by BILLINGS, Mont. – MSU Billings fell in four sets to visiting Central Washington in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match 23-25, 25-23, 25-13, and 25-17 Thursday at Alterowitz.
Montana State University Billings (3-17, 2-9 GNAC) opened with a first set win and played point-for-point with Central Washington (12-8, 8-4 GNAC) through the opening two sets. The Wildcats were able to make adjustments at the net in the final two frames, forcing errors on the Yellowjacket side as MSUB was unable to find an answer against the CWU defense.
“I thought that we came out really strong and competed really well in the first two sets,” MSUB head coach Casey Williams said. “After that, we let a lot of things fall, we didn’t play aggressively and we made a lot of errors that CWU capitalized on. For Saturday’s home match, I would like to see us come back with more confidence in order to compete at the level of volleyball I know we are capable of.”
Ashlynn Ward (Standing Rock Sioux) finished with a match-high 20 kills for MSUB. Stormy Siemion completed her ninth double-double of the season with 17 kills and 16 digs. The Yellowjackets opened hitting .296 in the first set, but adjustments by the CWU front line dropped MSUB’s final match hitting percentage to .140 (55-31-171).
MSUB finished with 7.0 team blocks. Casey Rich posted five and Ward four. Angala Jensen had 50 assists and seven digs.Kylee Cornelio recorded a team-high 24 digs. Mataia Robinson served up a match-high two aces.
Central Washington recorded 14.5 team blocks with Erin Little (8.0), Sabrina Wheelhouse (6.0), and Kiah Jones (5.0) leading the charge for the Wildcats. Jordan Deming finished with a team-high 14 kills with Jones and Madison Weg adding in 11 each. CWU hit .288 on the night (59-14-156) spearheaded by a .579 from Weg.
THE BUZZ: Ward named the St. Vincent Healthcare Athlete of the Match for her third 20-plus kill match of the season…MSUB improved on its performance from its first season match against the Wildcats, taking a set from CWU…tonight’s match also stopped a five match streak of three set losses to Central Washington.
UP NEXT: MSU Billings continues its home stand with a conference match, hosting Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m.
