It’s a Wrap: 'Cats Notch Second Straight 20-Win Season
12/1/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
team completed their 1999 season with a 20-10 overall mark and a 10-6 Big Sky Conferencerecord. En route, MSU posted their second consecutive 20-win season and made their fourthstraight appearance in the Big Sky Conference tournament. The Bobcats had five players earnall-Big Sky recognition this season, including Stephanie Laya, who was a first-team all-leagueselection.
DANCING UNDER THE BIG SKY: It was a Big Sky Confernce to remember if you likeunder-dogs. No. 3 seeded MSU bowed out early to #6 Cal State Northridge inopening-round action, dropping a 17-15, 15-4, 15-9 decision to the Matadors. Northridgethen upset #1 Cal State Sacramento, before losing to #4 Northern Arizona in thechampionship tilt. Against CSN, the Bobcats were paced by senior Mindy Nowak, who tallieda team-high 12 kills and hit .306 from the floor. The 5-foot-10 outside hitter from Marysville,Wash., also chipped in 13 digs and a block. Also in double-figure kill totals for the ‘Cats wasStephanie Laya, who finished the game with ten kills and a match-high 18 digs.
THE ‘CATS MEOW: Junior Stephanie Laya was named to the first-team all-Big Sky
Conference squad for her efforts this season. The 5-foot-10 outside hitter from Ranchester,
Wyo., averaged 4.08 kills and 3.54 digs per game. In addition, senior Cori Carper garnered
her second straight, second-team honor. Carper, a 6-foot-1 middle blocker from Lander,
Wyo., averaged 3.00 kills and 1.12 blocks per game, while notching a team-best .336 hitting
percentage. Senior setter Brooke Olsen and senior right-side player Mindy Nowak earned
their third straight honorable-mention accolades. Olsen, from North Potomac, Md., averaged
12.61 assists and 2.93 digs per outing, while Nowak, a 5-foot-10 native of Marysville, Wash.,
averaged 3.18 kills and 3.50 digs per game.
DEFENSIVE DYNAMO: Senior back-row player Heather Dolan was named the Big Sky
Conference "Defensive Player of the Year," for her efforts this season. Dolan, a 5-foot-6
native of Billings, averaged 3.00 digs per game in league action, while also notching .22 aces
per outing. The graduate of Billings Senior notched a career-high 32 digs against Cal State
Sacramento in MSU’s 3-2 loss to the Hornets on Oct. 22 in Shroyer Gym.
THE COACHING STAFF: Montana State head coach Dave Gantt finished his sixth season
with the Bobcat volleyball program. He has a six-year mark of 99-72 at MSU; a 44-48 Big
Sky Conference ledger; and a ten-year collegiate record of 156-136. Gantt was named head
coach in January, 1994. Previously, he served as head coach at Oregon State University,
1991-93; was an assistant coach with the USA Men’s National Team, 1990-91; and was
head coach at Northern Montana College, 1988-89. Joining Gantt on the bench this season
were assistant coaches Jerry Wagner and Miya Malauulu. Wagner spent the past eight years
as an assistant at Oregon State University. He is also familiar with the Big Sky Conference,
serving as an assistant at Montana from 1988-91. Malauulu completed her second season with
the Bobcats. Another part of the ‘Corvallis Connection,’ she played at OSU under Wagner
from 1994-97, and was recruited by Gantt at Oregon State.
Y1K: Senior Mindy Nowak became the first MSU player in school history to record 1,000
kills and digs in a career. The native of Marysville, Wash., is the Bobcats’ all-time career digs
leader and the first MSU player to record over 1,000 digs. Nowak’s career dig total stands at
1,073, surpassing the old mark of 985 held by Brandy Anderson from 1995-98. Her career
total of 1,044 kills is ninth all-time at MSU. Nowak became only the 12th player in Big Sky
Conference history to reach the 1,000-kill, 1,000-dig plateau. In addition, Nowak’s career dig
total ranks 17th all-time in Big Sky Conference history. An excellent jump-server, she also
finished fourth on MSU’s all-time ace chart with 137 winners, which ranks ninth all-time in the
Big Sky annals.
