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WHAT’S BRUIN: Volleyball News & Notes 10/27
Overall Record: 9-13 (Home 1-7, Road 3-3, Neutral 5-3)
NWC Record: 4-8, 6th (Home 1-5, Road 3-3)
Links: Quick Facts / Roster / Schedule & Results / Statistics / Press Releases
Multimedia: Live Stats / Video / KFOX Radio
HIGHLIGHTS:
* Coming Up: Final Road Games of Season vs. Tacoma Teams
* Recent Games: Bruins Get First Home Win in Split with ‘Whits’
* Valentine Honorable Mention for NWC Weekly Honors
* NCAA Stats: Reeves in Digs, Pledger in Blocks Among NCAA Leaders
* NWC Stats: Four Bruins Listed Among League Statistical Leaders
* Career Lists: Toedtemeier Climbs into 9th on All-Time Assists List
Coming Up :
Fri., Oct. 29, 7:00 pm – at University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Wash. (NWC)
Sat., Oct. 30, 7:00 pm – at Pacific Lutheran University, Parkland, Wash. (NWC)
The final two road games of the 2010 season await the Bruins, who have a better record away from home than they do in the Wheeler Sports Center, on their annual Northwest Conference visit to the Tacoma area this weekend. The Bruins will meet the nationally-ranked and league-leading Puget Sound Loggers on Friday before taking on the four-time defending NWC champion Pacific Lutheran Lutes on Saturday. Both games begin at 7:00 p.m.
Multimedia: There will be no multimedia presentations from George Fox. Puget Sound will provide live stats for Friday’s match at http://www.loggerathletics.com/information/mediacenter. Pacific Lutheran will provide live stats for Saturday’s match at http://golutes.com/information/livestats, and a live audio webcast at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/plu.portal#.
This Week’s Opponents:
Puget Sound (16-4, NWC 11-1, 1st): The Loggers from Tacoma, Wash., were picked 2nd in the NWC pre-season poll, the Bruins 4th ... UPS is ranked 24th in the latest AVCA national poll ... The Loggers have won 10 in a row and 14 of their last 15, the latest a 3-0 win over Willamette on Saturday ... The Loggers have won the last two meetings with the Bruins, including a 3-1 win in Newberg on Oct. 1 this year ... The Bruins’ last win in the series was 3-1 in Tacoma on Oct. 10, 2009 ... UPS in the latest NWC stats: hitting pct. (.200, 2nd), opponents’ hitting pct. (.114, 1st), kills (12.53, 1st, 37th nationally), assists (11.44, 1st, 43rd nationally), blocks (2.27, 1st, 32nd nationally), aces (1.68, 2nd), digs (17.96, 3rd) … Brynn Blickenstaff is 3rd in kills (3.57), hitting pct. (.253) … Jaime Ecklund is 6th in blocks (0.91), hitting pct. (.244) … Natalie Monro is 4th in kills (3.54), 8th in hitting pct. (.216) … Erika Greene is 1st in assists (10.24, 33rd nationally), 5th in aces (0.36) … Molly Gibson is 2nd in blocks (1.08) … Juliette Witous is 4th in digs (5.03) … Coach Mark Massey is 266-117 to date in his 15th season … Next: Oct. 30 vs. Lewis & Clark, 7 pm.
Pacific Lutheran (15-7, NWC 9-3, 3rd): The Lutes from Parkland, Wash., were picked 1st in the NWC pre-season poll, the Bruins 4th ... PLU dropped a 3-1 non-conference decision at home to St. Martin’s in their last match on Tuesday ... The Lutes have won the last four meetings with the Bruins, including a 3-0 win in Newberg on Oct. 2 this year ... The Bruins’ last win in the series was 3-2 in Parkland on Sept. 20, 2008 ... PLU in the latest NWC stats: hitting pct. (.205, 1st), opponents’ hitting pct. (.156, 5th), kills (12.06, 3rd), assists (10.78, 4th), blocks (1.99, 5th), aces (2.03, 1st), digs (15.91, 6th) … Melissa DeWalt is 2nd in hitting pct. (.254) … Erin Bremond is 5th in hitting pct. (.247), 9th in blocks (0.85) … Kelsie Moore is 6th in kills (2.99), 9th in aces (0.30), 10th in digs (3.21) … Beth Hanna is 7th in kills (2.92) ... Sarah Beaver is 4th in assists (9.18) … Anna Buck is 1st in aces (0.54) ... Blair Bjorkman is 3rd in digs (5.04), 7th in aces (0.32) … Coach Kevin Aoki is 257-131 to date in his 15th year ... PLU hosts Willamette Friday before meeting the Bruins … Next: Nov. 3 vs. Puget Sound, 7 pm.
