackie Matthisen led all attackers in the contest with 15 kills while hitting a solid .308 (15-3-39) to go along with 14 digs for the only double-double of the match.
 
As a team, Anchorage recorded 12 total blocks to MSUB's four and hit .257 compared to the Yellowjackets' .118.
 
The Yellowjackets will remain at home this weekend for a Saturday night match against the other University of Alaska team, the University of Alaska Fairbanks (2-18, 2-10 GNAC) at 7 p.m.
 
The match will serve as MSUB's second-annual “Girl Scout Night” as MSUB is partnering with the Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming, including hosting a free clinic from 10 a.m. until noon Saturday morning. Participating Girl Scouts will be given basic instruction on the fundamentals of volleyball under the guidance of Coach Smith and the team.