Volleyball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC VOLLEYBALL
PACIFIC AT WILLAMETTE
Match No. 12/Road Match No. 4
Fri., Oct. 4, 7 p.m., Sparks Center, Salem, Ore.
Live Stats & Video
PACIFIC AT LINFIELD
Match No. 13/Road Match No. 5
Sat., Oct. 5, 7 p.m., Ted Wilson Gymnasium, McMinnville, Ore.
Live Stats |
Video
PACIFIC TO WORK THROUGH ADVERSITY ON THE ROAD
The Pacific volleyball team will look to work through a bit of adversity this week as the Boxers deal with life without their top outside hitter. After taking a pair of three-set losses to Whitman and Whitowrth last weekend, the Boxers go on the road to play at Willamette on Friday and Linfield on Saturday.
BOXER BYTES
•
Una Areta posted a career night for the Boxers Friday night, finishing with 19 kills and a .286 hitting percentage in just three sets to lead the Boxers in a loss to Whitman, 25-18, 25-20, 26-24.
• The Pacific offense was stunted by a strong Whitworth team on Saturday, managing just 20 kills on the night in a three-set loss to the Pirates, 25-15, 25-17, 25-16.Â
Una Areta once again led the Boxers with a near double-double of nine kills and nine digs.
•
Marie Rewick was lost for the season on Friday when she suffered a knee injury of the first set of the Boxers' loss to Whitman. Rewick was the conference leader with 4.09 kills per set and finishes the season with a team-leading 143 kills.
•
Una Areta continues to show promise as an outside hitter. She finished the week with 28 kills and 15 digs in the two matches, topped by a 19-kill performance on Friday against Whitman. She earned her first start of the season against Whitworth on Saturday.
• Libero
Becky Sheller moved up from fifth to fourth in the NWC in digs, averaging 5.10 digs per set. She had 11 digs against Whitman on Friday and led the Boxers with 17 against Whitworth on Saturday despite a move from libero to outside hitter.
• Setter
Jamie Steach continues to perform well from the service line. Her 0.37 service aces per set ranks eighth in the NWC this week after adding one each in the weekend matches with Whitman and Whitworth.
• Pacific is once again showing a preference for marathon matches. Four of the Boxers' 11 matches this season have gone longer than three matches and three have gone the full five sets. During 2012, Pacific saw 13 of their 24 matches go longer than three with nine going the full five.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
WILLAMETTE
The Bearcats enter the week tied with George Fox and Pacific for sixth in the NWC at 1-3 and are 5-8 overall. Willamette split a pair of matches over the weekend to get in the NWC win column. On Friday, Willamette rebounded from down 2-1 to dominate the fourth set and go on to the five-set victory over Linfield in McMinnville. The Bearcats came alive at the right time, hitting .400 in the fourth set (10 kills, 0 errors) to steal the momentum in the match. Sarah Fincher led Willamette with 13 kills. The next night, Willamette ran into the buzzsaw that is defending NWC champion Pacific Lutheran, falling in three sets. The Bearcats hit a respectable .155 for the match, but could not overcome a .242 night for the Lutes as neither team had a player with double-digit kills. Shannon Waltz led Willamette with seven kills. Fincher leads the Willamette offense with 141 kills and an average of 2.88 kills per set while setter Emily Compton ranks fourth in the NWC with 9.33 assists per set and leads the team defensively with 2.57 digs per set. Waltz's .329 hitting percentage leads the conference. As a team, Willamette is averaging 10.92 kills per set, 10.29 assists and 15.71 digs per set. Tom Shoji is in his fifth season as Willamette head coach.
ALL TIME SERIES: Willamette leads 42-20
LAST MEETING: Willamette won in three sets (25-15, 25-17, 25-14) at Forest Grove on Oct. 13, 2012.
LINFIELD
The Wildcats enter the week in ninth in the NWC at 0-4 and are 4-7 overall. After winning four of their first five matches, Linfield has lost their last seven. They came close to their first NWC win of the season on Friday against Willamette, but found their offense silenced in the fourth and fifth sets in a five-set loss. Linfield gave up the match after leading 2-1 after three sets, managing just 12 kills in the final two sets.  Sam Hammons led the Wildcats with 12 kills while Casie Gaza had a double-double of 19 assists and 10 digs. On Saturday, Linfield played a close match with Lewis & Clark but fell in three sets. The Wildcats rebounded from the night before to hit .172 for the match, but the Pioneers committed just 11 attack errors and hit .256 on the night to sweep. Kailana Ritte-Camara led the Wildcats with a double-double of 13 kills and 16 digs. Ritte-Camara leads the Linfield offense with 108 kills and 3.18 kills per set. Courtney Uyeda is averaging 4.43 digs per set. As a team, Linfield is averaging 10.26 kills, 9.69 assists and 16.66 digs per set. Shane Kimura, the dean of NWC volleyball coaches, is in his 36th year as Linfield head coach.
