WESTERN OREGON VOLLEYBALL

Tuesday, Oct. 31  /  7 p.m.
Concordia (9-12, 4-10 GNAC)
Monmouth, Ore.
Live Stream | Live Stats

Thursday, Nov. 2  /  7 p.m. (MT)
Montana State Billings (7-17, 3-11 GNAC)
Billings, Mont.
Live Stream | Live Stats

MONMOUTH, Ore.—The Western Oregon University (6-15, 2-12 GNAC) volleyball team will play a pair of midweek matches this week by hosting Concordia University on Halloween Night before traveling to face Montana State University Billings on Thursday, Nov. 2.

ABOUT CONCORDIA (17-3, 11-1 GNAC): Concordia enters the week ranked No. 6 in the GNAC standings after losing four straight matches… The Cavaliers defeated WOU, 3-0, in Portland on Oct. 3… CU is ranked No. 6 in the GNAC in hitting percentage (.191) and 10th out of 11 by allowing its opponents a .218 hit rate… Colby Barnette leads the team with a .288 attack rate which stands as No. 6 in the GNAC while Lindsay Dorsey is No. 7 in the league with an average of 3.48 kills per set… Michelle Brown orchestrates the offense and is third in the GNAC with 10.01 assists per set.

ABOUT MSU BILLINGS (9-11, 6-6 GNAC): The Yellowjackets are tied for ninth place in the GNAC standings entering the week… MSUB is coming off a weekend split with a win at Saint Martin's and a 3-0 loss at Seattle Pacific… The Yellowjackets have dropped eight of their last nine and 13 of their last 15 matches… The Jackets are last in the GNAC with a .148 hit rate and No. 9 defensively by allowing its opponents a .217 exchange… Maddi Vigil leads the team with 3.24 kills per set while teammate Izela Alvarez in the GNAC leader with 5.69 digs per set.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Wolves will make its annual Alaskan trip next week with road matches in Anchorage on Nov. 9 and Fairbanks on Nov. 11… Western Oregon will close out the season the following week at home against Seattle Pacific on Nov. 16 and Saint Martin's on Nov. 18.

LAST WEEK: The Wolves dropped both matches last week by 3-0 scores as No. 8-ranked Western Washington and Simon Fraser swept the Wolves in Monmouth.
 
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 1,050 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 1,070 in her career… She is the first Wolf during the DII era to top 1,000 career kills and digs… Bettinson's 2.87 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 3,604 total swings.

THAT'S ACES: In addition to her kill totals, Alisha Bettinson is also ranked No. 8 in school NCAA DII history with 69 aces… Sophomore Libbie Hoene holds the school's No. 7 ace rate with 0.30 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 .280 for the Wolves to rank No. 4 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 162 career blocks, Blankinship is ranked No. 9 in school history.
 
ASSIST CHARTS: Junior Maddie Mehciz has tallied 1,707 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. 8 all-time at WOU with 1,051 career assists.

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.