Volleyball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC VOLLEYBALL
LEWIS & CLARK AT PACIFIC
Match No. 9/Home Match No. 4
Fri., Sept. 21, 7 p.m., Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats:
www.goboxers.com/livestats
Live Video:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
PUGET SOUND AT PACIFIC
Match No. 10/Home Match No. 5
Sat., Sept. 15, 7 p.m., Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats:
www.goboxers.com/livestats
Live Video:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
BOXERS OPEN NWC SCHEDULE ON A FIVE-SET TEAR
Perhaps the Pacific volleyball team was waiting for the Northwest Conference season to start. After going without a win over their first seven matches, the Boxers won their first two NWC matches of the year, both in five sets. The Boxers begin a five-match home stand this weekend with a pair of tough teams as Lewis & Clark comes to the Stoller Center on Friday before Puget Sound visits on Saturday.
BOXER BYTES
• Pacific opened the week by dropping their seventh straight match of the year, hitting just .109 in a three-set loss to Concordia (Ore.) in Portland, 25-19, 25-13, 25-16.
• After taking the first two sets on Friday, Pacific held off a late surge by George Fox to win their Northwest Conference season opener, 25-22, 25-21, 14-25, 10-25, 15-11. The win was the first for Head Coach
Kip Yoshimura at Pacific.
Alexa Block led the Pacific hitting attack with 14 kills.
• On Saturday, Pacific and Willamette traded the first four sets before the Boxers pulled ahead early in the deciding frame to take the five-set marathon, 23-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-22, 15-11.
Marie Rewick finished with a Pacific season best 21 kills while
Alexa Block finished with 19 as the Boxers hit a season best .222 for the match.
• Setter
Emily Farnham finished with double-doubles in all three Pacific matches last week, topped by a 56-assist, 18-dig effort against Willamette. The freshman finished the week with 111 assists (8.54 assists per set average) and 40 digs (3.08 per set average).
•
Alexa Block led three Boxers to finish with 20 or more kills over the three matches, finishing with 39 kills and a .197 hitting percentage. The high point of the week was a 19-kill effort in the five-set win over Willamette.
•
Mariah McHolland finished with a .214 hitting percentage in the three matches with 27 kills. She also added 13 blocks, coming up with weekly highs of 14 kills and six blocks in the win over Willamette on Saturday.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
LEWIS & CLARK
The Pioneers enter the week with a 4-7 overall record and are tied for sixth in the NWC with a 0-2 mark. Lewis & Clark dropped a pair of road matches to open the conference season. On Wednesday, the Pioneers took a close first set from George Fox before the Bruins rallied to take the four-set win. Three of the four sets went into extra points. Kateleya Milan led L&C with 17 kills and a .300 hitting percentage. On Friday, the Pioneers were swept in three sets at Linfield. The Wildcats hit .240 for the match and held the Pioneers to just a .065 hitting peecentage. Jennifer Dowdy led L&C with 11 kills.Dowdy leads the L&C with 124 kills and 3.26 kills per set. Kelsie Dorpat is averaging 6.35 assists per set while Elena Roff is averaging 5.13 digs per set. As a team, Lewis & Clark is averaging 10.16 kills, 9.11 assists and 16.39 digs per set. Lori Jepsen is in her 10th year as Lewis & Clark head coach.
ALL TIME SERIES: Lewis & Clark leads 32-24
LAST MEETING: Lewis & Clark won 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-16) at Forest Grove on Oct. 22, 2011
PUGET SOUND
The Loggers enter the week with a 7-2 overall record and are tied with Pacific, Linfield and Pacific Lutheran for the early conference lead at 2-0. Puget Sound was ranked No. 11 in last week's AVCA Division III Top 25 Poll, but is poised to move up after two wins to open the NWC season. On Friday, the Loggers took a four-set match from Whitman. Puget Sound hit .240 for the match, including an impressivve .540 percentage with 16 kills in the second set. Jackie Harvey led the Loggers with 19 kills. The next night, Puget Sound won a three-set match over Whitworth. Harvey once again led the way with 15 kills as the Loggers hit .190 for the match. Harvey leads the Loggers offensively for the season with 128 kills and an averafge of 3.88 kills per set. Jenni Brehove is averaging 10.58 assists per set while Christina Chun owns a 5.52 digs per set average. As a team, Puget Sound ranks second in the NWC with 12.94 kills per set and 11.97 assists per set. Mark Massey is in his 16th season as Puget Sound head coach.
ALL TIME SERIES: Puget Sound leads 31-5
LAST MEETING: Puget Sound won 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-20) in Tacoma, Wash., on Oct. 21, 2011
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
SET AND DIG, DIG AND SET: Getting used to a new setter can be a challenge for any team, but the Boxers and
Emily Farnham (Fr., University Place, Wash.) seem to have made the adjustment well. Farnham finished with double-doubles (assists and digs) in each of last week's three matches as the Boxers finished with a 2-1 record. Her best performance came in Saturday's five-set win at Willamette where Farnham established season highs of 56 assists and 18 digs. Farnham, a 2012 graduate of Curtis High School, enters the week ranked sixth in the NWC with an average of 9.29 assists per set. In addition, Farnham is the rare setter who can effectively attack as well. She enters the week with 17 kills in nine match and owns a .361 hitting percentage.
BACK IN THE SWING OF THINGS: Primed to have a solid senior year,
Alexa Block (Sr., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) has shown that she is fully back from a shoulder injury that ended her 2011 season short. The Honorable Mention All-NWC selection last season led the Boxers in their three matches last week with 39 kills, an average of 3.00 kills per set and a .197 hitting percentage. Block came up big for the Boxers in the five-set win on Saturday over Willamette, finsihing with 19 kills and four blocks with a .184 hitting percentage. The previous night, Block scored a team-high 14 kills and a .220 hitting percentage to help lead the Boxers to their five-set win over George Fox. Entering the week, Block is second for the Boxers in kills with 88 (2.59 kills per set average) and is second for the team with her 15 blocks.
CONTINUED FRESHMAN FIREPOWER: A young Pacific lineup continues to benefit from the presence of some difference making freshmen.
Marie Rewick (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) finished with 37 kills and an average of 2.85 kills per set over the three matches. Rewick led the Boxers with a Pacific season high of 21 kills in the Boxers' five-set win over Willamette on Saturday. Rewick enters the week ranked ninth in the NWC with an average of 2.66 kills per set.
Tiana Greenhalgh (Fr., Yucaipa, Calif.), meanwhile, has become an expert in serving for the Boxers. Greenhalgh finished the three matches with seven service aces, led by five aces in the Boxers' win over Willamette. She enters the week ranked sixth in the NWC with 0.43 service aces per set (15 total).
NET PRESENCE: If you are looking for solid and steady at the net,
Mariah McHolland (Jr., Renton, Wash.) has certainly been that for the Boxers over the first third of the season. McHolland finished with 27 kills and a team-leading .214 hitting percentage over the last three matches to go along with 13 blocks. Like many of her teammates, the best effort of the week came on Saturday against Willamette where McHolland finsihed with 14 kill and six blocks. She also had 10 kills and six blocks in the Boxers' five-set win over George Fox. McHolland currently leads the Boxers wirh 28 blocks and is seventh in the NWC with an average of 0.80 per set. She also ranks eighth in the NWC with her team-leading .239 hitting percentage.
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.