ALL TIME SERIES: Linfield leads 57-11 Â
LAST MEETING: Pacific won in four sets (17-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-20) in McMinnville, Ore., on Oct. 24, 2012.
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
MAKING HER PRESENCE KNOWN: What has been an up-and-coming season for
Una Areta (Fr., Kent, Wash.) has been put fully on the radar. Areta led the Boxers last week with 28 kills and 15 digs in two matches. She posted career numbers in Friday's loss to Whitman, finishing with 19 kills and a .286 hitting percentage in just three sets. She added a performance of nine kills and nine digs the next night against Whitworth in her first collegiate start. Areta enters the week as the Boxers' second leading hitter with 98 kills and an average of 2.45 kills per set. Areta came to Pacific from Kent-Meridian High School in Kent, Wash., where she was twice a Second Team All-South Puget Sound League selection as an outside hitter.
HARD LOSS: Pacific will have to adjust to life without its most dynamic playmaker.Â
Marie Rewick (So., Honolulu, Hawaii) was lost for the season when she suffered a knee injury in the first set of Friday's loss to Whitman. Up to that point, she had three kills and a .300 hitting percentage in the short part of the match she had been able to play. The loss of the Second Team All-NWC outside hitter will be felt. She enters this week leading the NWC in kills, averaging 4.09 per set (143 kills total). She is also second for the Boxers with 105 digs (3.00 per set) and third in blocks with 13 (0.37 per set).
MAKING THE CONVERSION: With the injuries that have plagued the Boxers, Head Coach
Kip Yoshimura is having to make a number of adjustments to put together the most effective lineup. On Saturday night, it meant the move of
Becky Sheller (So., Gresham, Ore.) from libero to outside hitter. Sheller made her first official career start for the Boxers against Whitworth (the libero is technically not a member of the starting lineup) and finished the night with three kills. Despite the move, Sheller proved to be the most effective defensive player in the match with 17 digs. Sheller moved up one spot from fifth to fourth in the NWC statistics this week in digs, averaging 5.10 per set.
ACE IN THE HOLE: While
Jamie Steach (Fr., Pasco, Wash.) has seen some significant time for the Boxers in the setter position, Steach is performing especially well for the team at the service line. Steach enters the week ranked eighth in the NWC in service aces per set with 0.37 (13 total). She had two more aces last weekend, one in each match against Whitman and Whitworth. Steach was the starting setter for the Boxers in both of last weekend's matches, her fifth and sixth of the season. She enters the week ranked second for the Boxers with 151 (4.31 per set).
LET'S GO FOUR...OR FIVE: Once again in 2013, Pacific is showing a preference towards longer matches. In four of their 11 matches this season, Pacific has gone past the minimum three sets. On three of those occasions, the Boxers have played to a full five sets. Pacific has now gone five sets in 13 of their 31 matches played under Head Coach
Kip Yoshimura with an 8-4 record in those marathons.
I GO TO EXTREMES: Pacific once again finds its 2013 schedule laden with nationally-ranked competition. The Boxers' schedule feature five matches against teams in the AVCA Division III Top-25 Poll. Pacific has already played matches against No. 10 Colorado College, No. 16 Pacific Lutheran and No. 21 Augsburg (Pacific will play the Lutes again on Oct. 18). Puget Sound was ranked No. 15 in last week's poll. The Boxers will face the Loggers on Oct. 12 and Nov. 9.
KEEPING THE FAITH: If fans are rattled by the Boxers' 2-9 start, they need only remember how Pacific finished up their first season under Head Coach
Kip Yoshimura. Pacific lost their first seven matches in 2012, including a pair to nationally ranked squads from Occidental and Cal Lutheran. The Boxers rebounded to tear through the conference schedule, placing third in the NWC with a 10-6 record. The 10 conference wins tied the school single season record and the thrid place finish was Pacific's best since 1994.
PACIFIC PICKED THIRD IN NWC PRESEASON POLL: Northwest Conference coaches have picked Pacific to repeat their third place in the NWC this season in the preseason poll released in August. The Boxers received 44 of a possible 81 points in the poll, pulling in five points ahead of George Fox, chosen fourthm and eight points ahead of Willamette. Puget Sound, who advanced to the NCAA Division III quarterfinals in 2012, was picked with 70 points and seven first place votes ahead of defending champion Pacific Lutheran, who received 60 points and two first place votes. Whitworth (20 pts.), Linfield (20 pts.) and Lewis & Clark (14 pts.), round out the poll.
