Tuesday, September 9, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. - After combining for a record of 25-14 in the opening weekend, GNAC volleyball teams head to California and Colorado this weekend for a trio of tournaments.

Eight of the conference’s 10 teams will compete in the GNAC PacWest Challenge at Riverside, Calif., and San Rafael, Calif., respectively.

Central Washington, Western Washington, Alaska Anchorage and Northwest Nazarene will challenge PacWest member schools Azusa Pacific, Dixie State, Point Loma and host Cal Baptist at Riverside.

Meanwhile, MSU Billings, Western Oregon, Seattle Pacific and Simon Fraser will face Chaminade, Academy of the Art, Fresno Pacific and host Dominican at San Rafael.

The GNAC’s other two member schools – Alaska and Saint Martin’s – are entered in the Colorado State Pueblo/UC Colorado Springs Classic at Pueblo and Colorado Springs.

Three GNAC teams – Central Washington, Montana State Billings and Simon Fraser – each opened their seasons with perfect 4-0 records.

Central Washington earned three wins against AVCA Top 25 teams as the Wildcats knocked off No. 11 UC San Diego, No. 8 Cal State San Bernardino and No. 16 Sonoma State in succession in the Hampton Inn CWU Wildcat Classic at Ellensburg.

The wins catapulted the Wildcats to No. 13 in this week’s AVCA poll.  CWU was unranked in the pre-season poll.

Western Washington, which won three of four matches at Ellensburg, climbed three positions in the national poll, climbing from 12^th to ninth. 

The Vikings lone loss was to CSU San Bernardino.  WWU won the first two sets before the Coyotes rallied for the win.

Two other GNAC teams are among “others receiving votes” in the poll.

Northwest Nazarene which won three of four matches at the Colorado Mines Oredigger Classic is 34^th overall, while Alaska Anchorage which won three of four in the Spring Hills Classic in Anchorage is 35^th overall.

Montana State Billings’ four wins all came against Division II opponents in its own tournament, while Simon Fraser won four matches with Canadian member institutions.

Seattle Pacific also got off to a quick start winning three of four matches at its own tournament. 

Saint Martin’s, meanwhile, opened its season with a 1-3 record at Ellensburg.  Western Oregon was winless in three matches at SPU and Alaska dropped four matches in the Flint Hills Resources Alaska Nanook Classic in Fairbanks.

AROUND THE GNAC

Three Players Earn Tournament MVP Honors

Three GNAC players earned Most Valuable Player honors and eight earned all-tournament accolades in various tournaments last weekend.

Linden Firethorne of Central Washington was selected the MVP in the CWU Hampton Inn Classic, while Kendall Williams of MSU Billings was the MVP of the MSUB Invitational.  Katelynn Zanders earned MVP honors in the  Spring Hills Invitational at Anchorage.  Firethorne was also selected the GNAC Offensive Player of the Week.

Earning all-tournament honors in addition to the MVPs were MSUB’s Chelsey Walter, Sam Harthun of Alaska Fairbanks in the Flint Hills Resources Alaska Nanook Classic,  Catie Fry of Central Washington and Kayla Erickson of Western Washington in the CWU Hampton Inn Classic, UAA’s Morgan Hooe and Quinn Barker in the Spring Hills Suites Invitational and Madi Cavell and Sara Biondi of Seattle Pacific and Samantha Moore of Western Oregon in the SPU Invitational.

ALL-TOURNAMENT:  MSUB Invitational (Sept. 5-6) – Kyndal Williams, MSUB (MVP); Chelsey Walter, MSUB.  Alaska Nanook Classic (Sept. 4-6) – Sam Harthun, UAF.  CWU Hampton Inn (Sept. 4-6) – Linden Firethorne, CWU (MVP); Catie Fry, CWU; Kayla Erickson, WWU.  UAA Spring Hill Suites Invitational (Sept. 5-6) – Katelynn Zanders, UAA (MVP); Morgan Hooe, UAA; Quinn Barker, UAA. Seattle Pacific Invitational (Sept. 4-6) – Madi Cavell, SPU; Samantha Moore, WOU; Sara Biondi, SPU.

Team Notes

Alaska: Sam Harthun had 42.3 percent at the Nanooks’ kills (66 of 156) in their four losses in the Flint  Hills Resources Alaska Nanook Classic.  Harthun also led UAF with 39 digs and finished second in aces (4).  Lilah Hudson had a team-high eight blocks.

Alaska Anchorage: Tournament MVP Katelynn Zanders had a team-high 47 kills and 32 digs and a team-high nine aces as the Seawolves won the tournament title in the UAA Spring Hills Suites Classic.  Joining Zanders on the all-tournament team were Morgan Hooe (87 assists, 31 digs) and Quinn Barker (74 digs).

Central Washington:  The Wildcats outhit their opponents by 106 points (.237 to .131) in winning 12 of 14 sets in the Hampton Inn Classic at Ellensburg.  Joining tournament MVP Linden Firethorne on the all-tournament team was setter Catie Fry, who had 132 assists and 11 blocks.  Firethorne had 49 kills and Rachel Hanses had 46.  Kaitlin Quirk led CWU with 13 blocks as the Wildcats outblocked their opponents 2.11 to 1.21 per set.

Montana State Billings: Chelsey Walter  had 42 kills and hit for a .352 percentage to lead the Yellowjackets to four victories as they won 12 of 14 sets.  MSUB could match its 2013 win total (7) this weekend when it plays four matches at San Rafael in the GNAC/PacWest Challenge.  Monica Grimsrud had a team-high 52 kills in last week’s four matches and ranks 21^st in GNAC history with 1,131. 

Northwest Nazarene:  Andrea Terpstra had 45 kills and 17 blocks as the Crusaders won three of four matches including a 3-2 win over 20^th-ranked Wayne State.  Their loss came to No. 18 Colorado Mines by a 3-1 score.  Taylor Roberts led NNU with 1-2 digs.  Madi Farrell had a team-high 19 blocks.

Saint Martin’s: Kristyn Ross had team highs of 32 kills and six aces as the Saints won one of four matches at Ellensburg, beating Cal State Stanislaus 3-1.    Hope Mortensen led the Saints defensively with eight blocks and Maddie Knecht had seven.

Seattle Pacific: Madi Cavell had a team-high 55 kills, 46 digs and nine blocks as the Falcons won three of four matches.   Meanwhile, Sara Biondi did everything, producing 132 assists, 22 kills, five service aces, 31 digs, three solo blocks and eight blocking assists.   She had two double-doubles – 31 assists and 11 digs in a 3-1 loss to Cal Poly Pomona and 41 assists and 11 digs in a 3-1 win against Dixie State.

Simon Fraser:  The Clan lost just one set in four non-conference contests, outhitting their Canadian foes .250 to .072.  Kelsey Robinson had 36 kills and Amanda Renkema had 35.

Western Oregon: Samantha Moore accounted for two-thirds of the Wolves’ blocks (20 of 30) in their three matches in the Seattle Pacific Invitational and was chosen to the all-tournament team. Meanwhile, Hannah Deede and Cherene O’Hara each had 24 kills.

Western Washington: Kayla Erickson earned all-tournament honors at Central Washington leading the Vikings with 50 kills and 15 blocks.  Erickson hit for a .271 percentage as the Vikings won 3 of 4 matches.  She ranks second all-time in career hitting percentage in GNAC history with a .353 percentage, trailing only LeAnne McGaughey of Central Washington (2002-05) who had a .359 percentage.  Kelsey Moore had 44 kills.