BILLINGS, Mont. – Sitting in a tight middle pack in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings, the Montana State University Billings volleyball team travels to Simon Fraser and 20^th-ranked Western Washington on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
 
The trip not only gives the seventh-place Yellowjackets (7-9, 3-4 GNAC) a chance to tie fifth-place Simon Fraser with a win, but also marks the midway point of the GNAC season.
 
"We've seen some really good stuff in the first half of GNAC play," MSUB head coach Casey Williams said. "But something I think we struggled with last Saturday is our defense. We really wanted to get some great ups and good stops at the net for our teammates, and I feel like we sacrificed our form because we were trying so hard to make plays. We really broke things down this week, focused on form and went back to basics a bit."
 
"That will be a main focus for us as we play Simon Fraser and Western Washington: going back to basics, giving full effort and feeling the pace of the game a little bit more," Williams added.
 
Freshman libero Christine Funk – an integral part of MSUB's defense who ranks ninth in the GNAC with 3.50 digs per set– echoed her coach's sentiment.
 
"Defense was our main focus – not implementing new defenses, but improving on our defensive posture in the back row, making sure our block was big and taking away shots," Funk said. "I think that will be beneficial against big hitters like Western Washington and Simon Fraser."
 
Even though this will be the first time Funk plays Simon Fraser and Western Washington before, the true freshman will be one of the more important players on the court for the Yellowjackets this week. The back line of Funk and Makayla Baca – who has worked her way into the rotation lately – will be tasked with anchoring MSUB's defense against two formidable opponents.
 
Williams says Baca's on-court presence will be critical in the back row as both Baca and Funk continue improving their play together.
 
"Between [Baca] and Christine, I think our scrappiness has picked up," Williams said. "They're continuing to learn and push each other. We've rotated quite a few people in that middle-back position throughout the season, so I'm happy that Makayla has gotten the opportunities and made the most of them."
 
Aside from Funk and Baca, MSUB will rely on their veteran players to be the difference-makers this week.
 
"We need our kids that are battle-tested and that have played the Western Washingtons and Simon Frasers of the world to step up – no matter who's on the court next to them," MSUB head coach Casey Williams said.
 
ABOUT LAST WEEK: Last week was a tale of two games for the 'Jackets.
 
MSUB took care of business against Rocky Mountain College at home with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-13) sweep last Thursday. The game wasn't particularly close. In front of the biggest home crowd of the year, the Yellowjackets exceled in every facet of the game, used a balanced offensive attack and took advantage of the Battlin' Bears disorganized defense to sweep their rivals for the first time since 2008.
 
"It was awesome having a packed crowd," Funk said. "Where I came from, volleyball was our big sport, so having a big audience was a lot of fun to play in front of."
 
The Rimrock Rivalry win was doubly sweet for Funk, who got a little extra boost from the crowd since she one of the few native Montanans on the roster.
 
"One of my friends was in the stands and she said one of the teams couldn't remember my name, but they knew I was from Choteau," Funk recalled. "So they kept cheering 'go Choteau!' Being one of the only girls on the team from Montana, that was really cool to hear."
 
"Rocky has a lot of Montana girls, so I played against a lot of them in high school," Funk added. "Sweeping them was fun too."
 
Riding a four-game home win streak, the Yellowjackets had a few extra days off in between the Rocky game and Saturday's match against Seattle Pacific, which was a clash between some of the GNAC's best hitters. All three sets were close in the 3-0 loss; the team's resolve was apparent once more. Midway in the second set, MSUB stormed back from a 12-4 deficit to force the set to extra points. Yet SPU won the second set 26-24, then the third 25-20 to take the match.
 
STAT CORNER

• Christine Funk ranks ninth in the GNAC – and first among all true freshmen – with 3.50 digs per set.
• Sophomore setter Hannah Hashbarger, who averaged 10.5 assists per set last week, ranks fifth in the GNAC with 7.81 assists per set.
• Senior right side Bayli Monck remains atop several statistical categories in the GNAC, averaging 3.71 kills per set (4^th) on a .330 hitting percentage (4^th).
• Monck broke into MSUB's record books once more with 252 total blocks in her career; this ranks ninth all-time in program history.
• As a team, MSUB ranks fourth in the GNAC with 2.33 blocks per set.

 
UP NEXT: MSUB plays Simon Fraser tomorrow at 8 p.m. MT, then Western Washington on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. MT. Livestream and live stat links can be found at the women's volleyball schedule page on msubsports.com.