BILLINGS, Mont. –The Montana State University Billings Volleyball team will close their season on the road against two Great Northwest Athletic Conference foes. First MSUB takes on Western Oregon University, followed by their final match against Concordia University Portland.
 
The 'Jackets (8-20, 5-13 GNAC) defeated Concordia 3-1 (25-15, 17-25, 25-22, 25-21) on September 19 and swept WOU 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-23) on Sept. 21 when they hosted the two teams in Billings.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Yellowjackets snapped a six game losing streak defeating Seattle Pacific University 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 21-25, 25-19) last Thursday. MSUB was led by Joelle Mahowald who finished with match high .538 hitting percentage and had a team high 17 kills. Bayli Monck added 13 kills and 12 digs for her 13^th double-double of the year.
 
As a team, the Yellowjackets hit .252, their best mark since the victory over Rocky Oct. 22. Playing one of their best games to date, MSUB held SPU to a .186 hitting percentage, had 55 assists to the Falcons' 48 and had fewer errors, 21 compared to SPU's 24.
 
MSUB followed up the win with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-19, 25-22, 25-23) loss at the hands of Saint Martin's University this past Saturday. The win was the first of the year for the Saints and snapped a 31 game losing streak dating back to October of 2018.
 
Maddi Vigil hit 15 kills and recorded 12 digs for her ninth double-double this season and Mahowlad hit .379 with 14 kills but it wasn't enough to prevent MSUB's seventh loss in eight matches. 
 
"We are excited to end season on a positive note," said head coach Casey Williams. "We have had a rollercoaster of a season and I hope that the team finds some consistency in the last two matches.  The last time we saw CU and WOU we had a positive outcome and played two really good matches. I hope that we see the effort and the enthusiasm that we saw last time."
 
BY THE NUMBERS: Monck and Vigil lead the 'Jackets attack and are two of four Yellowjackets that have over 200 kills on the season. Monck has 283 (2.67/set) and Vigil has 281 (2.65/set). Those marks represent the 17 and 18 places overall in the GNAC respectively.
 
Vigil is closing in on 900 kills and 1,000 digs for her career. Currently, she has 889 kills and 965 digs. She is currently 10^th in program history in kills and needs 62 more to move into ninth place.
 
Skylar Reed has 247 kills (2.33/set) and Mahowald has 234 kills (2.09/set) on the year.
 
Mahowald leads the team in hitting percentage with a .318 which is fourth overall in the GNAC. If the season were to end today, Mahowald would be in sixth place all-time for hitting percentage in a single season at MSUB.
 
Hashbarger is among the league leaders in assists as she is currently fifth and leads the team in assists with 867 (9.53/set).
 
Defensively for the 'Jackets, Logozzo leads MSUB with 361 digs (3.65/set) which currently is the 12^th best conference mark. Monck is 17^th in the conference with 336 digs (3.17/set). Vigil is third on the team with 279 (2.65/set).

Combined, MSUB is seventh in the GNAC in terms of hitting percentage with .180 and is ninth allowing opponents to hit .231.
 
Scouting Western Oregon University
Game Day: Thursday, November 21 – 8 p.m. MST
2019 Record: 4-22, 2-17 GNAC, 1-8 home, 1-10 away, 2-4 neutral
2018 Record: 11-16, 9-11 GNAC, 5-7 home, 6-5 away, 0-4 neutral
Head Coach: Stacy Metro (1^st season)

The Wolves are coming off of a 3-2 (19-25, 21-25, 25-20, 25-10, 15-9) loss to Central Washington last Saturday. This past Tuesday, WOU was swept by Concordia 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-18).
 
WOU has lost 13 of their last 14 matches headed into their final week of play.
 
In the first meeting, the 'Jackets beat the Wolves 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-23) on Sept. 21. Mahowald had a strong night on attack with nine kills and a .571 hitting percentage. Logozzo had 17 digs and a pair of assists for MSUB. Hashbarger also posted 30 assists and three kills at her setter position.
 
Combined the Wolves hold a hitting percentage of .161 while allowing opponents to hit .251.
 
Sianna DeCarli has a team leads WOU with 238 kills (2.77/set). Lauren smith is second with 182 kills (2.22/set).
 
Aubrey Stanton has 602 assists (7.62/set) and Allie Spears leads the WOU back line with 387 digs (4.40/set).
 
Scouting Concordia University Portland
Game Day Saturday, November 23 – 8 p.m. MST
2019 Record: 10-16, 8-11 GNAC, 5-7 home, 3-8 away, 2-1 neutral
2018 Record: 12-15, 9-11 GNAC, 8-5 home, 4-7 away, 0-3 neutral
Head Coach: Melanie Hambelton (11^th Season)

The Cavaliers swept WOU Tuesday and have won three of their last 11 matches.
 
In their first match-up, MSUB defeated the Cavaliers 3-1 (25-15, 17-25, 25-22, 25-21) in Billings on Sept. 19. It was the first win against CU in MSUB's history. The Cavs hold a 8-1 all-time record against the 'Jackets.  
 
Reed led the offense with 15 kills and a .303 hitting percentage. The sophomore added a pair of service aces and five digs to the stat sheet for MSUB. Vigil posted her fourth double-double in eight outings with 11 kills, three block assists, and 13 digs.
 
For the Cavs, Jessica Wheeler is ninth in the GNAC with 279 kills (3.10/set) and has added 265 digs (2.94/set) on the year. Zoe DiNardo has 213 kills (2.22/set).
 
Callie Wilkins is one of the very best defenders in the conference as she is second in digs with 549 (5.44/set).
 
Live stats and video for the two matches can be found at msubsports.com.