Wednesday, October 29, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. – Led by No. 1 Northwest Nazarene, four Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams are ranked in the first official NCAA West Regional volleyball poll of the 2014 season.

The ranking is the first of three that the NCAA will conduct.  The rankings will eventually determine which five at-large teams join the champions of the GNAC, PacWest and California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) in the regional tournament Nov. 20-22.

Generally the No. 1 ranked team in the final poll hosts the tournament. 

Since 2001 the tournament, except in 2012 when it was held in Laie, Hawaii, has always been held in southern California (CSU San Bernardino 2001-02, UC San Diego 2003-04, Cal State L.A., 2005, CSU San Bernardino 2006-11, BYU-Hawaii 2012, CSU San Bernardino 2013).   

Following Northwest Nazarene in the inaugural poll are Alaska Anchorage (2nd), defending regional champion BYU-Hawaii (3rd), Western Washington (4th) and Central Washington (5th).

The second five includes Sonoma State (6th), Cal State San Bernardino (7th), Humboldt State (8th), Dixie State (9th) and California Baptist (10th).

In this week’s AVCA national poll which has no impact on the official NCAA regional poll, BYU-Hawaii is the highest ranked West Region team at No. 5.

Western Washington is ranked ninth and Northwest Nazarene is ranked 15th the national poll followed by  Cal State San Bernardino (18th) and Alaska Anchorage (25th).

Central Washington (26th overall), Sonoma State (29th), Dixie State (30th), Fresno Pacific (31st) and UC San Diego (32nd) are all among “others receiving votes” in the national poll. 

Two teams ranked in the regional poll - Humboldt State and California Baptist - didn’t receive any votes in the national poll.

NCAA West Regional Poll – 1. Northwest Nazarene (19-2); 2. Alaska Anchorage (17-4); 3. BYU-Hawaii (15-4); 4. Western Washington (17-4); 5. Central Washington (15-6); 6. Sonoma State (14-5); 7. CSU San Bernardino (14-5); 8. Humboldt State (14-5); 9. Dixie State (15-6); 10. Cal Baptist (13-8).

Vikings Face Northwest Nazarene  in Key Region Match

After knocking Alaska Anchorage (17-4, 11-2) out of a tie for first-place last Saturday, Northwest Nazarene (19-2, 12-1) will try to keep  Western Washington (17-4, 10-2) from moving into a first-place tie (in the loss column)  this Thursday when the Crusaders entertain the Vikings at the Johnson Sports Center.

A WWU win would leave three teams with two conference losses each if UAA beats Western Oregon (3-17, 1-11) Thursday at Monmouth.

Elsewhere Thursday,  Central Washington (15-6, 8-5) will host Simon Fraser (14-6, 8-4); the winner will end the night in fourth place in the GNAC, and Saint Martin’s  (4-20, 1-11) entertains Alaska (2-19, 2-11).

Montana State Billings (10-12, 5-8) and Seattle Pacific (11-10, 5-8) are idle, until playing Saturday night at Brougham Pavilion.

Crusaders Rank 2nd in Blocks, 6th in Digs

Northwest Nazarene is ranked second in blocks (2.72) and sixth in digs (19.91) in this week’s NCAA Division II national statistical report.

Western Washington is the only other GNAC team ranked in the Top 10 in this week’s national report.  The Vikings, led by Samantha Hutchinson, rank fifth in digs averaging 20.15 per set.

Hutchinson is the individual national dig leader, averaging 7.28 per set.   Taylor Roberts of Northwest Nazarene, this week’s GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, is ranked seventh nationally in digs (6.09).