STACKING THE PLATES: Every time Montana State senior setter Brooke Olsen dished
out an assist this past season, she is established a new school record. Her career total of 4,712
assists smashed the old Bobcat career mark of 1,893 held by Kira Laden, 1995-96. In
addition, Olsen finished fourth on the all-time Big Sky Conference list and became one of five
league setters to surpass the 4,500 assist plateau. Olsen also holds the Bobcat marks for most
assists in a season (1,506, 1997) and most assists in a match (90 v. CS Northridge, 1998).
The graduate of Quince Orchard High School is listed in the NCAA Record Book, with 83
assists in a four-game match, which is the sixth best all-time in Division I history. A terrific
all-around player, as well, she tallied 863 career digs, which is fifth best in Bobcat history.
Olsen’s success came as no surprise, considering her blood-line. Father Phil Olsen was the
fourth pick overall in the 1970 NFL draft, while uncle Merlin Olsen is enshrined in Canton as
one of the all-time great defensive players, and uncle Orrin Olsen was a collegiate All-America
at BYU.
CARPITULATING: Bobcat senior middle blocker Cori Carper ended her career as the
second best hitter in the history of the Big Sky Conference. Her career mark for hitting
percentage of .316 (1058-330-2306) places her only behind former Northern Arizona star
Jenny Treglown, who holds the league’s all-time career mark at .321. The mark is also second
on MSU’s all-time hitting percentage list, behind Diane Terrall’s (1978-81) school best .342
attack mark. In addition, Carper’s 1,058 career kills are seventh on the all-time MSU chart
and her 425 block assists are second best only to former ‘Cat standout Karen Weyler.
Carper’s block assists total is also fifth best in league history and her total block count of 490
is ninth all-time in league lore. Carper will also leave Montana State owning the school-record
for best hitting percentage in a match, when she posted a .824 attack mark (14-0-17) against
Virginia Commonwealth in her second match as a Bobcat in 1996.
DIGGING MACHINE: Senior Heather Dolan, a 5-foot-6 defensive specialist from Billings,
has anchored the Bobcat back-row the past four years. Dolan tallied 269 digs this season and
averaged 2.51 per game. Included in the total was her 32 dig output in MSU’s five-game
setback to Cal State Sacramento. The 32 digs ranks among the top three ever recorded at
Montana State. For her efforts, Dolan was the first-ever recipient of the Big Sky Conference
"Defensive Player of the Year," award.
LAYIN’ IT ON THE LINE: Junior outside hitter Stephanie Laya had her best season with
the Bobcats. She averaged a team-best 4.08 kills and 3.54 digs per game. Laya, a 5-foot-10
native of Ranchester, Wyo., surpassed her kill and dig outputs from both freshman and
sophomore seasons. This fall, she notched 25 double-figure kill matches and 20
double-doubles (kills/digs). Over the last 17 matches (sixteen were double-doubles) of the
season, she has averaged 4.60 kills and 4.00 digs per game. Her season total of 379 digs
established a new single-season record at MSU, surpassing the total of 378 set by Brandy
Anderson during the 1998 season. Laya has a career total of 918 kills (12th all-time at MSU),
and with another season like this fall, she could make a charge at Diane Terrall’s all-time
career mark.
THE ‘CATS AND JULIA DOWN BY THE SCHOOL YARD: Sophomore Julia
Handwerk had a break-out season for the Bobcat spikers. And, she saved the best for the last
weekend of the regular Big Sky campaign. Against Eastern Washington University and
Portland State University in the last weekend of play, the 6-foot-1 middle blocker from Great
Falls, Mont., had a career-night, notching 17 kills, a .615 (17-1-26) attack mark, while adding
a career-high ten blocks vs. EWU. Against the Vikings, Handwerk played in only two games,
and notched a .429 hitting percentage. For the weekend, she averaged 3.00 kills and 1.43
blocks per game, while hitting an impressive .576 from the floor. On the season, Handwerk
averaged 1.68 kills and 1.16 blocks per game, while hitting .282 from the floor.
QUICHE: Sophomore Lorraine Morrison, a 6-foot outside hitter from Casper, Wyo.,
transferred to MSU after her freshman season at the University of Utah. On the season, she
averaged 1.79 kills and 2.88 digs per game. This spring, Morrison will move to the setting
position to fill the ‘big’ shoes of graduating senior Brooke Olsen.
