Match #8
Western Oregon (3-4) vs. #24 Northwest Nazarene (7-0)
Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016, at 7 p.m. PT
Monmouth, Ore. – New P.E. Building
Live Stats/Video

Match #9
Western Oregon (0-3) vs. Central Washington (4-4)
Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016, at 7 p.m. PT
Monmouth, Ore. – New P.E. Building
Live Stats/Video

ROAD TESTED WOLVES FINALLY RETURN HOME
Western Oregon volleyball will play in front of its home crowd for the first time in the 2016 season beginning this Thursday when they open Great Northwest Athletic Conference play against No. 24 Northwest Nazarene at 7 p.m. The Wolves then welcome Central Washington on Saturday for a league matchup at 7 p.m. Live video and statistics for both matches can be found at WOUWolves.com/Live.

PROMOTIONS - FACULTY/STAFF APPRECIATION, CAMPER APPRECIATION
Thursday's match against NNU will be Facult/Staff Appreciation Day. All WOU faculty and staff will be admitted FREE and receive a bag of popcorn with valid ID. On Saturday, the Wolves have their summer campers return for a fun night of volleyball against CWU. After the match, the volleyball team will sign autographs and hand out schedule posters (until supplies last).
  
WOLVES' WATCH
Junior outside hitter Alisha Bettinson is leading Western Oregon in kills through seven matches with 92, averaging 3.53 kills per set. Sophomore Amanda Short is second with 59 kills while Sydney Blankinship and Paige Orth each have 51 kills. Orth is the WOU leading blocker at 0.73 blocks per game. Sophomore setter Maddie Mehciz leads the team with 9.85 assists per set while senior libero Christie Colasurdo paces the team with 5.19 digs per game. Redshirt freshman Libbie Hoene has the touch from the line, leading WOU in serving aces with 13.

UNBEATEN CRUSADERS
Northwest Nazarene entered the AVCA national ranking this week at No. 24 after starting the season 7-0. The Crusaders swept their pod last weekend at the D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase sweeping Cal Poly Pomona and BYU-Hawaii, defeating UC San Diego in four and came back from 2-1 down to knock off Point Loma in five sets. Kendra Bodine leads NNu with 105 kills, averaging 3.89 kills per set. Mari Thomas is second in kills with 88 and Madi Farrell follows with 76 kills. Hailey Cook runs the offense with 296 assists (10.96 per set). WOU holds a 49-26 all-time advantage in the series despite NNU winning the last five meetings.
 
WILDCAT BOUNCEBACK
Charles Dickens would be proud to offer poetic license to Central Washington since it has been "A Tale of Two Weekends" thus far for the Wildcats. After going 0-4 during a tournament hosted by Lewis University in Illinois, CWU matched NNU by sweeping the same #D2VBShowcase pod – beating PLNU, BYUH in three set and CPP, UCSD in four. Central begins their road swing this week with a Thursday night match with Concordia. Shelby Mauritson (85), Madison Weg (79_ and Kiah Jones (73) are the top three hitters for the Wildcats while the setter spot has been sharewd by Gaby Aihara and Nikole Cook. CWU has won the last five meetings against Western Oregon, but the Wolves still hold a slim advantage in the all-time series, 28-26.
 
COME ON DOWN – WOLVES 3-1 IN SHOWCASE
Western Oregon started slowly, but found their groove to take three out of four matches in the Turlock pod of the D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase last weekend. The Wolves took the second set against Concordia-Irvine, but the Eagles seized momentum winning a close third set in eventually taking the match in four sets. Friday saw two wins for the Wolves as the swept both Hawaii Pacific and Chico State. WOU hit .312 in the HPU match led by 14 kills from Sydney Blankinship. Alisha Bettinson and Amanda Short each had double digit kills while the team outhit Chico State .296-.161 later in the day. On Saturday, the Wolves were able to hit .349 in the second set and a sizzling .448 in the fourth to hand the host Stanislaus State a loss in four sets. Paige Orth and Bettinson each had 13 kills wile Mariella Vandenkooy added 12 kills.

WHAT'S ON THE HORIZON
Western Oregon takes its first GNAC road trip visiting Seattle Pacific on Sept. 22 and Saint Martin's on Sept. 24. WOU returns home on Sept. 29 against Simon Fraser for the first-ever Back to School Beach Party!