Volleyball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC VOLLEYBALL
PACIFIC AT LINFIELD
Match No. 21/Away Match No. 8
Wed., Oct. 24, 7 p.m., Ted WIlson Gymnasium, McMinnville, Ore.
PACIFIC AT PACIFIC LUTHERAN
Match No. 22/Away Match No. 9
Fri., Oct. 26, 7 p.m., Olson Auditorium, Tacoma, Wash.
Live Stats:
www.plu.edu/athletics-stats/vball/xlive
Live Audio:
client.stretchinternet.com/client/plu.portal#
PACIFIC WRAPS UP ROAD SCHEDULE WITH LINFIELD, PLU
The Pacific volleyball team will play their final two road matches of the season this week as they look to lock up third place in the Northwest Conference standings. The Boxers play their final midweek match on Wednesday at Linfield before heading to Tacoma on Friday to face league-leading and No. 16 ranked Pacific Lutheran.
BOXER BYTES
• Keeping true to form, Pacific went five sets with Lewis & Clark to ensure their first winning conference record since 2007. Pacific won 25-16, 22-25, 20-25, 25-18, 15-12 behind a pair of 16-kill efforts by
Mariah McHolland and
Marie Rewick.
• In a battle of the NWC's second place teams, Pacific proved to be little match for No. 15 ranked Puget Sound as the Loggers swept the Boxers in three sets, 25-18, 25-18, 25-16.
Alexa Block led the Boxers with 10 kills.
•
Alexa Block led the Boxers in the hitting department over the two matches, finishing with 25 kills, 3.12 kills per set, a .288 hitting percentage, nine digs and four blocks. In addition to leading the Boxers in the loss to Puget Sound on Saturday, Block finished with 15 kills, seven digs and three blocks against Lewis & Clark.
•
Mariah McHolland turned in a very solid week herself, finishing with 19 kills, 2.38 kills per set and 14 blocks in the two matches. With a total of 81 blocks, McHolland stands four blocks shy of the school single season record(25/30-point era) of 85.
• Pacific welcomed the return of setter
Emily Farnham, who missed four matches due to injury. The setter started Friday's match at Lewis & Clark and split duties in the match with with fellow freshman
Megan Zablan.
• Of Pacific's nine wins this season, seven have come in five set matches. The Boxers have played eight five-set matches to date. Of their four NWC losses, all have come in the minimum three sets.
• Pacific's 8-4 Northwest Conference records assures a winning mark for the first time since 2007. Pacific will need three wins in their final four matches to assure their second straight overall winning record.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
LINFIELD
The Wildcats enter the week tied for seventh place in the NWC at 3-9 and are 8-12 overall. Linfield has lost 10 of their last 11 matches, the string being broken up only by a four-set win over Lewis & Clark on Oct. 13. Linfield dropped both matches over the weekend. On Friday, the Wildcats took a close first set from Pacific Lutheran, but the league-leading Lutes stormed back to take the match handily in four sets. Linfield never hit better than .020 in any one set and committed 39 attack errors on the night. Victoria Thompson led Linfield with eight kills. Linfield's hitting improved against George Fox on Saturday, but the Bruins performed better in the four-set victory. The Wildcats hit .096 for the match, led by 13 kills by Kailana Ritte-Camara. Audrey Frazier had a double-double of 27 assists and 19 digs. Ritte-Camara leads the Linfield offense with 220 kills and an average of 2.75 kills per set while Kelsey Ludin owns a .157 hitting percentage. As a team, Linfield is averaging 11 kills, 10.32 assists, 19.26 digs and 1.48 blocks per set. Five different Linfield players enter the week with 20 or more blocks. Shane Kimura is in his 35th year as Linfield head coach.
ALL TIME SERIES: Linfield leads 57-10
LAST MEETING: Pacific won in tfive sets (25-22, 16-25, 25-20, 19-25, 15-12) in Forest Grove on Sept. 26, 2012.
PACIFIC LUTHERAN
The Lutes enter the week leading the NWC with an 11-1 record and 17-3 overall mark. They enter the week ranked No. 16 in the AVCA Division III Coaches Top-25 Poll. PLU will look to wrap up their fourth NWC title in the last six years this weekend. After taking their first NWC loss of the season at Whitman on Oct. 13, the Lutes rebounded to take a pair of home victories last week. On Friday, the Lutes were four-set winners over Linfield. After dropping a close first set, the Lutes rebounded to dominate the final three frames, which included a 25-9 win in the third set. Haley Urdahl led the Lutes with a double-double of 18 kills and 15 digs. The next night, the Lutes needed just three sets to dispatch Lewis & Clark. PLU held the Pioneers to a -.009 hitting percentage while using a balanced attack to hit .292. Amy Wooten led the Lutes with 11 kills. Urdahl leads the PLU offense with 193 kills and 2.64 kills per set. Bethany Huston has 192 kills and an average of 2.67 kills per set to go along with a team high .276 hitting percentage. As a team, PLU leads the NWC with an average of 13.10 kills and 12.29 assists per set. They also average 1.64 aces, 19.48 digs and 2.17 blocks per set. Kevin Aoki is in his 17th year as PLU head coach.