SERVING NOTICE: The Bobcats emerged as the best serving team in the Big Sky
Conference this year. The ‘Cats averaged 1.88 aces per game, while Idaho State was second
at 1.78 per outing. In all, three Bobcat players are ranked among the top ten in the league.
HIGH ALTITUDE: Several Bobcat athletes ranked among the Big Sky’s best this fall:
Here’s a look...Hitting Percentage: Cori Carper, 2nd, .336: Kills: Stephanie Laya, 3rd, 4.08:
Assists: Brooke Olsen, 3rd, 12.51: Service Aces: Stephanie Laya, 3rd, .33; Brooke Olsen,
3rd, .33; and Becca Owens, 9th, .31: Blocks: Cori Carper, 8th, 1.12; Digs: Stephanie Laya,
8th, 3.54 and Mindy Nowak, 9th, 3.50.
IT’S ALL-ACADEMIC: Aimee Halyk, Julia Handwerk, Stephanie Laya, Keri Lister and
Mindy Nowak were named to the all-Big Sky Conference academic team. To capture the
honor, an athlete must have completed one year at their school, played in 50 percent of the
matches; and have a grade-point average of 3.20 or better.
ENSHIRNED: Diane Terrall (1978-81) became the first-ever Bobcat volleyball player to
ever be inducted into the Wendy’s of Montana/Montana State University Hall of Fame.
Terrall, an outside hitter from Oregon, still holds the school records for most kills in a career,
1,451, most kills in a season, 547, and best hitting percentage in a career, .342.
QUOTING GANTT: "We had another terrific year and recording our second straight
20-win season is a testimony of how competitive the MSU program is on a regional and
national level. We have five wonderful seniors who we’ll miss next season, both on the court
and off. They did an outstanding job believing in the program and working hard to achieve their
goals. They were the backbone of our success. I’m also looking forward to next year, and
we’ll set our sight even higher. We have a very talented young nucleus returning, and we are
bringing in some excellent recruits that can take our program to a new level. Our future will be
very exciting. Most of all, the athletes are having fun playing the game and learning skills that
will be beneficial to them throughout their lifetime." -- MSU head coach Dave Gantt.
THE CRYSTAL BALL: Next season, the ‘Cats will return starters Stephanie Laya, Julia
Handwerk, Lorraine Morrison and Becca Owens. Also returning will be part-time startersLindsay Stobbs, Keri Lister and Aimee Halyk. MSU is looking to sign 4-5 athletes during thewinter signing period.
DANCING UNDER THE BIG SKY: It was a Big Sky Confernce to remember if you likeunder-dogs. No. 3 seeded MSU bowed out early to #6 Cal State Northridge inopening-round action, dropping a 17-15, 15-4, 15-9 decision to the Matadors. Northridgethen upset #1 Cal State Sacramento, before losing to #4 Northern Arizona in thechampionship tilt. Against CSN, the Bobcats were paced by senior Mindy Nowak, who tallieda team-high 12 kills and hit .306 from the floor. The 5-foot-10 outside hitter from Marysville,Wash., also chipped in 13 digs and a block. Also in double-figure kill totals for the ‘Cats wasStephanie Laya, who finished the game with ten kills and a match-high 18 digs.
THE ‘CATS MEOW: Junior Stephanie Laya was named to the first-team all-Big Sky
Conference squad for her efforts this season. The 5-foot-10 outside hitter from Ranchester,
Wyo., averaged 4.08 kills and 3.54 digs per game. In addition, senior Cori Carper garnered
her second straight, second-team honor. Carper, a 6-foot-1 middle blocker from Lander,
Wyo., averaged 3.00 kills and 1.12 blocks per game, while notching a team-best .336 hitting
percentage. Senior setter Brooke Olsen and senior right-side player Mindy Nowak earned
their third straight honorable-mention accolades. Olsen, from North Potomac, Md., averaged
12.61 assists and 2.93 digs per outing, while Nowak, a 5-foot-10 native of Marysville, Wash.,
averaged 3.18 kills and 3.50 digs per game.
DEFENSIVE DYNAMO: Senior back-row player Heather Dolan was named the Big Sky
Conference "Defensive Player of the Year," for her efforts this season. Dolan, a 5-foot-6
native of Billings, averaged 3.00 digs per game in league action, while also notching .22 aces
per outing. The graduate of Billings Senior notched a career-high 32 digs against Cal State
Sacramento in MSU’s 3-2 loss to the Hornets on Oct. 22 in Shroyer Gym.
