BILLINGS, Mont. – The road stretch begins this weekend as the Montana State University Billings volleyball team will travel to Nampa, Idaho to face No. 13 Northwest Nazarene (23-2, 15-2 GNAC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. before heading to Ellensberg, Wash. to match up with Central Washington (18-7, 13-4 GNAC) on Saturday at 8 p.m. Both opponents beat the 'Jackets when visiting Billings earlier this season.
 
The Nighthawks defeated the Wildcats in Nampa on Tuesday night in a tightly contested five-set match. Central Washington took the first two sets before NNU rallied to win the final three sets to seal the win. CWU had previously defeated the Nighthawks in five sets earlier in the season.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The home slate for the Montana State University Billings volleyball team ended last week with matches against Western Oregon University and Concordia University in Alterowitz Gym. The 'Jackets split a pair of five-set matches with a 3-2 win over the Wolves and a 3-2 loss to the Cavaliers. Maddi Vigil recorded double-doubles in both matches last week on her way to totaling 32 kills and 40 digs. Kylee Clarke recorded 109 assists in the two matches with totals of 59 and 50, her previous season-high for a match was 38. The 'Jackets had four players record double-digit kills in each match, a feat they hadn't accomplished prior to last week.
 
NUMBERS AND NOTES
 
WELCOME TO THE CLUB: After spending five years as the only Yellowjacket to record more than 500 digs in a season, Erin Compton was joined by Izela Alvarez this past week as MSUB's libero accounted for 57 digs in two matches to give her 529 this season. Alvarez is 48 digs shy of tying Compton's single-season record of 577. With her current GNAC-leading 5.69 digs per set, Alvarez is on pace to record 68 digs over the next 12 sets to break the record and total 597 digs in her first season at MSUB. Only one other player in the GNAC has recorded more than 500 digs this season, Alaska Anchorage's Keala Kaio-Perez has 542 while playing 11 more sets than Alvarez.
 
BLOCK-BLOCK WHO'S THERE: For the first time this season the Yellowjackets recorded back-to-back match with 10 total blocks or more with a season-best 13 against Western Washington and 10 against Concordia. MSUB is 3-1 when the team stuffs 10 or more attacks with the only loss coming against CU. The two other instances came in five set wins over the University of Alaska and Saint Martin's. The block has now reached double-digits in three of their past four games. Miranda McConnell has led the block in all three wins while Hali Ehresmann tallied a season-high seven block-assists against Concordia to lead the team on Saturday. Bayli Monck has been increasingly effective as a blocker as the right side recorded seven block-assists against the Wolves and has tallied at least one block-assist in the past five matches.  
 
MAKING IT PERSONAL: Last Thursday the Yellowjackets recorded numerous personal-bests over five sets against Western Oregon. McConnell posted her season high with eight block-assists in the win over WOU after setting her personal-best just a week earlier with seven in the win over Saint Martin's. Monck also set her recorded a season-high in block-assists as she helped deny the Wolves' attack seven times on Thursday. Ehresmann delivered 14 kills against the Wolves to set a new individual high while Jordan Mix also recorded 14 to tie her season best. Clarke tallied an impressive 59 assists in the match against WOU, which is the second-highest total recorded in GNAC match this season. Vigil's 22 digs ties her best outing of the season and Alvarez had four service aces, tying her previous season best.
 
300 IN (R)EACH: Maddi Vigil recorded her ninth and 10th double-doubles of the season last week and totaled 32 kills and 40 digs in two matches. She now has 286 kills and 278 digs this season and could eclipse the 300 benchmark in both categories. Stormy Siemion accomplished the feat last season ending what had been five year drought since Jennifer Boe reached the quota in 2010.  
 
FILL IN THE RANK: Alvarez continues lead the conference with 5.69 digs per set and is now sixth in the GNAC with .34 aces per set. Vigil is ninth in the conference with 3.24 kills per set and 20th with an average of 3.16 digs. She also ranks 12th with 3.58 points per set. Clarke and Smythe each rank in the top-10 for assists per set, Clarke ranks fifth with 8.62 assists per set followed by Smythe's 7.06 pace in eighth.
 
GNAC PACK: No. 8 Western Washington sits atop the conference with a 21-3, 15-1 GNAC record and is currently riding a 14-game winning streak. Thursday's opponent, No. 13 NNU is in second place and hold a perfect 13-0 record in home matches this season. Central Washington is in third coming off of the loss to NNU on Tuesday night.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW
 
No. 13 NORTHWEST NAZARENE NIGHTHAWKS: The Nighthawks have controlled the series against the 'Jackets with an overall record of 20-5 and a near perfect 10-1 record in Nampa. MSUB's only win while visiting NNU came back in 2010 when the 'Jackets swept the Nighthawks. NNU has won the last 10 meetings between the teams.
 
Northwest Nazarene's Madi Farrell has been an offensive juggernaut all season and ranks second in the nation with her GNAC-leading .443 hitting percentage. Farrell is third in the conference and 30th in the nation with 3.98 kills per set behind her teammate Kendra Bodine who leads the conference with her 4.31 kills per set ranking 12th in the nation. Farrell is fifth in the nation with 1.39 blocks per set which ranks third in the GNAC.  
 
In the first meeting against the 'Jackets in Billings, the Nighthawks recorded a season-best .452 hitting percentage as a team. Madi Farrell hit .500 in the match as the nation's most efficient attacker recorded 13 kills for NNU. Vigil led the 'Jackets offense with nine kills followed by Katie Campbell with six.
 
Doug English is in his fifth season guiding the Nighthawks and holds a 104-28 record at the helm of the program. In 2016 Northwest Nazarene reached the NCAA tournament for the second time under English and NNU recorded its first tournament win. Prior to joining NNU English was an assistant at the University of Delaware.    
 
CENTRAL WASHINTON WILDCATS: The Wildcats are currently on a seven match winning streak against the 'Jackets including their 3-0 win in Billings earlier this season. CWU has only lost one conference game in Ellensberg this season when they opened GNAC play against Western Washington with a 3-1 loss.
 
Central Washington has been the most prolific defensive force in the conference all season as Sabrina Wheelhouse leads the nation with 1.55 blocks per set. As a team, the wildcats are second in Division II with 2.79 blocks per set. Kyla Morgan leads the teams with 5.17 digs per set which ranks fourth in the conference and Shelby Maurtison is fourth in the GNAC with 3.65 kills per set.  
 
The Wildcats smothered the MSUB offense in the first match of the season. Central held the 'Jackets to their lowest hitting performance of the year with as the CWU defense collected 10 blocks in three sets. Wheelhouse and Mauritson each recorded five block-assists in the match while Bridgette Webb had two solo blocks for the Wildcats.
 
Mario Andaya is in his 22nd season as the head coach at Central Washington. The Wildcats have a 357-246 record over Andaya's tenure as head coach and he has led them to six NCAA tournament appearances since the program joined the GNAC in 2001. The Bothell, Wash. native competed on the CWU track and field team before embarking on his coaching career
 
FOLLOW LIVE: Live video and statistics will be available for all MSUB home matches and all GNAC road contests throughout the 2017 season, through MSUB's Stretch Internet portal.