Monday, November 5, 2012

PORTLAND, Ore. - Ten Great Northwest Athletic Conference athletes, including Western Oregon volleyball player Becky Blees, have earned Red Lion Player of the Week honors for their performances during the period of Oct. 28-Nov. 4, 2012.  They include:

Volleyball

Offense -  Laurie Yearout, Western Washington (S, 5-9, Sr., Spokane, WA – Lewis & Clark) had 67 assists (11.17 per set) leading the Vikings to sweeps of Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks.  The Vikings hit for a .277 percentage in the two contests remaining unbeaten at home (8-0) and improving to 20-3 on the season.  Yearout also converted on five of nine kill attempts and had four blocks and 11 digs in earning GNAC Red Lion Offensive Player of the Week honors. 

Defense –  Becky Blees, Western Oregon (MB, 5-10, Jr., Portland, OR - Madison) had team-highs of six blocks and four service aces in road sweeps of Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific to claim the GNAC Red Lion Defensive Player of the Week award.  Blees is the GNAC all-time career leader in assisted blocks per set, averaging 1.05 per set.  

Honorable Mention –  Sam Harthun, Alaska Fairbanks; Monica Grimsrud, MSU Billings; Erin Compton, MSU Billings; Samantha Ward, Western Oregon.

Men’s Soccer

Offense – Aaron McElwee, U-Mary (M, 5-8, So., Sion Mills, Northern Ireland) had assists on two of the Marauders’ goals as UM finished its season with a 4-2 win against Sioux Falls earning him Red Lion Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Defense – Alfredo Ontiveros, Northwest Nazarene (6-1, Jr., La Puento, CA – Mt. San Antonia) had three saves in a 3-0 shutout of Mary and 11 saves in a 2-0 shutout at Montana State Billings.  Ontiveros, the Red Lion Defensive Player of the Week award winner, leads the GNAC in shutouts (9) and save percentage (.819)     MSUB outshot NNU 38-4 in Saturday’s contest, falling one shy of the GNAC single-game record for most shots in a game. “He had an incredible performance at Billings under tremendous pressure with us down a man for 30 minutes,” NNU coach Coe Michaelson said.

Football

Offense – Terrell Watson, Azusa Pacific (RB, 6-2, 235, So., Oxnard, CA) and Ryan Robertson, Central Washington (QB, 6-4, 202, Sr., Sammamish, WA – Eastlake) are the GNAC Red Lion Offensive Players of the Week ... Watson rushed for 214 yards on 26 carries including a pair of touchdown runs of 44 and 10 yards.  On APU’s final drive of the game, he had 31 yards on three carries to set up  a game-winning 24-yard field goal by Jamie Cacciatore with eight seconds left on the clock.  Robertson completed 23 of 29 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns and was not intercepted as the Wildcats moved into a tie for first place with Humboldt State with a 36-32 win over Western Oregon.  Robertson’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Spain with 3:05 left gave CWU the victory.

Defense – Tyler Thornton, Azusa Pacific (SS, 5-8, 178, So., Bakersfield, CA – Centennial) led the Cougars with 11 tackles, including seven solos and also had two inteceptions as APU ran its win streak to three games after opening the season with seven losses.  His performance earned Thornton the GNAC Red Lion Defensive Player of the Week award.

Special Teams –  Lucas Gonsalves, Western Oregon (WR, 5-9, 175, Jr., Kailua, HI – St. Louis HS) had a 89-yard punt return with 9:12 left in the fourth quarter as the Wolves scored 22 consecutive points in the frame to take a 32-29 lead before CWU got a late touchdown to pull out the victory. The punt return was the second longest in GNAC history.  Gonsalves was selected as the Red Lion Special Teams Player of the Week.

Honorable Mention –  Gabe Bruno, Central Washington; Sean Davis, Central Washington.

Men's Golf

Trevor Garofano, Simon Fraser (Fr., Coquitlam, BC) tied for third in the Hawaii Hilo Dennis Rose Invitational with  a three-over par total of 219 to lead the Clan to a second-place team finish and earned GNAC Red Lion Golfer of the Week honors.

Women's Golf 

Sarah Salvatori, Saint Martin’s (Fr., Salem, OR - Sprague) finished in a tie for ninth in the Hawaii Hilo Dennis Rose Invitational with a 54-hole score of 237.  Salvatori had rounds of 80, 77 and 80 in leading the Saints to a fourth-place team finish and claiming the GNAC Red Lion Golfer of the Week award.