THE COACHING STAFF: Montana State head coach Dave Gantt finished his sixth season
with the Bobcat volleyball program. He has a six-year mark of 99-72 at MSU; a 44-48 Big
Sky Conference ledger; and a ten-year collegiate record of 156-136. Gantt was named head
coach in January, 1994. Previously, he served as head coach at Oregon State University,
1991-93; was an assistant coach with the USA Men’s National Team, 1990-91; and was
head coach at Northern Montana College, 1988-89. Joining Gantt on the bench this season
were assistant coaches Jerry Wagner and Miya Malauulu. Wagner spent the past eight years
as an assistant at Oregon State University. He is also familiar with the Big Sky Conference,
serving as an assistant at Montana from 1988-91. Malauulu completed her second season with
the Bobcats. Another part of the ‘Corvallis Connection,’ she played at OSU under Wagner
from 1994-97, and was recruited by Gantt at Oregon State.
Y1K: Senior Mindy Nowak became the first MSU player in school history to record 1,000
kills and digs in a career. The native of Marysville, Wash., is the Bobcats’ all-time career digs
leader and the first MSU player to record over 1,000 digs. Nowak’s career dig total stands at
1,073, surpassing the old mark of 985 held by Brandy Anderson from 1995-98. Her career
total of 1,044 kills is ninth all-time at MSU. Nowak became only the 12th player in Big Sky
Conference history to reach the 1,000-kill, 1,000-dig plateau. In addition, Nowak’s career dig
total ranks 17th all-time in Big Sky Conference history. An excellent jump-server, she also
finished fourth on MSU’s all-time ace chart with 137 winners, which ranks ninth all-time in the
Big Sky annals.
STACKING THE PLATES: Every time Montana State senior setter Brooke Olsen dished
out an assist this past season, she is established a new school record. Her career total of 4,712
assists smashed the old Bobcat career mark of 1,893 held by Kira Laden, 1995-96. In
addition, Olsen finished fourth on the all-time Big Sky Conference list and became one of five
league setters to surpass the 4,500 assist plateau. Olsen also holds the Bobcat marks for most
assists in a season (1,506, 1997) and most assists in a match (90 v. CS Northridge, 1998).
The graduate of Quince Orchard High School is listed in the NCAA Record Book, with 83
assists in a four-game match, which is the sixth best all-time in Division I history. A terrific
all-around player, as well, she tallied 863 career digs, which is fifth best in Bobcat history.
Olsen’s success came as no surprise, considering her blood-line. Father Phil Olsen was the
fourth pick overall in the 1970 NFL draft, while uncle Merlin Olsen is enshrined in Canton as
one of the all-time great defensive players, and uncle Orrin Olsen was a collegiate All-America
at BYU.
CARPITULATING: Bobcat senior middle blocker Cori Carper ended her career as the
second best hitter in the history of the Big Sky Conference. Her career mark for hitting
percentage of .316 (1058-330-2306) places her only behind former Northern Arizona star
Jenny Treglown, who holds the league’s all-time career mark at .321. The mark is also second
on MSU’s all-time hitting percentage list, behind Diane Terrall’s (1978-81) school best .342
attack mark. In addition, Carper’s 1,058 career kills are seventh on the all-time MSU chart
and her 425 block assists are second best only to former ‘Cat standout Karen Weyler.
Carper’s block assists total is also fifth best in league history and her total block count of 490
is ninth all-time in league lore. Carper will also leave Montana State owning the school-record
for best hitting percentage in a match, when she posted a .824 attack mark (14-0-17) against
Virginia Commonwealth in her second match as a Bobcat in 1996.
DIGGING MACHINE: Senior Heather Dolan, a 5-foot-6 defensive specialist from Billings,
has anchored the Bobcat back-row the past four years. Dolan tallied 269 digs this season and
averaged 2.51 per game. Included in the total was her 32 dig output in MSU’s five-game
setback to Cal State Sacramento. The 32 digs ranks among the top three ever recorded at
Montana State. For her efforts, Dolan was the first-ever recipient of the Big Sky Conference
"Defensive Player of the Year," award.
