Volleyball | 11/12/2013 11:11:00 AM

MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon University volleyball team closes the 2013 home schedule this week against Montana State University Billings Thursday and Seattle Pacific Saturday. The Wolves will recognize a trio of seniors before Saturday's match.

With two weeks left in the regular season, Western Oregon (9-15, 6-8 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) has a chance to move into a tie with SPU for fifth place in the conference standings with a pair of wins and some help from other teams. WOU can also complete its home slate with winning record with two wins this week. The Wolves have won six of their 13 matches inside the New P.E. Building this season.

Last Saturday in a five-set win at Simon Fraser, the Wolves' Becky Blees broke the all-time GNAC record for block assists in a career. The senior has amassed 370 block assists since her freshman season in 2010. She entered the match tied with Northwest Nazarene alum Cammy Dranginis' four-year-old record of 367. Blees is also currently fifth all-time in the GNAC in total blocks.

Western Oregon battled with Simon Fraser in the match. After winning the first set, 25-21, WOU had to battle back from two straight set losses. Western Oregon won the fourth and fifth sets, 25-23 and 15-12. Blees was one of four WOU players to finish with double-digit kills. She had 10 terminations with a .421 attack percentage. Blees also had a pair of service aces.

Hannah Deede added 12, while Christie Colasurdo and Cherene O'Hara both had 11. Colasurdo completed a double-double with 16 digs. Megan Triggs hada match-high 28 digs. Jordin Ramos had 10 digs and a match-high 30 assists.

Montana State Billings (5-18, 2-12 GNAC) slides into Thursday's match in Monmouth after an upset win over regionally-ranked sixth Central Washington last week. However, MSU Billings have won just two of its last 11 outings. The Yellowjackets are 0-9 when playing on an opponents' floor this year. MSUB is hitting .158 this season, while its opponents have a .230 hitting percentage.

Monica Grimsrud is fourth in the conference averaging 3.6 kills per set. The junior had 50 kills, including a GNAC season-high 30 as the Yellowjackets upset CWU. Grimsrud, who was named GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, hit for a .291 percentage (50-18-110) as MSUB split two matches, outlasting the Wildcats 3-2 before falling 3-1 to Northwest Nazarene. Grimsrud had 20 kills in the latter contest, matching the eighth highest total this fall in the GNAC in a four-set match.

Western Oregon has won 13 of the 17 all-time meetings with the Yellowjackets, including a five-set match earlier this season in Billings. The Wolves dominated the fifth set for the win. WOU hit .104 in the match, and held the Yellowjackets to .058. MSUB had a 49-38 advantage in kills, but it also had 40 attack errors and 11 service errors. Blees led Western Oregon with nine kills. Triggs had a match-high 20 digs. Ramos and Erin Dobson had 19 and 12 assists. Krissi Kemper had seven kills and hit .294, she also assisted on seven blocks.

The Wolves have won six of the seven all-time matchups in Monmouth versus MSUB. The first three meetings between the programs were in Spokane, Wash., dating back to a WOU win on Sept. 20, 1986. Western Oregon won seven of the first eight all-time clashes, and has won four straight over in the series. The last Yellowjacket win in the series came in Billings, on Sept. 24, 2011, in four sets. The Wolves last loss at home to MSU Billings came in 2010.

Saturday, Seattle Pacific (12-10, 8-6) and Western Oregon meet for the 39th time in a series that began in 1986. After trading sweeps at home last season, the Falcons grabbed a five-set win in Seattle earlier this season over WOU. The back-and-forth match featured 30 ties and 11 lead changes. The first set had 16 ties and 11 lead changes. SPU finished with a .174 attack percentage, while Western Oregon had a .173 percentage. The Wolves held a slim 60-56 edge in terminations, but had 32 attack errors, while Seattle Pacific had 29. Western Oregon had 11 service errors, and SPU had seven.

Madi Cavell was one of three Falcons that finished in double-digit kills. She had a match-high 15, while adding 16 digs for the double-double performance. Nikki Lowell and Jackie Arnold had 14 and 10 kills. Kendall Langdon and Sara Biondi combined for 45 of SPU's 51 assists. Arnold had nine block assists and Cavell had eight block assists.

Deede and Kemper both had 12 kills. Kemper finished with a .526 hitting percentage. Ramos finished with a double-double of 23 assists and 12 digs. Dobson dished out 21 assists, and Triggs had a match-high 20 digs. Deede was also in on seven blocks.

Offensively, SPU is last in the GNAC in hitting percentage at .152. But, defensively, the Falcons are near flawless. It is second in the conference in opponents' hitting percentage at .150. At the net, Seattle Pacific is in the top 10 in NCAA Div. II in blocks. As a team, the Falcons are averaging 2.59 per outing. Saturday's match will feature two of the best blockers in GNAC history, as Blees and Lowell are both top five all-time in the conference in total blocks.

On Saturday, Western Oregon will honor Blees, Kemper, and Triggs who have all been part of incredible teams the past four seasons at WOU. The three seniors will be playing their final matches inside the New P.E. Building. Both Thursday and Saturday matches begin at 7 p.m. Live video and stats will be available on WOUWolves.com, and the matches will be broadcasted throughout the Willamette Valley on KWVT.