Volleyball Weekly Notebook
Pacific opens the 2009 season and Lena Chan's second year as head coach with four straight home matches, including the fifth annual Boxer Kickoff Volleyball Invitational
QUICK LINKS: Pacific Roster | Schedule & Results | Statistics | NWC Standings | NWC Schedule | NWC Statistics
THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC VOLLEYBALL
CONCORDIA (ORE.) AT PACIFIC
Match No. 1/Home Match No. 1
Tues., Sept. 1, 6 p.m., Pacific Athletic Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats: GoBoxers.com
SCHREINER AT PACIFIC
Match No. 2/Home Match No. 2
Fri., Sept. 4, 7 p.m., Pacific Athletic Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats: GoBoxers.com
WARTBURG AT PACIFIC
Match No. 3/Home Match No. 3
Sat., Sept. 5, 8:15 p.m., Pacific Athletic Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats: GoBoxers.com
CENTRAL (IOWA) AT PACIFIC
Match No. 4/Home Match No. 4
Sun., Sept. 6, 1:30 p.m., Pacific Athletic Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats: GoBoxers.com
2009 BOXER KICKOFF VOLLEYBALL INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
Fri., Sept. 4
7 p.m.: Schreiner vs. Pacific
Sat., Sept. 5
9 a.m.: Schreiner vs. Central (Iowa)
11:15 a.m.: Linfield vs. Willamette
1:30 p.m.: Schreiner vs. Wartburg
3:45 p.m.: Linfield vs. Central (Iowa)
6 p.m.: Schreiner vs. Willamette
8:15 p.m.: Pacific vs. Wartburg
Sun., Sept. 6
9 a.m.: Willamette vs. Central (Iowa)
11:15 a.m.: Linfield vs. Wartburg
1:30 p.m.: Pacific vs. Central (Iowa)
3:45 p.m.: Willamette vs. WaBoldrtburg
For complete tournament results and statistics, please visit the Boxer Kickoff web page.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
CONCORDIA (ORE.)
The NAIA members of the Cascade Conference enter the week with a 2-2 record. The Cavaliers opened the year by going 1-2 at the Raider Classic in Ashland, beating Oregon Tech and falling to Southern Oregon and defending NAIA national champion Fresno Pacific. Concordia evened their record with a three-set win over Simpson (Calif.) on Friday. Raiuca Dinca leads the team with 29 kills. Concordia finished the 2008 season with a 17-13 record and placed fifth in the CCC at 13-7. They are picked fifth in the 2009 CCC Preseason Poll. Melanie Hambleton is in her first year as head coach after 19 years as the head coach at Estacada High School. Former Pacific head coach Ray Nunn is in his fourth season as an assistant coach.
ALL TIME SERIES: Pacific leads 13-10. AGAINST CHAN: First Meeting.
LAST MEETING: Pacific won 3-0 at Portland on Sept. 4, 1998
SCHREINER
The Mountaineers hail from Kerrville, Texas and are NCAA Division III members of the American Southwest Conference. Schreiner opens the season today with matches at the Trinity (Texas) Tournament against Mary Hardin-Baylor and Trinity before making the trip to Oregon. Schreiner finished the 2008 season with an 11-14-1 overall record and was fourth in the ASC's West Division. They are picked to finish fourth in the division this season. Phillip White is in his second season as head coach.
ALL TIME SERIES: First Meeting. AGAINST CHAN: First Meeting.
WARTBURG
The Knights of Waverly, Iowa, will open their season at the Boxer Kickoff. Wartburg finished the 2008 season with an 11-24 record and finished fourth in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) are 4-4. They fell in the first round of the IIAC Tournament to Luther. In 2009, Wartburg is picked to finish sixth in the IIAC Preseason Coaches Poll. Jennifer Walker is in her 10th year as head coach and is the winningest coach in program history.
ALL TIME SERIES: First Meeting. AGAINST CHAN: First Meeting.
CENTRAL (IOWA)
The Dutch of Pella, Iowa, open their 2009 season tonight at Grand View before heading west for the Boxer Kickoff. Central finished the 2008 season with a 21-15 record, their 17th straight season of 20 or more victories, and finished third in the IIAC standings, but fell to Loras in the IIAC Tournament final. This will be the second ever meeting between the Dutch and the Boxers. Kent Clayberg is in his seventh season as head coach and has led the team to three conference titles and four NCAA National Tournament berths.