LAYIN’ IT ON THE LINE: Junior outside hitter Stephanie Laya had her best season with
the Bobcats. She averaged a team-best 4.08 kills and 3.54 digs per game. Laya, a 5-foot-10
native of Ranchester, Wyo., surpassed her kill and dig outputs from both freshman and
sophomore seasons. This fall, she notched 25 double-figure kill matches and 20
double-doubles (kills/digs). Over the last 17 matches (sixteen were double-doubles) of the
season, she has averaged 4.60 kills and 4.00 digs per game. Her season total of 379 digs
established a new single-season record at MSU, surpassing the total of 378 set by Brandy
Anderson during the 1998 season. Laya has a career total of 918 kills (12th all-time at MSU),
and with another season like this fall, she could make a charge at Diane Terrall’s all-time
career mark.
THE ‘CATS AND JULIA DOWN BY THE SCHOOL YARD: Sophomore Julia
Handwerk had a break-out season for the Bobcat spikers. And, she saved the best for the last
weekend of the regular Big Sky campaign. Against Eastern Washington University and
Portland State University in the last weekend of play, the 6-foot-1 middle blocker from Great
Falls, Mont., had a career-night, notching 17 kills, a .615 (17-1-26) attack mark, while adding
a career-high ten blocks vs. EWU. Against the Vikings, Handwerk played in only two games,
and notched a .429 hitting percentage. For the weekend, she averaged 3.00 kills and 1.43
blocks per game, while hitting an impressive .576 from the floor. On the season, Handwerk
averaged 1.68 kills and 1.16 blocks per game, while hitting .282 from the floor.
QUICHE: Sophomore Lorraine Morrison, a 6-foot outside hitter from Casper, Wyo.,
transferred to MSU after her freshman season at the University of Utah. On the season, she
averaged 1.79 kills and 2.88 digs per game. This spring, Morrison will move to the setting
position to fill the ‘big’ shoes of graduating senior Brooke Olsen.
SERVING NOTICE: The Bobcats emerged as the best serving team in the Big Sky
Conference this year. The ‘Cats averaged 1.88 aces per game, while Idaho State was second
at 1.78 per outing. In all, three Bobcat players are ranked among the top ten in the league.
HIGH ALTITUDE: Several Bobcat athletes ranked among the Big Sky’s best this fall:
Here’s a look...Hitting Percentage: Cori Carper, 2nd, .336: Kills: Stephanie Laya, 3rd, 4.08:
Assists: Brooke Olsen, 3rd, 12.51: Service Aces: Stephanie Laya, 3rd, .33; Brooke Olsen,
3rd, .33; and Becca Owens, 9th, .31: Blocks: Cori Carper, 8th, 1.12; Digs: Stephanie Laya,
8th, 3.54 and Mindy Nowak, 9th, 3.50.
IT’S ALL-ACADEMIC: Aimee Halyk, Julia Handwerk, Stephanie Laya, Keri Lister and
Mindy Nowak were named to the all-Big Sky Conference academic team. To capture the
honor, an athlete must have completed one year at their school, played in 50 percent of the
matches; and have a grade-point average of 3.20 or better.
ENSHIRNED: Diane Terrall (1978-81) became the first-ever Bobcat volleyball player to
ever be inducted into the Wendy’s of Montana/Montana State University Hall of Fame.
Terrall, an outside hitter from Oregon, still holds the school records for most kills in a career,
1,451, most kills in a season, 547, and best hitting percentage in a career, .342.
QUOTING GANTT: "We had another terrific year and recording our second straight
20-win season is a testimony of how competitive the MSU program is on a regional and
national level. We have five wonderful seniors who we’ll miss next season, both on the court
and off. They did an outstanding job believing in the program and working hard to achieve their
goals. They were the backbone of our success. I’m also looking forward to next year, and
we’ll set our sight even higher. We have a very talented young nucleus returning, and we are
bringing in some excellent recruits that can take our program to a new level. Our future will be
very exciting. Most of all, the athletes are having fun playing the game and learning skills that
will be beneficial to them throughout their lifetime." -- MSU head coach Dave Gantt.
THE CRYSTAL BALL: Next season, the ‘Cats will return starters Stephanie Laya, Julia
Handwerk, Lorraine Morrison and Becca Owens. Also returning will be part-time startersLindsay Stobbs, Keri Lister and Aimee Halyk. MSU is looking to sign 4-5 athletes during thewinter signing period.
Wednesday, August 19
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