Game Time... The Red Raider volleyball team will begin pool play at the 2007 NAIA Volleyball National Championship hosted by Columbia College in Columbia, Mo., this week. Northwestern, ranked 17th in the final NAIA poll with a 28-10 overall record, is seeded 10th in the 20-team tournament field and will play Westminster (Utah) (11:15 am) and Suny Canton (N.Y.) (6:00 pm) on Wednesday, Nov. 28 and top-seeded Fresno Pacific (Calif.) on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 1:30 pm in Pool A. The games can be heard via the following link: KSOU Radio.
Scouting Reports... Westminster College (Utah) is one of two teams from the Frontier Conference in the tournament field (Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)-seeded ninth and in Pool B). The Griffins finished league play in second place, behind Lewis-Clark State, with an 11-3 mark. They were also the runner-up in region I (to Lewis-Clark State) and are currently 24-10. Head Coach Kim Norman took over a Griffin program in 2004 that finished 1-32 in 2003. They began the season ranked 25th and were 22nd in the final NAIA poll. They are led by the region I Player-of-the-Year, Angie Johnson. Johnson, a 6-1 outside hitter led the Frontier Conference in kills (3.94) and hit .270 for the season. She also totaled 82 blocks, averaged 1.6 digs and served 19 aces. Sophomore Alison Culp, a 6-1 outside hitter, averaged 3.1 kills per game and hit .159 for the season. She also tied for the team lead with 41 ace serves and averaged 2.6 digs per game. Culp was an all-league and all-region player last year. Anada Lopes and Brittani Barton average 1.8 and 1.6 kills respectively. Lopes, a 6-2 senior, has 94 blocks, just behind Fa'alua Lobendahn, who leads the team with 99 blocks. Monica Shorts and Leigha Dangerfield share the setting duties. Shorts is the program's all-time leader in assists (2,492) and also holds the single season assist record. The junior is averaging five assists per game and has 20 service aces. Dangerfield, a highly touted freshman, averages 6.8 assists and has 41 aces this season. Senior libero Bree Riet earned all-region honors after leading the conference with 6.4 digs per game.
SUNY-Canton (N.Y.), the lone representative from the Sunrise Conference, finished league play with an unblemished 8-0 mark and is 16-7 overall. First year Head Coach Mary Helak's squad enters the national tournament on a six match win streak, their last loss on Oct. 13 against Plattsburgh State (3-0). They are led by junior Alicia Abbey who averaged three kills per game and hit .225 for the season. The 5-8 outside hitter ranked fourth in the conference with 74 aces and led the team with 129 digs. Valerie Bova, a 5-7 outside hitter, averaged 2.5 kills, hit a team-best .260 and led the team with 35 blocks. Sharlie McLean (1.8 kpg) and Nicole Rishe (1.6 kpg) are the other top weapons at the net for setter Brittany Hains. Hains, a 5-5 freshman, lofted up 6.8 assists per game and served 68 aces. Bova and Rishe recorded 1.5 and 1.1 digs per game.
Fresno Pacific is one four teams in the tournament field from the Golden State Athletic Conference. The Sunbirds spent the entire season as the unanimous number one in the NAIA poll. They are 31-1 overall with their only loss to fourth-ranked Biola (Calif.), 3-2, on Oct. 31. Head Coach Dennis Janzen, in his 22nd year at FPU, has led his team to 16 national tournament appearances, nine Final Fours and two championships. Last season, they lost to National American (S.D.) in the championship match. The Sunbirds return four NAIA All-Americans from last year's squad, led by seniors Marin Canaday and Fabiana Leomil. Canaday, a 6-0 middle hitter, averages 3.6 kills per game and has a .402 hitting percentage. Leomil, a 5-10 outside hitter, leads the squad averaging 4.1 kills per game and hit for a .287 percentage. She also leads the team with 42 ace serves. Juniors Thais Julio and Brittany Pierce both average 3.2 kill per game. Julio, a 6-3 right side hitter, hit .381 this season. Freshman Lisa Schilling, a 6-1 middle hitter, leads the team with 109 blocks and averages 2.2 kills per game. She has played in place of the injured Ke Ke Wang, a 6-4 sophomore who earned All-american honors last season. Shu Liu, a 6-0 junior, serves as the setter for Sunbirds and averages 13.1 assists per game. The 2006 All-American leads the team with a .448 hitting percentage and averages 1.4 kills per game. Liu averages 2.8 digs per game as well. Tarin Tartaglia and Tiffany Marinos lead the back-row, averaging 2.5 and 4.5 digs, respectively.
Red Raider Notes... Northwestern carries a 28-10 record into the national tournament. The Red Raiders were 13-3 in the GPAC and finished second in both the regular season and the postseason conference tournament. Northwestern advanced to the six-team regional tournament where they advanced out of pool play, winning a tie-break over #7 Dickinson State. The Red Raiders lost, 3-1, to National American in the regional championship but qualified for the national tournament via one of the two available at-large berths. NWC is making their second consecutive trip to nationals as they went 1-2 last season in pool play. This year, Coach Van Den Bosch's squad is seeded 10th out of the 20 teams and were 17th in the final NAIA ranking.
Northwestern is led by senior Megan Meyer who earned all-region honors and was the GPAC Player-of-the-Year. Meyer averaged a team-high 3.6 kills and was second on the team with 3.6 digs. She ranks third all-time in kills and in the top 10 in kills per game and digs. Randa Hulstein averaged a team-best 1.3 blocks per game to go with her 2.4 kills per game. She earned second team all-GPAC honors. Three freshmen, Hillary Hanno, Kaitlin Beaver and Bobbie jean Rich, have also had a huge impact on this year's squad. Hanno led the team with a .286 hitting percentage and averaged 2.8 kills per game. She earned second team all-league honors. Rich ranked second on the team with 2.9 kills per game and Beaver, a first team all-GPAC player, averaged 2.7 kills and led the team with 50 ace serves. Rachel Gosselink, a sophomore setter who earned first team all-GPAC honors, lofted up 13.1 assists per game and totaled 42 ace serves. Karrisa Davelaar, an honorable mention all-league selection, averaged 3.2 digs per game. Sophomore Janna Bloemendaal serves as the team's libero and led the team with 3.7 digs per game. She also served 93% and recorded 21 ace serves. Delainye Hardersen (95%-42 aces) and Kristin Kooima (90%-26 aces) round out the rotation for NWC.
Coach Van Den Bosch is in his third year at Northwestern and has a 85-27 career record.
2007 media guide
