Wednesday, November 19, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. -  For the first time in 14 years, the NCAA West Regional is being hosted by a GNAC team.

Northwest Nazarene will host the tournament beginning with four first-round matches Thursday at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.  Each match will feature a GNAC team as the top seed.

Except for the site (the tournament has been held in southern California in 12 of the last 13 years) and the participation of the No. 1 seeded Crusaders not much else has changed from last year.

Seven of the qualifiers from a year ago are back.  NNU is the lone non-repeater.  The team not returning from a year ago?  UC San Diego.

The seeds, however, are drastically different.  In 2013, Cal State San Bernardino was the top seed; they’re sixth this year replaced by NNU.  They’ll open the tournament against No. 3 seed Western Washington at noon.   The Vikings were the fifth seed 12 months ago.

Second-seed Alaska Anchorage will play seventh-seed Sonoma State at 2:30.  The GNAC Seawolves were the seventh-seed in 2013 and the CCAA Seawolves were the No. 4 seed.

The 5 p.m. match will feature fourth-seed Central Washington against fifth-seed BYU-Hawaii.  The Wildcats were the eighth seed in 2013 and the Seasiders were No. 2.

Completing the opening day is top-seed Northwest Nazarene against No. 8 Dixie State at 7:30.   The Red Storm came is as the No. 6 seed last year.

Following is the complete tournament schedule.  Saturday night’s winner in the single-elimination tournament will travel to Louisville, Kent., in December to compete in the NCAA Elite Eight.

NCAA West Regional (Nov. 20-22 at Nampa): Thursday - #3 Western Washington (21-6) vs. #3 Cal State San Bernardino (21-6), noon; #2 Alaska Anchorage (21-5) vs. #7  Sonoma State (20-6), 2:30 p.m.;  #5 BYU – Hawaii (21-5) vs. #4 Central Washington (19-7), 5 p.m.; #1 Northwest Nazarene (24-2) vs. #8 Dixie State (20-8), 7:03 p.m.  Friday – Semifinals at 5 and 7:30.  Saturday – Championship match at 7 p.m.

BYU-Hawaii Lone Past National Champion in Regional Field

BYU-Hawaii is the lone team in the tournament that has won the regional and gone on to win a national title.  The Seasiders won crowns in 1999 and 2002.

Western Washington claimed the GNAC’s lone regional title defeating Cal State San Bernardino 3-0 in 2007.  They went on to reach the national title match losing to Concordia – St. Paul 3-1, the first of a current string of seven national titles for the Minnesota school.

CSU San Bernardino has made the most tournament appearances posting a 38-14 record in its previous 14 tournaments (including the Elite 8).

BYU-Hawaii has a 21-8 record in 11 tournaments.  Western Washington is 8-8 in eight tournaments.

Sonoma State has a 3-7 record in seven tournaments.  Central Washington is 1-5 in five tournaments.  Alaska Anchorage is 1-6 in six appearances.  Dixie State (2013) and Northwest Nazarene (2007) both lost their only match in their only previous tournament.

Northwest Nazarene 10th in AVCA National Poll

Northwest Nazarene moved up to 10th – its highest ranking of the season – in this week’s AVCA national poll.

The Crusaders aren’t the highest ranked team in the tournament.  Fifth-seed BYU-Hawaii is ranked ninth.  Western Washington is ranked 15th, Cal State San Bernardino is ranked 22nd and Alaska Anchorage is ranked 25th.

Three tournament teams are among “others receiving votes” in the national poll – Sonoma State (28th), Central Washington (29th) and Dixie State (31st).

In this week’s NCAA national statistics, NNU is Division II’s top blocking team averaging 2.78 per set.  NNU also ranks fifth nationally in digs (19.77), a shade ahead of No. 6 Western Washington (19,71).  Central Washington ranks 12th in blocks (2.39).

WWU libero Samantha Hutchinson is the national leader in digs (7.23).  NNU’s Taylor Roberts ranks 12th in digs (5.91).  NNU’s Andrea Terpstra is 14th in blocks (1.22) and Sam Harthun of Alaska is 18th in digs (4.09).

Making the Grade

One GNAC player was voted to the CoSIDA West Region academic team. 

Seattle Pacific senior Madi Cavell (Keizer, OR) was one of six players selected for the award which takes into account both academics and athletics,

Cavell has a 3.71 GPA in English. 