ALL TIME SERIES: PLU leads 45-11
LAST MEETING: Pacific Lutheran won in three sets (25-19, 25-18, 25-14) in Forest Grove on
Sept. 28, 2012.
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
MARIAH IN THE MIDDLE: In her three seasons as a Boxer,
Mariah McHolland (Jr., Renton, Wash.) may not have had a better all-around season as she has this year. McHolland enters the week with averages of 2.23 kills and 1.03 blocks per set and ranks eighth in the NWC with a .238 hitting percentage. McHolland shared top hitting honors with
Marie Rewick (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) in Friday's win over Lewis & Clark with 16 kills to go along with eight blocks. She finished the week with 19 kills, a .226 hitting percentage and 14 blocks. McHolland also enters the week ranked sixth in the NWC with her average of 1.03 blocks per set. With a total of 81 blocks, McHolland stands just four blocks short of the Boxers' 25/30-point era record of 85 blocks set by Joanna Delanty in 2007. Earlier this season, McHolland tied a single match record with 11 blocks against Whitman on Oct. 6.
BLOCK PARTY: As her senior season starts to come to a close,
Alexa Block (Sr., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) is performing at her All-NWC caliber level. Block led the Boxers with 25 kills, 3.12 kills per set and a .288 hitting percentage to go along with nine digs and four blocks. Block shared hitting honors in Friday's victory with 16 kills against Lewis & Clark and led the Boxers with 19 kills in the loss to Puget Sound. Block enters the week second for the Boxers with a total of 223 kills and an average of 2.86 kills per set, which ranks her eighth in the NWC.
FRESHMAN FIRING: Pacific continues to turn to
Marie Rewick to come up with solid offense day in and day out. The outside hitter finished the last two matches with 23 kills, an average of 2.88 kills per set, five aces and 26 digs. Rewick posted her eighth double-double of the season Friday againast Lewis & Clark, finishing with 16 kills and 19 digs along with three aces and a block. She was limited to seven kills and seven digs against Puget Sound on Saturday. Rewick leads the Boxers offensively with 244 kills and is sixth in the NWC with her average of 3.09 kills per set. Rewick also ranks second in the NWC with 189 digs and an average of 2.39 digs per set.
A RARE EASTERN WASHINGTON SWEEP: It is not easy for any Pacific team to win both legs of the eastern Washington road trip, regardless of the sport. The Boxers' sweep of Whitman and Whitworth on Oct. 5 and 6 marks the first time that they have accomplished the feat since 2006. It is only the third time that Pacific has accomplished the feat since 1994, when the conference moved to the double round-robin style of scheduling.
UNPRECEDENTED START: After opening the season losing their first seven matches, the Boxers have opened the 2012 Northwest Conference season with one of the best league starts in program history. The Boxers' 7-3 start to the conference season is a first in the modern history of the program. In addition, Pacific needs just two more wins over their final eight matches to secure the team's first winning conference season since 2007.
HIGH FIVE: If Pacific is going to win, it is more than likely going to come in five sets. Of the Boxers' nine victories this season, seven have come in five sets. Pacific to date had just two victories that did not go five sets. The Boxers beat Lewis & Clark in three sets on Sept. 21, and the Boxers were four-set winners over George Fox on Oct. 12. Conversely, all four of Pacific's losses during the Northwest Conference season have been in three sets.
PROGRESS TOWARDS RANKS: Pacific's five-set win over No. 17 Colorado College marked the Boxers' first victory over an opponent ranked in the AVCA Division III Coaches Top-25 Poll this season. Pacific is 1-4 this season against ranked teams, but three of those matches have gone more than the minimum three sets. Pacific opened with a four-set loss to No. 23 Occidental on Sept. 1, a five-set loss to No. 6 Cal Lutheran on Sept. 8 and a three-set losses to No. 10/14 Puget Sound on Sept. 22 and Oct. 20. No. 18 Pacific Lutheran took a three-set win from Pacific on Sept. 28.
PACIFIC PICKED SEVENTH IN NWC PRESEASON POLL: Northwest Conference coaches have picked Pacific seventh in the NWC this season in the preseason poll released in August. The Boxers received 24 of a possible 80 points on the poll to finish three points ahead of Willamette and six points behind George Fox. Pacific Lutheran is selected to ovetake 2011 NWC champion Whitworth for the conference crown, receiving five first place votes and a total of 65 points. The Pirates earned two first place votes and 54 points while Puget Sound is picked third with 50 points and one first place vote. Lewis & Clark was picked fourth with 44 points while Linfield is fifth with 35 points.
