WESTERN OREGON VOLLEYBALL

Thursday, Oct. 19  /  7 p.m.
Central Washington University (13-5, 8-2 GNAC)
Ellensburg, Wash.
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Saturday, Oct. 21  /  2 p.m.
#12 Northwest Nazarene University (17-1, 9-1 GNAC)
Nampa, Idaho
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MONMOUTH, Ore.—The Western Oregon University volleyball team will embark on the longest road trip to this point in the season with road matches at Central Washington University and Northwest Nazarene this week. The Wolves will face CWU on Thursday in Ellensburg, Washington and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday in Nampa, Idaho.

ABOUT CENTRAL WASHINGTON (13-5, 8-2 GNAC): The Wildcats enter the week with eight wins in their last nine matches with their lone loss a 3-2 setback at Saint Martin's on Oct. 5… At the midpoint of the GNAC schedule, CWU is in third place in the league standings with an 8-2 mark… The Wildcats swept WOU in Monmouth on Sept. 23… The Wildcats are ranked No. 4 in hitting percentage (.211) and lead the GNAC by holding its opponents to a .148 hit rate… CWU is also the league leaders in blocks with 3.03 rejections per set… Sabrina Wheelhouse leads the CWU attack with a .347 attack rate, good for No. 3 in the GNAC and is the conference leader with 1.73 blocks per set… Shelby Mauritson leads the team with 3.49 kills per set.

ABOUT NORTHWEST NAZARENE (17-1, 9-1 GNAC): The No. 12-ranked Nighthawks were handed their first loss of the season with a 3-2 defeat at Central Washington on Oct. 10... The Wolves held match point in the third set against NNU at home on Sept. 16 before falling in five… NNU is a perfect 8-0 at home this season... The Nighthawks lead the GNAC with a .248 hitting percentage and are second with a .150 opponent's attack rate… Madi Farrell holds a massive league lead with a .431 hit percentage, as the next best average is a .349 by Simon Fraser's Tessa May... Teammate Kendra Bodine tops the GNAC charts with 4.21 kills per set while Farrell is second with 4.12 kills per set.  

LOOKING AHEAD: The Wolves will return home for three straight matches next week by welcoming Western Washington (Oct. 26), Simon Fraser (Oct. 28) and Concordia (Oct. 31).

LAST WEEK: The Wolves fell to both Alaska schools last week by 3-1 margins... In both matches, the Wolves captured the first set… Against UAF, the Wolves fell by 28-26 margins in the second and third sets.
 
2x1K: With 13 kills against Alaska Fairbanks on Oct. 12, senior Alisha Bettinson topped the 1,000-kill mark for her career to become just the second Wolf to top the career mark during WOU's DII era (since 2000)… With 1,013 kills Bettinson is ranked No. 2 all-time in career kills during WOU's NCAA DII era behind Danielle Reese's 1,065… Defensively, Bettinson became the fifth Wolf to reach 1,000 digs in a career on Oct. 7 against MSU Billings and now has 1,033 in her career… She is the first Wolf during the DII era to top 1,000 career kills and digs… Bettinson's 2.86 kills per set rate for her career is ranked No. 6 all-time at WOU… Bettinson passed Reese's total of 3,391 career attacks on Oct. 3 against Concordia and now has a school record 3,475 total swings.

THAT'S ACES: In addition to her kill totals, Alisha Bettinson is also ranked No. 9 in school NCAA DII history with 65 aces… Bettinson is one ace behind the next spot while Danielle Reese (2008-12) holds the school record with 96 aces… Sophomore Libbie Hoene holds the school's No. 7 ace rate with 0.29 aces per set… Six other former Wolves have averaged at least 0.30 aces per set while school record holder Mandy Veley (2004-05) leads by a comfortable margin over the pack with 0.55 aces per set.   

BLANKINSHIP EFFICIENCY: In four seasons in Monmouth, senior Sydney Blankinship holds a career hit rate of .282 for the Wolves to rank No. 3 all-time at the school… Krissi Kemper (2010-13) holds the school mark at .317 while Jordin Ramos (2011-14) is ranked second with a .296 rate.

BLACKINSHIP ON THE BLOCK: Blankenship entered WOU's all-time top-10 in career blocks on Oct. 14 against Alaska Anchorage… With 171 career blocks, Blankinship is ranked No. 9 in school history and is seven rejections shy of eighth place (Janelle Barton, 2000-02).
 
ASSIST CHARTS: Junior Maddie Mehciz has tallied 1,678 assists in her three seasons with the Wolves and is ranked No. 4 in the all-time career leaders… Next in front of Mehciz is former Wolf Shawn Paulino (2004-05) with 1,922 assists… Leila Holt, another junior is ranked No. 9 all-time at WOU with 955 career assists and is on pace to become the ninth Wolf to reach the 1,000-assist plateau.   

RELIABLE AT THE SERVE: With a .976 serve percentage, junior Mackenzie Bowen is tied for the school record with Amy Tyler (2003)… In 207 career serves, Bowen has been charged with just five errors while credited with 12 aces.

DII WEST SHOWCASE: The Wolves went 2-2 while hosting the DII West Region Showcase from Sept. 7-9…  WOU alternated wins and losses over the three-day event, opening with a sweep against Cal State San Marcos and following with a 3-2 loss to Chaminade… WOU finished the tourney with a pair of five-set matches, first defeating Fresno Pacific and finally falling to Cal Sate East Bay on Saturday night.

BOWEN NAMED GNAC POW: Junior Mackenzie Bowen was named the GNAC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 5 after her play at the Concordia Labor Tournament… Bowen averaged 5.73 digs per set in the three matches in Portland and was named to the All-Tournament team for her efforts… Bowen posted a match-high 35 digs in a four-set win over Lubbock Christian.

RETURNERS: The Wolves return four of six starters from a year ago, including honorable mention All-GNAC selection Alisha Bettinson… Bettinson led WOU with 337 kills and a 3.40 kills per set average a year ago… Mariella Vandenkooy and Sydney Blankinship, ranked third and fifth on the team in kills respectively, provide additional experience on the offensive side for the Wolves… Vandenkooy averaged 2.23 kills per set while Blankinship led the team with a .271 hitting percentage… The team has the luxury of a pair of junior setters to turn to in Leila Holt and Maddie Mehciz… Mackenzie Bowen, another junior, returns as the most experienced defensive specialist.

GNAC PRESASON POLL: With 50 points, the WOU volleyball team was picked to place seventh according to the GNAC Coaches' Preseason Poll… Concordia edged the Wolves with 67 points for the No. 6 position while Saint Martin's followed the Wolves in eighth place… Alaska Anchorage was favored to repeat as GNAC championships by a single point over Western Washington, 110 to 109… Northwest Nazarene was also favored to be in the title hunt with 106 points and a third-place showing.

2016 RECAP: The Wolves finished with a 10-17 overall record in head coach Tommy Gott's first season… WOU went 7-13 in GNAC competitions to tie for seventh place in the conference standings… Following the season, senior defensive specialist Christie Colasurdo and junior outside hitter Alisha Bettinson were selected as honorable mention All-GNAC performers.