Northwestern at Olivet Nazarene

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The Event... The Northwestern volleyball team will begin play at the 2008 NAIA Volleyball National Championship next week at the Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena in Sioux City, Iowa. The 10th-ranked Red Raiders are 27-7 overall and are one of four teams in pool C, along with #3 Concordia (Calif.), #15 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) and #21 Walsh (Ohio). Coach Van Den Bosch's squad opens Tuesday night against Olivet Nazarene, followed by Walsh on Wednesday and will end with Concordia on Thursday night. All matches are set to begin at 6:00 p.m. The top two teams will advance to a 12-team single-elimination tournament which will begin on Friday morning. All of the Raider matches can be heard via the Northwestern College web cast at the following link: Listen Now!

Scouting Report... Olivet Nazarene: The Tigers are making their third consecutive national tournament appearance and seventh overall, all of which occurred under the guidance of head coach Brenda Williams. Since taking over the ONU program in 1996, Williams has led her team to a 387-219 record and seven Chicagoland Collegiate Conference championships. Last season, she led the Tigers to a 23-21 record and a 1-2 pool play record at the national tournament.

Olivet Nazarene returns all but three starters from the 2007-08 national tournament qualifier squad, including All-Americans Tara Schmidt and Michelle McFadden. Schmidt, a 6-3 sophomore right-side hitter, averages 2.7 kills and nearly one block per game. She ranks second on the team with a .299 attack percentage and also has 29 ace serves. Schmidt earned first team all-CCC honors for the second straight year. McFadden, a two-time All-American, earned conference player-of-the-year honors after hitting a team-best .411 this season. The 6-0 senior middle hitter led the team in kills (3.2) and is second in blocks (1.0). Playing opposite McFadden is 6-2 sophomore Sara Byrne who collected a team-best 158 total blocks (1.1 per game). She hit .264 for the season, averaging 1.64 kills per set. Stephanie Smith and Terese Byrne lead the outside attack on the left side averaging 2.2 and 2.1 kills per set. Smith, a 5-10 junior, is second on the team in digs (3.7/game) and has served 33 aces. Junior Erin Sikora serves as the lone setter for the second straight season and is lofting up 10.1 assists per game. She also totaled 30 aces, 58 blocks and 2.43 digs per set in earning first team all-league honors. The back-row is led by freshman DeeAnn Garvin who boasts a team-best five digs per set and 48 ace serves. The 5-6 libero earned honorable mention all-CCC honors.

Olivet Nazarene is 35-9 overall and went undefeated in CCC play (11-0). They earned their league's automatic berth into the national tournament and defeated Asbury (Kent.) in the opening round, 3-0 (25-11, 25-11, 25-12). The Tigers were ranked 15th in the final NAIA poll. ONU is 1-6 this season against GPAC teams, losing to Briar Cliff, Morningside, Doane, Northwestern, Dordt and Hastings. Their one win vs the GPAC was a 3-0 win over Midland Lutheran at the Red Raider Classic.

Walsh: Making its fourth appearance to the national tournament, the Cavaliers come in with a 30-10 overall mark and ranked 21st in the final NAIA poll. They earned one of two automatic berths from the American Mideast Conference (Shawnee State (Ohio)) by way of the AMC regular season championship, finishing with an 11-1 record. They defeated Lee University (Tenn.) in the opening round, 21-25, 25-22, 25-18 and 28-26, to advance to the final championship site. Walsh is coached by Krista Singleton, in her fifth season with the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers return eight letter winners and five starters from a 2007 team that finished with a 29-9 overall record. Five of the top six hitters return, led by seniors Megan McDonald and Erica Parker. McDonald, a 5-10 outside hitter, leads the team in kills (4.1) and is hitting .233 for the season. The three-time all-AMC player and 2008 player-of-the-year also averaged 2.1 digs and totaled 15 aces and 51 blocks. Parker, a 6-0 middle hitter, led the team with a .320 attack percentage and averaged 2.7 kills and a team-best .8 blocks per game (106 total). Megan Kelly, a 5-10 sophomore, is third on the team averaging 2.1 kills per game on the outside. Caitlin Whealy (1.9) and Hilary Dattlio (1.5) are the other top hitters for the Cavaliers. Freshmen Jessica Schmidt and Marie Jubak serve as the setters for Coach Singleton, replacing conference setter-of-the-year Jill Barry. Combined the duo averages 18.7 assists per game and has collected 36 aces along with 43 blocks. Ashley Yuhas, a 5-9 sophomore, is the libero and averages a team-best 4.2 digs per set. She replaces the NAIA libero-of-the-year, Heather Hernandez.

Concordia: The Eagles are one of seven Golden State Athletic Conference teams in the 24-team field and earned the second of nine at-large berths. Concordia ended up third in the final NAIA rating and comes into the national tournament with a 26-5 overall record. Three of its losses were to the top two teams in the nation, Fresno Pacific and Biola. The other two set-backs were to Cal Baptist (7) and Vanguard (17).