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

GNAC Volleyball Players of the Week

Offense – Rachel Roeder, Western Washington (OH, 6-1, Jr., Sammamish, WA - Issaquah) and Andrea Terpstra, Northwest Nazarene (MB, 6-4, Jr., Ripon, CA – Ripon Christian) … Roeder had 38 kills and five blocks and hit for a .387 percentage in wins over Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific as the 10th ranked Vikings ran their win streak to a GNAC-best seven matches.  Roeder had 38 kills in 75 swings, committing just nine errors …  Terpstra had a .523 hitting percentage (27-4-44), nearly twice the team average of .272, as the Crusaders moved into sole possession of first place with wins at Alaska and Alaska Anchorage, their fifth and sixth in a row. She was particularly effective in NNU’s win at UAA, producing a team-high 15 kills and a .522 percentage. Terpstra, who ranks second in GNAC history in blocks per set (1.23) had five rejections. 

Defense – Taylor Roberts, Northwest Nazarene (L, 5-5, Sr., Nampa, ID) equaled a GNAC season-high (for three-set matches) with 29 digs as the Crusaders held Alaska Anchorage to a .133 hitting percentage, 75 points below its season average.  In two matches in Alaska, Roberts had 47 digs, seven assists and one service ace.

Team Notes

Alaska:    Sam Harthun led the Nanooks with 33 kills in seven sets raising her career kill average to exactly 4.00 kills per set.  That ranks fifth in GNAC history.   Harthun was also credited with 21 digs.  Brooke Mattice had 23 kills and Riley Podowicz had six blocks.

Alaska Anchorage:  Katelyn Zanders had 26 kills increasing her career total to 947.  The Seawolves also got 11 blocks from Kayla McGlathery and nine from Erin Braun in dividing a pair of 3-0 decisions.  Quinn  Barker had 39 digs and four of UAA’s six service aces.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Central Washington:  Kaitlin Quirk led the Wildcats with nine blocks and Linden Firethorne had 23 kills as CWU split two road matches.  Kiah Jones added 20 kills and Catie Fry and Julie Hulbert each had six blocks.

Montana State Billings: Monica Grimsrud led the Yellowjackets with 18 kills in 3-0 losses at Western Washington and Simon Fraser.  Alaina Gentili and Ashlynn Ward each earned 11 kills.

Northwest Nazarene:  In addition to Andrea Terpstra (See Player of the Week notes), Northwest Nazarene was also led by Elayna Rice with 23 kills and 21 digs in its two victories.  Kendra Bodine had 18 kills and Taylor VanValey had 16 kills and a team-high eight  blocks.

Saint Martin’s: Kristyn Ross led the Saints with 26 kills and 31 digs in a match at Evergreen State and a home match against Western Oregon.  Kyra Davidson was credited with 13 blocks in the two 3-1 contests and  Jessica Riddle had a team-best five aces.

Seattle Pacific: Jessica Miller had 29 kills and Madi Cavell had 28 as the Falcons dropped a pair of road matches. Cavell now has 897 career kills, 47th on the GNAC all-time career list.  Maddi Hommes had eight blocks and Brianna Leenders had 48 digs to pace the SPU defense.

Simon Fraser:  The Clan, which won a grand total of 20 matches over the past three seasons, earned its 13th and 14th victories of the season as Kelsey Robinson had a team-high 26 kills.  Alison McKay was credited with 44 digs.  Three players had six blocks – Madeline Hait, Amanda Renkema and Mackenzie Dunham.  Hait hit for a .526 percentage (23-3-38) in addition to her blocking efforts.

Western Oregon: Alisha Bettinson led the Wolves with 10 kills and five service aces and also produced 13 digs as the Wolves earned their first conference win of the season defeating Saint Martin’s 3-0.  Meanwhile outside hitter Christie Colasurdo had a match-high 2 digs and six assists.

Western Washington: Kristina Tribley had assists on 97 of the Vikings’ 110 kills (38 by Rachel Roeder and 32 by Kayla Erickson) in home wins against Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific.  Defensively, Samantha Hutchinson had digs on 50 of 278 opponent attacks.  The Vikings had 17 blocks including nine in which Joellee Buckner participated in.