Tuesday, October 7, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. –  The  Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball race reaches the midway point of the season this week with nine  contests on the schedule.

Just two of the nine games will match teams which both have winning GNAC records.  Both involve second-place Northwest Nazarene.

The Crusaders (13-2, 6-1) host Seattle Pacific (10-5, 4-3) Thursday and Montana State Billings (9-6, 4-3) Saturday.

Thursday’s schedule will also send MSUB to Ellensburg to play Central Washington (10-5, 3-4).  Simon Fraser (10-5, 4-3) plays at Saint Martin’s (4-14, 1-6) and Western Washington (12-4, 5-2) visits Western Oregon (2-13, 0-7).

GNAC leader Alaska Anchorage (13-3, 7-1) is idle Thursday before concluding its first half Saturday against Alaska (2-14, 2-6).

Elsewhere on Saturday, Seattle Pacific visits Central Washington, Western Washington visits Saint Martin’s and Simon Fraser plays at Western Oregon.

Three teams head into this week’s schedule nationally ranked though UAA is not one of them.

Western Washington is ranked 10th, Northwest Nazarene is 18th and Central Washington is 23rd.  Both the Vikings and Crusaders moved up one position this week, while Central fell five.

The Seawolves, despite their front-runner status in the conference race, aren’t in the AVCA Top 25 though they remain among “others receiving votes” and are 30th overall.

AROUND THE GNAC

Hutchinson, Northwest Nazarene Among National Leaders

Samantha Hutchinson of Western Washington remains the NCAA Division II national leader in digs in this week’s  national statistical report.

Hutchinson is averaging 7.19 digs per set.  She ranks third all-time in GNAC history in career digs with 2,131.

Also ranked in the Top 10 in digs is Taylor Roberts of Northwest Nazarene.  She is seventh with a 6.29 per set  average.

Two GNAC players rank in the Top 20 in blocks.  NNU’s Andrea Terpstra ranks 11th with a 1.28 average; Madeline Hait of Simon Fraser is 20th with a 1.17 average.

In team categories, Northwest Nazarene ranks first in blocks (2.65 per set) and third in digs (20.69).  Western Washington is fifth in digs (19.94).

GNAC Players of the Week

Offense – Julia Mackey, Alaska Anchorage (RS, Jr., Fairbanks, AK - West Valley HS) and Riley Podowicz, Alaska (MB, 6-0, Fr., Olympia, WA – Timberline) ...  Mackey had 24 kills and hit for a .340 percentage as the Seawolves moved into first-place with a pair of 3-0 victories.  She had her third straight double-double (10 kills, 14 digs) in Thursday’s win over Saint Martin’s, then was credited with 14 kills, seven digs, two blocks and three assist and hit .440 in a sweep of Western Oregon ... Podowicz hit for a .414 percentage (14-2-29) and also had a team-high eight blocks leading the Nanooks to their first two wins of the season.  She also had a team-high six service aces and had only two attack errors in the two matches.  

Defense -  Kayla Erickson, Western Washington (MB, 6-0, Sr., Gig Harbor, WA – Peninsula) had the GNAC’s top two block totals of the season as the Vikings earned 3-1 wins over Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.  She had a GNAC season-high 11 blocks in Thursday’s win over the Wildcats, then added 10 blocks, equaling the second most this fall in the GNAC, in a 3-1 win against Northwest Nazarene.  She also had 25 kills.

LAST WEEK’S SCORES: Thursday - Saint Martin’s 0 at Alaska Anchorage 3 (25-13, 27-25, 25-21); Central Washington 1 at Western Washington 3 (23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-17; Western Oregon 0 at Alaska 3 (25-15, 25-15, 25-17); Northwest Nazarene  3 at Simon Fraser 1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-13, 25-21). Saturday – Western Oregon 0 at Alaska Anchorage 3 (25-18, 25-18, 25-22); Central Washington 0 at Simon Fraser 3 (25-16, 25-18, 30-28); Saint Martin’s 1 at Alaska 3 (25-20, 22-25, 25-12, 26-24); Seattle Pacific 3 at MSU Billings 2 (25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 18-25, 15-11); Northwest Nazarene  1 at Western Washington 3 (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 25-14).

Team Notes

Alaska:    Brooke Mattice had 24 kills and hit for a .333 percentage (24-5-57) as the Nanooks went 2-0 earning their first win since Nov. 2, 2013, ending a 19-match losing streak.  Sam Harthun had 23 kills and 22 digs increasing her career totals to 944 and 1,049, respectively.  Freshman Riley Podowicz had 14 kills and team-bests for hitting percentage (.414) and blocks (8) to help key the win.

Alaska Anchorage:  Quinn Barker had a pair of 20-dig matches in wins over Saint Martin’s  (23) and Western Oregon (20).    She was charged with just three reception errors as the Seawolves limited its opponents to a .078 percentage and just 54 kills in six sets.  Offensively, Julia Mackey and Katelynn Zanders had 24 and 21 kills, respectively. as UAA hit for a .228 percentage.

Central Washington:  Linden Firethorne accounted for one-third of the Wildcats’ kills (34 of 95) in road losses at Western Washington and Simon Fraser.  Kiah Jones had 23 kills and Kaely Kight had 46 digs moving into sixth place on the GNAC all-time dig list with 1,716. 

Montana State Billings: Freshman Alaina Gentili more than doubled her career-high for kills (10) in a 3-2 loss  to Seattle Pacific.  She also had a team-high four blocks.  Monica Grimsrud and Chelsey Walter each had 16 kills.  Grimsrud also had four blocks, matching Gentili’s total.

Northwest Nazarene:  Elayna Rice led the Crusaders with 24 kills, 37 digs and 10 blocks as NNU split two matches.  Kendra Bodine and Andrea Terpstra had 22 and 21 kills.  Terpstra also had 11 blocks.  Libero Taylor Roberts had back-to-back 30-dig matches (30 versus Simon Fraser and 31 against Western Washington) increasing her career total to 1,143.

Saint Martin’s: Kristyn Ross had 20 kills and 15 digs and Julia Wabinga had 15 kills in Saint Martin’s two losses in its road trip to Alaska.  Kyra Davidson had a team-high five blocks and Jessica Riddle had team-highs of six aces and 34 digs.

Seattle Pacific: Maddi Hommes had 10 blocks in a 3-2 win at MSU Billings joining Kayla Erickson of Western Washington (See WWU notes) and Erin Braun of Alaska Anchorage (10 on Sept. 12 against Cal Baptist) has the only players in the GNAC to have double-digit block matches this fall.  Madi Cavell had 19 kills and Ellie Britt had 15 in the victory.

Simon Fraser:  Kelsey Robinson had 27 kills as four Clan players had 20 or more kills as SFU split two matches.  Madeline Hait had 22 kills, while Amanda Renkema and Devon May had 21 each.  Hait also had 13 blocks , moving into 20^th place nationally in blocks with a 1.17 per set average.

Western Oregon: Alisha Bettinson led the Wolves with 18 kills and Hannah Deede had 13 to account for all but 19 of WOU’s 50 kills in two road matches in Alaska.   Defensively, Maddi Ober paced WOU with six blocks.

Western Washington: Rachel Roeder had 35 kills and hit for a .370 percentage  as  the Vikings swept #18 Central Washington and #19 Northwest Nazarene.  Roeder also had nine blocks.  Erickson’s two double-digit block matches (See Player of the Week) are among four in the GNAC this fall.  Erickson’s 21 blocks were among 29 by the Vikings as WWU held its opponents to a .129 attach percentage.