POMONA, Calif. – The first two weeks of the regular season will take the Western Oregon University volleyball team to California and Washington, as the action begins this coming week at the Cal Poly Pomona Tournament. The Wolves will play four matches in three days, starting Sep. 2.
The Wolves were able to play in seven matches during the 2021 spring season competing against some familiar faces from the GNAC. WOU opened against Central Washington and after a match against Alaska Anchorage, the Wolves played three straight against Western Washington, coming close in the third match as WOU pushed it to a fourth set. To close the spring, WOU faced Seattle Pacific. All seven matches were played on the road.
Allie Spear closed out her career during the spring and led the team in digs with 107. Newcomer Isabel Hurliman made a strong impact in her first matches with WOU as she led the team in kills with 66, was second in digs with 61 and added seven blocks. Returner Lauren Smith was second on the team in kills with 61, while fellow returner Makenzie York ended up third with 37 kills. Aubrey Stanton is back once again to lead the team as the main setter after pacing the team in the spring with 120 assists. She also added 28 digs. Newcomer Laney O'Neil was second on the team in assists with 56, seeing time in 12 sets.
First up on Sep. 2, WOU will play Concordia Irvine at 4 p.m. This will be the third meeting between the teams since 1994, with WOU winning the first meeting and Concordia Irvine claiming the last meeting in 2016. Eagles played seven matches during the spring season going 3-4. They played one GNAC team in Alaska Fairbanks taking the 3-1 victory. Patience O'Neal led the team in kills with 93, followed by 89 from Gracie Rowland. Brianna Latigue setup the offense with 257 assists, while on defense Cassidy Gelacio tallied 93 digs and Hannah Tostado sent back 27 blocks.
On Sep. 3, WOU will play a doubleheader first against Cal State Dominguez Hills at 10 a.m. and then against Cal Poly Pomona at 7 p.m.
WOU holds a 4-1 record against Cal State Dominguez Hills since 2001, winning the first four meetings in the series. The Toros won the most recent meeting in 2017. Cal State Dominguez Hills didn't play at all for the 2021 season, last seeing the court in 2019 when they went 14-10. Taylor Benitez-Fanslow led the team in kills with 250, followed by 228 from Rylee Brown. Jordan Ramirez setup the offense with 344 assists, while on defense Lynda Nguyen had 261 digs and Mikayla Rogers sent back 58 blocks.
To finish the day on Sep. 3, WOU will go against Cal Poly Pomona. The teams have played 10 times since 2000 with Cal Poly Pomona holding an 8-2 record and have won the last six meetings. The Broncos didn't play at all during the 2021 season, going 8-16 in 2019. WOU and Cal Poly Pomona played each other in the early tournament of 2019 with the Broncos taking the 3-0 victory. From that season, Jazminn Parrish led the team in kills with 303, followed by 248 from Ally Wilder. Kira Zimmerman setup the offense with 804 assists, while on defense Brynn Sherbert had 298 digs and Kaitlin Tucker sent back 56 blocks.
The Wolves will play a single match on Sep. 4 against Western New Mexico beginning at 10 a.m. Western New Mexico holds a 3-0 record in the series in the meetings since 2002. After first playing that year, the teams played twice in 2005 and haven't played since. All three matches were played at a neutral site. The Mustangs played four games in the spring of 2021 going 0-4. Bria Augustine led the team with 33 kills. Madelynn Culp had 47 assists, while on defense Augustine led the way with 45 digs and Delaney Seitz sent back eight blocks.
Live video and stats will be available for all four matches. Live video can be found here and live stats can be found here.
