WESTERN OREGON VOLLEYBALL

Thursday, Nov. 16  /  7 p.m.
Seattle Pacific (13-13, 8-10 GNAC)
Monmouth, Ore.
Live Stream | Live Stats

Saturday, Nov. 18  /  7 p.m.
Saint Martin's (9-17, 4-14 GNAC)
Monmouth, Ore.
Live Stream | Live Stats

MONMOUTH, Ore.—The Western Oregon University (6-19, 2-16 GNAC) volleyball team will close out the season at home this week with a Thursday match against Seattle Pacific followed by Senior Day on Saturday against Saint Martin's. Both matches are set to begin at 7 p.m. inside the New P.E. Gymnasium.

ABOUT SEATTLE PACIFIC (13-13, 8-10 GNAC): The Falcons enter the final week of the season in sixth place in the GNAC standings and have an outside shot at tying for fifth place with two wins and two losses by Simon Fraser in the final week… SPU snapped a three-match skid with a 3-1 win over Simon Fraser on Nov. 11… SPU is ranked No. 8 in the GNAC with a .177 hitting percentage and No. 6 defensively by holding its opponents to a .183 rate… Gabi Stegemoller leads the team with a .289 hitting percentage, good for No. 7 in the GNAC… Symone Tran is ranked fourth in the conference with 8.66 assists per set while teammate Nicole Tchabanov is fourth in the GNAC with 1.23 blocks per set.

ABOUT SAINT MARTIN'S (9-17, 4-14 GNAC): The Saints will enter the final week tied with two other teams for eighth place in the GNAC standings with a 4-14 mark in conference play... SMU has dropped six of its last seven matches with its lone win a 3-0 sweep at home against Simon Fraser on Nov. 9… The Saints are ranked 10th in offense efficiency with a .156 hit rate while its defense holds its foes to a .209 attack percentage which stands as No. 7 in the GNAC… Rebecca Harris leads the team and is ranked No. 4 in the GNAC with 3.69 kills per set.

2017 SENIORS: Prior to the match on Saturday, WOU athletics will honor the two seniors on the volleyball team, Sydney Blankinship and Alisia Bettinson… Blankinship has played in 93 career matches for the Wolves over four seasons and is ranked No. 3 all-time in career attack percentage with a .280 hit rate… Blankinship is also in the top 10 all-time in total blocks and block assists… The senior middle blocker is a three-time Academic All-GNAC honoree and finished her juniors season ranked in the top 10 in the GNAC with a .271 hitting percentage…  Bettinson was named an honorable mention All-GNAC performer last season and is a two-time Academic All-GNAC recipient… This season, Bettinson became the first Wolf during the school's NCAA DII era to top 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career… She closes out her career as the DII school record holder with more than 1,100 kills… She also holds the school record in attacks and points and is in the top 10 in digs, blocks, aces and matches played.

ACDEMIC ALL-GNAC: Six Wolves were selected to the Academic All-GNAC team on Nov. 8… Seniors Alisha Bettinson and Sydney Blankinship were three-time honorees while sophomore Mackenzie Bowen and Leila Holt were honored for the second straight season… To qualify for the GNAC All-Academic Team, a student-athlete must be of sophomore standing or better, be in their second season competing at their current institution and have a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or better.
 

2017 GNAC ALL-ACADEMIC - WOU
Name	Academic Major	Year	GPA	Hometown
*+ Alisha Bettinson	Business	Sr.	3.84	Richland, Wash.
*+ Sydney Blankinship	Community Health	Sr.	3.32	Portland, Ore.
* Mackenzie Bowen	Business	Jr.	3.67	Olympia, Wash.
Jenna Compton	Business	So.	3.97	Phelan, Calif.
* Leila Holt	Art	Jr.	3.34	Manoa, Hawaii
Maddie Mehciz	Exercise Science	Jr.	3.52	Petaluma, Calif.

* - 2016 All-Academic Selection   + - 2015 All-Academic Selection

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)… Bettinson set the school's NCAA DII-era record in career kills against MSUB on Nov. 2, passing Danielle Reese's 1,065 total… Defensively, Bettinson became the fifth Wolf to reach 1,000 digs in a career on Oct. 7 against MSU Billings and now has 1,096 in her career… She is the first Wolf during the DII era to top 1,000 career kills and digs… Bettinson's 2.88 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 3,799 total swings.

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 1,754 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 1,142 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 212 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.