ALL TIME SERIES: Central leads 1-0. AGAINST CHAN: First Meeting.
LAST MEETING: Central won 3-1 at St. Louis, Mo., on Sept. 9, 2006
OTHER BOXER KICKOFF PARTICIPANTS
LINFIELD
The Wildcats open their season at the Boxer Kickoff with matches against Willamette, Central and Wartburg. Linfield finished with a 13-7 overall record in 2008 and were fourth in the Northwest Conference at 9-7. The squad is led by returning honroable mention All-American middle blocker Emily Vuylsteke. The Wildcats are picked to finish third in the NWC Preseason Coaches Poll. Shane Kimura is beginning his 32nd season as Linfield head coach.
WILLAMETTE
The Bearcats open their season with four matches at the Boxer Kickoff against Linfield, Schreiner, Central and Wartburg. Willamette finished the 2008 season with a 6-20 overall record and was eighth in the NWC at 4-12. The Bearcats are picked to finish eighth again in the NWC Preseason Coaches Poll. This is Willamette's second appearance in the Boxer Kickoff. They participated in the inaugural event in 2005.
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
PACIFIC PICKED SIXTH IN NWC PRESEASON POLL: After tying for sixth place last year, Northwest Conference coaches have picked Pacific to finish sixth again in the annual preseason poll released in August. The Boxers picked up 36 of a possible 90 points in the poll. They had been picked fifth in the 2008 edition of the poll. Pacifc Lutheran was the clear favorite to repeat as champions, picking up six of nine first place votes and 84 points. Puget Sound is picked second, garnering three first place votes and 74 total points. View Complete Poll
GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START: Pacific will hope that the fifth Boxer Kickoff will be as successful of an opener as it has been over its first four years. The Boxers have an 8-8 record as tournament hosts. The team went 1-3 in the 2008 season, but had gone no worse than 2-2 in each of the tournament's first three seasons.
PRELUDE TO THE TOURNANENT: The Boxers have also been successful when they play a match prior to the start of the Boxer Kickoff. Pacific is 2-1 in season-opening matches played prior to the official start of the tournament. The Concordia match on Tuesday will mark the first time since 2005 that the Boxers have played a non-tournament opponent prior to the Boxer Kickoff.
BACK FOR MORE: It will be fun to see what Kelsy Takashima (So., Kaunakakai, Hawaii) can do for an encore after quietly becoming the top player on the Pacific roster as a freshman. The sophomore became Pacific's first ever freshman selection to the All-Northwest Conference First Team after finishing second in the league in hitting percentage and 10th in blocks. Her .279 hitting percentage ranks third best in a single season in school history. Takashima also set a Pacific single match with nine block assists and with eight blocks in a three-set match against Willamette on 10/31/08.
COMPLETE SEASON PREVIEW: The complete 2009 Pacific volleyball season preview can be found online at http://www.goboxers.com/vb/season-preview.cfm.
COACH AND PLAYER REUNITE: Concordia's arrival at the Pacific Athletic Center on Tuesday will mark a reunion between former Pacific head coach Ray Nunn and current Pacific head coach Lena Chan. Nunn coached Chan in her first two seasons as a collegian before she transferred to Division I Baylor in 1996. Nunn coached the Boxers for five seasons, from 1993 to 1996. His 69 victories rank him as the winningest coach in the modern history of the program. Nunn has spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at Concordia and is in his third year as head coach at Tualatin High School.
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: Pacific celebrated the accomplishments of two players who excelled in both the classroom and on the court with selection to the Northwest Conference Scholar-Athlete Team. Senior Caitlin Gollehon was selected after compiling a 3.59 grade point average as an exercise science major. Freshman Brittney Johnson was also selected after compiling a 3.89 grade point average as a mathematics major. Selections to the NWC Scholar-Athlete Teams must have a 3.50 cumulative grade point average and must be active on the team roster for the entire season.
RULE BOOK IS STATUS QUO: After a number of major rule changes that changed the look of the game for the 2008 season, the 2009 rule book features few rules, all minor. The only major changbe that could affect Division III matches allows coaches to expand timeouts from 60 to 75 seconds if agreed to prior to the match. Other minor changes include definition of the warm-up area, clarifcation of coaches' communication with the second official and the duties of the assistant scorekeeper.
Posted by Blake Timm (timmbr@pacificu.edu) on Sep 1, 2009 at 12:11 PM