Last Week in the GNAC

Thursday – Simon Fraser 1 at Alaska Anchorage 3 (25-13, 25-20, 23-25, 25-17); Western Washington 3 at Alaska (25-14, 25-9, 25-18); MSU Billings 3 at Saint Martin’s 0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-21); Seattle Pacific 0 at Western Oregon 3 (25-23, 25-12, 25-21). Saturday – Western Washington 3 at Alaska Anchorage 2 (23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 13-25, 17-15); Northwest Nazarene 3 at Central Washington 2 (27-29, 25-13, 19-25, 25-20, 15-10); Simon Fraser 3 at Alaska 0 (25-23, 27-25, 25-23); MSU Billings 3 at Western Oregon 0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-19); Seattle Pacific 3 at Saint Martin’s 0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-19).

GNAC Volleyball Players of the Week

Offense – Kelsey Moore, Western Washington (OH, 6-1, Sr., Bellevue, WA - Newport) had 32 kills to lead the Vikings to a pair of victories in Alaska.  With Kayla Erickson “under the weather”, Moore stepped up producing a career-high 23 kills, including one to break a 15-15 tie in the fifth set, in a 3-2 win at Alaska Anchorage Saturday.  Moore also had 12 digs and a block in WWU’s two wins.

Defense – Andrea Terpstra, NNU (MB, 6-4, Sr., Ripon, CA) had a GNAC-season high 11 blocks as the Crusaders, the nation’s top Division II blocking team, had 18 team rejections in winning the GNAC title outright with a 3-2 win at Central Washington. Terpstra was also a standout offensively with a match-high 21 kills.  Both her kill and block total were career highs.

Team Notes

Alaska:    Sam Harthun had 21 kills increasing her career total to 1,097 in two matches.  She ranks 25th in GNAC history in kills and 34th in points with 1,212.  Riley Podowicz led the Nanooks with six blocks and hit for a .355 percentage (13-2-31).  Brooke Mattice had 18 kills.

Alaska Anchorage:  Katelynn Zanders became the 36th member of the 1,000 kill club Saturday getting 14 against Western Washington Saturday and increasing her career total to 1,009, two fewer than Kayla Erickson of Western Washington.  In two matches, Zanders had 31 kills and five blocks.  Kayla McGlathery hit for a .447 percentage (25-4-47) and also had 11 blocks.

Central Washington:  Jordan Deming paced Central Washington with 14 kills and Kiah Jones had 11 in their epic battle Saturday with league champion Northwest Nazarene.  Julie Hulbert had four solo blocks, the second most this season by a player in the GNAC.   Kaely Kight had 31 digs increasing her career total 1,937.

Montana State Billings: Monica Grimsrud finished her GNAC career ranked ninth in career points with 1,506 and sixth in career kills with 1,361.  She had 29 kills and 34 ½ points in two victories.  Krista Norris had 19 kills and 15 digs.

Northwest Nazarene:  The Crusaders rallied from a 2-1 deficit against Central Washington for their 24th win behind great efforts by Andrea Terpstra, Madi Farrell and libero Taylor Roberts.  Terpstra had 21 kills and equaled a GNAC season-high with 11 blocks.  Farrell had 20 kills and hit for a .516 percentage.  She also had seven blocks.  Roberts had 40 digs.  Setter Michelle Terpstra averaged 12.2 assists (61) and earned nine blocks.

Saint Martin’s: Kristyn Ross had 20 kills, one third of the Saints’ total in matches with Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific.  Kyra Davidson led the defense with nine blocks.

Seattle Pacific: Madi Cavell had 30 kills and nine blocks as the Falcons split two road matches.  Cavell finished her career with 953 kills, good for 39th place on the GNAC all-time career list.  She ended up 44th in points with 1,135.  Brianna Leenders had 26 digs and finished 11th in GNAC history with 1,570.

Simon Fraser:  Kelsey Robinson had 24 kills and Madeline Hait had five blocks as the Clan split two matches completing their first winning season (17-9) in five years in the GNAC.  Their previous best was an 11-17 record last year.  Devon May had 21 kills and 20 digs in the two matches.

Western Oregon: Hannah Deede had 22 kills and Samantha Moore had 15 kills and a team-high 11 blocks as the Wolves split two matches.  WOU also got 17 kills from Alisha Bettinson.  Kiana Cash had a team-best four aces.

Western Washington: Kayla Erickson joined the 1,000 kill club Thursday and finished the weekend with 1,011.  In two matches, she had 20 kills and a team-high seven blocks despite playing ill.  Kelsey Moore had 24 kills and Rachel Roeder had 24 in a pair of victories.