Monday, October 20, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. –   Though Western Washington eventually will have something to say about it, the winner of Saturday’s Northwest Nazarene and Alaska Anchorage volleyball match at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage will likely grab the inside track for the GNAC’s automatic berth in next month’s NCAA West Regional tournament.

If both teams win their  matches at Anchorage and Fairbanks on Thursday, Saturday’s NNU-UAA winner will take sole possession of first-place in the GNAC race.

The Seawolves will first have to take on Central Washington (14-5, 7-4), while the Crusaders face Alaska (2-17, 2-9) at the Patty Center.

Two other matches are on Thursday’s schedule as the Vikings (15-4, 8-2), who trail the co-leaders by just one match, host MSU Billings (10-9, 5-6) and Simon Fraser (12-6, 6-4) entertains Seattle Pacific (11-8, 5-6).

Saint Martin’s (4-18, 1-10) and Western Oregon (2-17, 0-11) are idle prior to playing their travel partner game Saturday at Lacey.

NNU and UAA played earlier this season in Nampa with the Crusaders winning in four sets.  Three of the four sets were decided by four of fewer points with NNU winning by three and two points and the Seawolves earning a four-point win in Set 2.

Northwest Nazarene begins the week ranked first in Division II in blocks per set (2.81) and sixth in digs (19.93).   Individually, NNU’s Andrea Terpstra ranks ninth in blocks (1.27) and libero Taylor Roberts is 10th nationally in digs (6.03).

In addition to the Crusaders, two other GNAC teams are ranked in the Top 20 in this week’s national statistical report.

Western Washington is fifth in digs (20.11) and Central Washington is 20th in blocks (2.29).  WWU’s Samantha Hutchinson is the national leader in digs (7.30) and Sam Harthun of Alaska is 19th in kills (4.02).

THIS WEEK'S NATIONAL RANKINGS: Western Washington slipped one position to 10th and Northwest Nazarene climbed one spot to 16th in this week's AVCA national poll.  Central Washington remained at No. 24, while Alaska Anchorage is on the verge on cracking the Top 25 as its 26th overall.

IT’S A GRAND TOTAL: Harthun needs two more kills to reach the 1,000-career total.  She will be the 34th player in GNAC history to record a grand.  Three other players are nearing 1,000.   Katelynn Zanders of Alaska Anchorage has 921.  Western Washington’s Kayla Erickson has 893 and Madi Cavell of Seattle Pacific has 869.  Cavell earned her 1,000-point Thursday against UAA and currently has 1,033.  Harthun has 1,107, Erickson has 1,077 and Zanders has 1,046.

DIGGIN IT AND PASSING IT:  Samantha Hutchinson of Western Washington has 2,211 digs and needs 105 more to move into second place on the all-time GNAC career list.   Kaely Kight of Central Washington is fifth on the all-time list with 1,786.  That is a school-record for the Wildcats ... Michelle Terpstra reached a milestone in NNU’s two matches last week cracking the 3,000 assist mark.  She has 3,015 and needs two more to move into 10th place on the GNAC all-time list.

GNAC Volleyball Players of the Week

Offense – Megan Hooe, Alaska Anchorage (S, 5-7, So., Anchorage, AK - South) averaged 11.25 assists per set and also had a team-best seven blocks, three aces, 19 digs and eight kills as the Seawolves earned a pair of road victories against two teams with overall winning records to stay in a tie for first-place with Northwest Nazarene.  “Morgan’s athleticism showed not only in running our offense, but also in playing some great defense,” UAA coach Chris Green  “She also distributed the ball very well on both nights.”

Defense – Samantha Moore, Western Oregon (OH, 6-0, Sr., Newport, OR) had 11 blocks and also contributed offensively hitting for a .407 percentage (14-3-27) as the Wolves battled both Central Washington and GNAC co-leader Northwest Nazarene before dropping 3-0 matches.  WOU lost the final set to CWU by a 25-22 count, then dropped three close sets to NNU, losing twice by two points and once by three points.  

Team Notes

Alaska:    Sam Harthun had 41 kills in a pair of losses at MSU Billings and Seattle Pacific.  She also was credited with 24 digs and three blocks.  Riley Podowicz had 12 blocks including two solos as she participated in 12 of UAF’s 16 blocks.

Alaska Anchorage:  Katelynn Zanders had 28 kills and 34 digs, the second most of the team, in  3-1 road wins at Seattle Pacific and MSU Billings.  Three of the sets against MSUB had identical 25-23 scores with the Seawolves winning the third and fourth sets by after losing the opener.  Morgan Hooe had 90 assists and tied Kayla McGlathery for the most blocks with seven in the two victories.

Central Washington:  Kaely Kight moved into fifth place in GNAC history in digs with 1,786 in CWU’s wins over Western Oregon and Saint Martin’s, totaling 34 as the Wildcats’ held their opponents to a .125 percentage.  Offensively, the Wildcats were led by Linden Firethorne with 23 kills and Kiah Jones with 21.  Catie Fry averaged 12 assists per set (72 in 6) and had a team-best six blocks.

Montana State Billings: Monica Grimsrud was credited with 21 kills and three players – Krista Norris, Chelsey Walter and Ashlynn Ward – had 18 each as the Yellowjackets split two contests.  Kyndal Williams earned 80 assists and Haley Wells had 32 digs.

Northwest Nazarene:  Taylor VanValey had team-bests of 18 kills and eight blocks in 3-0 wins against Saint Martin’s and Western Oregon.  Kendra Bodine also had 18 kills and Andrea Terpstra had 16.  Taylor Roberts had 27 digs as the Crusaders outhit their opponents by 100 points (.213 to .113).Michelle Terpstra had 64 assists to increase her career total to 3,015.

Saint Martin’s: Kristyn Ross had a team-high 16 kills and Maddie Knecht had 12 in losses at Nampa and Ellensburg.  Kyra Davidson led the Saints with nine blocks and Jessica Riddle had 32 digs.

Seattle Pacific: Madi Cavell scored her 1,000 career point in Thursday’s win against Alaska Anchorage and finished the weekend with 1,033. She had 34 ½ on 27 kills, four aces, two solo blocks and three blocking assists. Maddi Hommes had a team-high 13 blocks and Brianna Leenders had 44 digs in SPU’s two matches. Kendall Carver led the Falcons with five aces.

Simon Fraser:  Mackenzie Durham had a team-high 10 kills in the Clan’s four-set loss to Western Washington.  The Vikings lost despite outhitting WWU .133 to .128.  The difference may have been at the service line, where the Vikings had 10 aces and outscored SFU 15-8.

Western Oregon: Samantha Moore had 11 blocks and 14 kills in the Wolves’ two 3-0 road losses.  Cherene O’Hara led WOU with 17 kills.    Its final four sets were all decided by three or more points, including all three against GNAC leader Northwest Nazarene.

Western Washington: Kayla Erickson and Kelsey Moore each had 10 kills and Joellee Buckner had five blocks in a 3-1 win at Simon Fraser.  The Vikings also got nine kills each from Rachel Roeder and Joellee Buckner and 36 digs from Samantha Hutchinson.