Recent Results (1-1):
Fri., Oct. 22 – W 3-0 vs. Whitman (25-16, 25-21, 25-22)
Playing without NWC hitting pct. and blocks leader Eliza Pledger, Isabel Valentine with 12 kills and Cassie Irwin with 9 kills and a .444 hitting pct. stepped up to lead the Bruins to their first home victory of the season. Ali Toedtemeier passed out 31 assists, and Patti Reeves led the defense with 14 digs. Valetnine and Irwin also had 3 blocks apiece.
Sat., Oct. 23 - L 0-3 vs. Whitworth (24-26, 21-25, 23-25)
The Bruins battled the second-place Pirates to the wire before losing a match that was much closer than the final score would indicate. Isabel Valentine and Cassie Irwin led the Bruins with 7 kills each, and Ali Toedtemeier had 29 assists. Reeves made 20 digs, and Valentine posted 7 blocks (2 solo, 5 assists).
BRUIN BITS ---
* Valentine Honorable Mention for NWC Weekly Honors
After leading the team in kills and blocks in both games as the Bruins went 1-1 vs. the eastern Washington schools, middle blocker Isabel Valentine received honorable mention for Northwest Conference Volleyball Student-Athlete of the Week for Oct. 18-24.
In a 3-0 win over Whitman on Oct. 22, Valentine had 12 kills and 3 errors in 28 attempts for a .321 hitting pct., with an assist, a dig, and 3 solo blocks. In a 3-0 loss to Whitworth on Oct. 23, she had 7 kills and 3 errors in 19 attempts for a .211 hitting pct., with 2 digs, 2 solo blocks, and 5 block assists. For the week, in 2 matches and 6 sets, she totaled 19 kills (3.17 per set) and 6 errors in 47 attempts (.277), with one assist, 3 digs, and 10 blocks (5 solo, 5 assists).
Valentine, a 6-0 freshman from West Linn, Ore., has now been honorable mention for NWC weekly honors three times this season. She currently ranks 10th in the NWC in blocks (0.83).
* 2010 Honors
Eliza Pledger ---
Bruin Athletic Association Women’s Athlete of the Week - (Sept. 6-12)
Northwest Conference Volleyball Student-Athlete of the Week - (HM, Aug. 30-Sept. 5; HM, Sept. 6-12; HM, Sept. 13-19; HM, Oct. 4-10; HM, Oct. 11-17)
Isabel Valentine ---
Northwest Conference Volleyball Student-Athlete of the Week - (HM, Sept. 20-26; HM, Sept. 27-Oct. 3; HM, Oct. 18-24)
* NCAA Stats: Reeves in Digs, Pledger in Blocks Among NCAA Leaders
In the latest NCAA Division III national statistics (thru Oct. 17), George Fox ranks 34th in digs per set
(19.06) ... Eliza Pledger is 25th in blocks (1.15) ... Patti Reeves is 29th in digs (5.83) ...
* NWC Stats: Four Bruins Listed Among League Statistical Leaders
In the latest Northwest Conference statistics (thru Oct. 24), George Fox ranks 2nd in digs (18.97), 3rd in assists (10.96), 4th in kills (11.78), opponents’ hitting percentage (.153), 5th in aces (1.60), 6th in blocks (1.94), 7th in hitting pct. (.125) ...
Eliza Pledger is 1st in hitting pct. (.291), blocks (1.15) ...
Patti Reeves is 2nd in digs (5.81), 4th in aces (0.36) ...
Ali Toedtemeier is 3rd in assists (9.33) …
Isabel Valentine is 10th in blocks (0.83) ...
* Career Lists: Toedtemeier Climbs into 9th on All-Time Assists List
Ali Toedtemeier: With 60 assists in the last two games, Toedtemeier has 728 for the season and 1,822 in her career, moving her past Gina (Coolen) Kluver, now a Bruins’ assistant coach (1,797, 2003-04) into 9th on the all-time list. Ahead is Denise (Iverson) Vernon (2,099, 1979-81, 1984) ...
Eliza Pledger: Pledger sat out the last two Bruin matches with back problems and remained with 70 blocks for the season and 187 for her career, 8th on the all-time list. Ahead is Jeni Nelson (194, 2000-03) ...
Stephanie Kerr: Kerr had 4 blocks in the last two games and has 56 blocks on the season and 156 in her career, tied with Sarah Crossfield (156, 2006-09), now a Bruins’ assistant coach, for 10th on the all-time list. Ahead is Mindi (Yost) Cotner (182, 1999-2002) …
* Coach Steve Grant:
Steve Grant (Biola ‘69) has a 565-378 (.599) record to date in his 29th season as the Bruins’ head coach. Entering this fall, his 556 career wins were 13th among active NCAA Division III coaches and 19th among D-III coaches all-time. He was the NCCAA National Coach of the Year in 1984 and 1987 for leading the Bruins to NCCAA national titles, and in 1998, he was the NWC Coach of the Year. The Bruins have posted 21 winning seasons in his time as the GFU coach. Click here for the complete bio on Coach Grant.