Concordia is coached by Paula Weishoff, in her fifth season with the Eagles, and are making its fourth trip to the national tournament. The Eagles lost in the national semifinals the last two years and fell in the national championship match in 2004 to California Baptist, 3-1. Weishoff has a 141-32 overall record at Concordia.

The Eagles return 15 letter winners and five starters from last year's national semifinal team that finished with a 30-6 record. Leading the list of returners are senior outside hitters Traci Weamer (6-0) and Stephanie Scheele (5-11). Weamer, a second team All-American in 2007, earned all-GSAC honors for the second straight year after averaging a team-best 3.2 kills per game. She is hitting .239 this season and has collected 26 aces, 66 blocks and 3.4 digs per set. Scheele, a third team All-American in 2007, is hitting .325 and averages 2.9 kills and just under one block per set. Baily Schade (6-1, Sr.) and Lauren Evans (6-0, Soph.) handle the middle hitter duties for the Eagles. Schade leads the team with 98 blocks to go with 105 kills while Evans ranks second on the team with 77 blocks. She averages 1.4 kills per set and is hitting .332 for the season. Christine Douglas (6-1, Fr.) and Serrina Russo (5-10, Fr.) are the other top hitters for the very balanced Eagle attack. Senior Jenna Friedrich and junior Vanessa Perry share the setting duties and combine to average 10.9 assists per set. Chelsea Scott, a 5-6 junior, serves as the libero and averages a team-best 3.5 digs per match. Scott and Perry have 17 and 19 aces, respectively.

Previous Meetings... Northwestern is 2-0 all-time against Olivet Nazarene, including a 3-0 win earlier this year at the Red Raider Classic. The Red Raiders defeated the Tigers 25-13, 25-18 and 25-23 on August 30 and were led by Randa Hulstein with 15 kills, nine digs and three blocks. She hit .577 for the match while Hillary Hanno hit .400 and collected nine kills and four digs. As a team, NWC hit .310 compared to .115 for ONU. Stephanie Smith led Olivet Nazarene with nine kills and hit .200.

The Red Raiders are 0-2 all-time against Concordia (Calif.), which also includes a 3-2 loss to the Eagles earlier this season. In the final game of the College of St. Mary's Classic, NWC fell 25-22, 25-16, 26-28, 22-25 and 15-7. Both teams hit well for the match with the Raiders at .255 and Concordia .283. Hillary Hanno led the way with 20 kills and seven digs while Rylee Hulstein collected 11 kills and seven digs. Randa Hulstein added nine kills and a team-best eight blocks. Five Eagles players posted double figures, led by Stephanie Scheele (15) and Serrina Russo (14).

This is will be the first ever match-up against Walsh.

Red Raider Notes... Northwestern is making its eighth appearance at the national tournament and third straight trip under the guidance of head coach Kyle Van Den Bosch. They are 12-17 all-time at the championship and have reached the quarterfinals twice (1992 and 2007). Last season, the Red Raiders advanced out of pool play with a 2-1 record and defeated Columbia (Mo.) in the play-in game, 3-2, to advance to the Elite Eight. Their season ended with a 3-0 loss to runner-up California Baptist and an overall record of 31-12.

The Raiders earned one of the two automatic berths awarded to the GPAC by winning the regular season championship with a perfect 16-0 record. Northwestern lost in the GPAC Championship match to 12th-ranked Morningside, 3-0, and are 27-7 overall. They are one of four GPAC teams in the 24-team field: Morningside, Dordt and Doane.

Coach Van Den Bosch is in his fourth season with NWC with a 115-36 overall mark. In 2007 and 2008, Van Den Bosch earned GPAC Coach of the Year honors.

Northwestern is led by Randa Hulstein in the middle and Hillary Hanno and Rylee Hulstein on the outside. Randa Hulstein ranks third in the GPAC in hitting percentage (.348) and is third in blocks (1.3) and fourth in kills (3.5). The junior has collected 30 aces, averages three digs per set and was named GPAC Player-of-the-Year this season. Hanno earned first team accolades after leading the team with 3.6 kills per set (3rd best in the GPAC) and hitting .263 for the season. She also has collected 28 aces, 51 blocks and 2.2 digs per set. Rylee Hulstein earned second team all-GPAC honors averaging 2.4 kills and 2.9 digs per set. Kate Buyert (6-0, Fr.) and Bobbie jean Rich (6-1, Soph.) are the other top hitters for Coach Van Den Bosch's squad. For the second straight year, Kaitlin Beaver earned first team all-GPAC honors after making the switch to full-time setter this season. She averaged just under eight assists per set and ranked fourth in the GPAC with 50 ace serves. Beaver was named to the 2007 NAIA National Tournament all-Tournament team. Janna Bloemendaal anchors the defense for the Red Raiders, averaging a team-best 4.3 digs per set. She served 94% for the season and earned honorable mention all-GPAC honors. Delainye Hardersen, Kristin Kooima and Rachel Gosselink will come in and serve for NWC. Hardersen leads the team, serving 95% for the season, and averages 1.4 digs per set.

More Information...For more information regarding the 2008 NAIA volleyball national championship, click on the following links:

   Tournament Brackets and Pressbook | Championship Home Page