BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings' volleyball team makes its final road trip of the regular season to University of Alaska Anchorage and University of Alaska Fairbanks Thursday and Saturday.

The Yellowjackets (10-12, 7-7 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) have the opportunity to clinch at least a .500 record in conference play with a pair of wins this week. MSUB is currently in sixth in the GNAC standings, a match behind Seattle Pacific. Montana State Billings is coming off of a split last week. At home, the Yellowjackets fell to Western Oregon in straight sets and beat Saint Martin's in four sets.

In those matches, Monica Grimsrud led the way with 35 kills, three service aces and two solo blocks. Taylor Adams contributed 20 kills, a .255 hitting percentage and three total blocks. Other key players included Erin Compton (47 digs), Kyndal Williams (69 assists, 17 digs) and Jody Lutz (13 kills, 5 total blocks).

Compton, the school's new digs in a single-season record-holder, remains second in the GNAC and eighth in NCAA Div. II in digs per set averaging 5.99. Grimsrud is fourth and fifth in the conference with 3.57 kills per set and 3.98 points per set. Williams is fourth with 9.94 assists per frame and Lutz it 10th with a .280 hitting percentage.

Montana State Billings travels to Alaska Anchorage (15-7, 10-4 GNAC) Thursday, where it is 4-16 all-time. The Yellowjackets are 10-34 all-time versus UAA. The Seawolves have won the past five meetings, winning 15 of the 16 sets. The last time MSUB beat Alaska-Anchorage was in four sets in Billings on Sept. 28, 2009. That same season, the Yellowjackets won in Anchorage. MSU Billings is UAA's second-most common opponent behind Alaska Fairbanks. The series began in 1980.

In the meeting earlier this season, the Seawolves won a four-set match in Billings on Oct. 13. Sarah Johnson led Alaska Anchorage with 12 kills, while Julia Mackey and Jodi Huddleston added 11 and 10 respectively. Huddleston finished with a .292 hitting percentage. Kimya Jafroudi had 41 of UAA's 46 assists. Four Seawolves ended in double-digits with digs led by Siobhan Johansen's 15. Sarah Johnson added 13 digs, and Nikkie Viotto and Jafroudi both had 12.

Grimsrud and Lutz both had 12 kills. Compton finished with a match-high 24 digs, and Williams totaled 32 assists. Grimsrud and Taylor Adams both finished with four blocks.

The Seawolves have won nine of their 11 home contests this season. Alaska-Anchorage averages a conference-best 16.89 digs per set. The Seawolves rank No. 2 in the GNAC in five of the seven main stats categories — digs per set (16.5), aces per set (1.6), kills per set (13.0), assists per set (12.1) and opponent attack pct. (.162). Jafroudi is 18th in NCAA Div. 2 in assists per set (10.98) and first in the GNAC in aces per set (0.49). UAA is coming off of a three-set win at Simon Fraser.

Saturday, the Yellowjacket are at Alaska Fairbanks (5-15, 3-11), which is closing out its home regular season schedule. Last week, UAF went 1-1 on its road trip, beating Simon Fraser in five sets and losing in straight sets to 17th-ranked Western Washington.

The Nanooks' Katlyn Mataya dished out 78 assists (61 at SFU) and 26 digs while Allison Oddy led the back court with a team-best 40 digs. Megan Morrison totaled 21 kills and three total blocks in the split.

In the GNAC rankings, Mataya remained fifth in assists with 9.70 per set. Harthun moved up to sixth in both kills with 3.45 per set and points with 3.87 per set. Oddy also stayed in seventh with 4.51 digs per set.

The Yellowjackets have won 21 of the 45 all-time meetings against UAF, including five of the last six. MSU Billings grabbed a three-set win in the last meeting between the schools on Oct. 11, in Billings. Grimsrud led MSU Billings with a match-high 12 kills. Williams tied for a match-high 31 assists. Compton had 11 of her 19 digs in the first set, while Morgan Moss added 15 digs.

As a team, Montana State Billings finished with a .151 hitting percentage, while Alaska-Fairbanks was held to .064. MSUB had a 38-34 kill advantage. The Nanooks committed 26 attack errors to Montana State Billings' 20.

Alaska Fairbanks was led by Harthun's 11 kills and three assisted blocks. Britt Glaeser had a match-high five blocks. Mataya finished with 31 assists, and Oddy had a match-high 21 digs.

Both Yellowjackets' matches will be available with live video streams and live stats on MSUBSports.com. Thursday's match begins at 9 p.m. Mountain Time, while Saturday's afternoon matinee starts at 5 p.m. Mountain Time.