MONMOUTH, Ore. – MSU Billings had 45 kills in the straight-set win over Western Oregon Saturday night. The Yellowjackets finished their last match of the season with a 25-23, 25-23, and 25-19 victory.
Playing in her last collegiate volleyball match, senior
Monica Grimsrud came up with a team-high 15 kills on the night. The outside hitter also had three blocks and two service aces in the win.
Senior middle hitter/outside hitter
Chelsey Walter hit .364 putting down six terminations in the final match of the year.
Krista Norris also had a great match to end her career. The outside hitter put-down seven kills while also contributing five digs and a block at the net.
MSU Billings needed a comeback in every set of the match. The Yellowjackets used huge momentum shifts late in each set to take control and come out on top to end their final Great Northwest Athletic Conference match with a 13-14 overall record and 8-10 in conference play.
In the first frame, the Yellowjackets were down 16-9 in the early going when a kill from Grimsrud started a 10-3 run for MSUB to tie the set at 19-all. Two kills from Hannah Deede put WOU back on top, 21-19. The Yellowjackets burned a timeout to try and change the momentum.
Out of the break another kill from Grimsrud and a set-dump from
Kyndal Williams tied everything back up at 21-21; this time forcing WOU to call for a timeout. A big block at the net from
Alaina Gentili and Grimsrud gave the Yellowjackets set point. MSUB's
Ashlynn Ward came through on the right-side with a big kill giving MSU Billings a 1-0 set lead.
Late in the second set, MSUB found itself against the ropes, this time down 18-15. A kill from Ward off the WOU block and a kill down the line from Norris pulled the Yellowjackets to within one. Both teams rallied to take the score to an even 23-all.
After an MSU Billings timeout, an error from the Wolves and another great block at the net from Gentili and Ward put the Yellowjackets up 2-0.
In the third set, Western Oregon University (3-15, 5-21) went out quickly to take a 7-2 lead. The Yellowjackets fought their way back in. MSUB set-up some big blocks at the set for four straight points, and caused two errors by WOU to make a comeback into the third frame.
MSUB continued to roll with five more points before Western Oregon took the ball back off a big swing from Samantha Moore.
MSU Billings got a side-out right back, punching in three more points to take a 14-9 lead. The Wolves weren't out of it yet. Western Oregon came-up with a 6-1 run tying the set up at 15-all forcing MSUB to call its first timeout of the third set.
Out of the break, Grimsrud hit a big attack into the cross court closing the set to within five, 20-18. Three points, including two service aces from Grimsrud, had MSUB two points from the set, 23-19 forcing WOU to call a timeout to try and settle the team one more time. An attack error from Western Oregon and a big block from Norris and Gentili finished the match, giving the Yellowjackets the straight-set win.
Montana State University Billings finished the match with 44 kills on a .257 attack percentage. The Yellowjackets also had a slight edge in blocks, 7.0-6.5, assists, 42-40, and digs, 47-46.
Western Oregon senior Deede completed a match-high 16 kills on a tremendous .583 attack percentage to lead the Wolves. Deede was also the block leader; she finished with four. Libero Christie Colasurdo provided the team with 17 digs, while Jordin Ramos contributed 23 assists.
MSUB's Williams completed her ninth double-double of the season, leading all players with 37 assists while pulling up 10 digs. Libero
Haley Wells had a team-high 16 digs. Sophomore Ward completed nine kills and had three block assists at the net. Freshman middle blocker Gentili was the match-leader in total blocks, setting-up seven block assists in the match.
This was the final match for both teams for the 2014 season. The GNAC does not have a conference volleyball tournament.
