GOLDEN, Colo. -- The Montana State University Billings volleyball team pulled off a few surprises Friday afternoon at the 2011 Oredigger Classic hosted by Colorado Mines, defeating Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference favorite Colorado Mesa and tournament host Colorado Mines to open the season.

 

The Yellowjackets (2-0), who didn't earn their first victory a year ago until conference season, pulled off a stunner early in the afternoon, defeating Colorado Mesa 3-2 (25-18, 18-25, 15-25, 25-21, 16-14) to earn the programs 300^th victory since re-instating the program in 1984, then defeated Mines in four games (25-22, 12-25, 28-26, 25-22).

 

“It was great to get two quality wins today,” said third year head coach Steve Smith. “We've shown that we're capable of winning some very tough matches and I felt like we really battled back when we were down in sets. There's still a lot to improve on, but we're in a very good place right now and it's nice to get this kind of start.”

 

Monica Grimsrud and Krista Norris led the way in kills for the Yellowjackets as they both hammered down 12 points, while senior Melissa Porter had 11. Porter hit .308 during the match and had three blocks, which tied her with Norris and Chelsey Walter.

 

Senior Brooke Tolman had 48 assists even after crashing into the referee's stand and cutting a gash in her head. Morgan Moss led the team in the digs department as she came up with 28 balls in the win.

 

After winning the first set, the Jackets dropped the next two, but reeled off the final seven points of the fourth set after trailing 23-19 to even the match. The fifth set was back and forth the entire time, but an attacking error at the end and a kill by Porter ended the match.

 

Against Mines it was again Porter and Grimsrud with the big swings, combining for 13 and 14 kills, respectively. Porter hit .385 for the match, while Grimsrud hit .294 with two blocks.

 

Sophomore Taylor Adams recorded a career-high six blocks and had six kills, hitting .333 in the match. Tolman had 46 assists in the match, while Moss again led the way with 23 digs.

 

The Yellowjackets hit .221 as a team and won the first set with a .333 hitting percentage. As a team, MSUB had four aces and scored seven blocks in the match.

 

After splitting the first two sets, MSUB trailed in the third set 24-21, but the Yellowjackets came back to tie the set at 24-24. A kill by Adams at 26-26 and an attacking error by the Orediggers allowed the Jackets to gain control of the match.

 

The Jackets stayed in control of the fourth set by out-hitting Mines .289 to .226. MSUB committed just five errors in the final set to go 2-0 against the RMAC schools.

 

The Yellowjackets will return to the court tomorrow afternoon when they play Northwood University (Mich.) at 10 a.m. and wrap up the tournament with a match at 4:30 p.m. against King College (Tenn.).