November 27, 2007

Volleyball team opens play at NAIA national tourney

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

The Warriors kick off action as the ninth seed in the 20-team NAIA Volleyball National Championships on Wednesday at Columbia College in Columbia, Mo.

The Warriors, 25-6 overall, are making their eighth appearance in the national tournament and first since 1999. The team’s best finish came during the 1998 season when it advanced to the semifinals before losing to eventual runner-up Northwest Nazarene.

The national tournament features five four-team pools. Each team will face the other teams in its pool and the top two finishers in each pool advance to the single-elimination format. Pool play will be held the first two days and the single-elimination format is the final two days.

California Baptist, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, is the top-ranked team in LCSC’s pool. The remaining two teams in the pool are the University of Texas-Brownsville, and the University of Virginia-Wise.

The Warriors will open pool play on Wednesday at 9:15 a.m., PDT, against Texas-Brownsville. On Thursday, the Warriors face Virginia-Wise at 7 a.m., and wrap up pool play against California-Baptist at 4 p.m.

LCSC, which was picked to finish sixth in the Frontier Conference this season, has won the conference’s regular-season and tournament titles, as well as the Region I championship.

The Warriors boast a balanced attack. Seven players have more than 100 kills this season and four have hitting percentages of .263 or better. The Warriors also have seven players with 100 or more digs this season, and also boast seven players with at least 20 blocks.

LCSC coach Jen Greeny says LCSC is the kind of team she hates to face.

“You can’t concentrate on trying to stop one or two players because of the balance,” she says. “I just want us to play well at nationals and play really well as a team.”

California Baptist stands 27-4 overall and has been the No. 2 ranked team in the NAIA since mid-September. The team has lost all three meetings to No. 1-ranked Fresno Pacific, including in the Region II title match last weekend. California Baptist’s only other loss was to Western Washington, an NCAA Division II school.

California Baptist is making its fourth straight national tournament appearance and 11th overall. It won the national title in 2004 and ’05, and finished third last season.

Texas-Brownsville is 33-7 and didn’t lose a game in six matches while winning both the Red River Conference Tournament and also the Region VI Tournament. Texas-Brownsville was ranked No. 18 in the final NAIA poll.

It’s the first time Texas-Brownsville has qualified for the NAIA national tournament, but that’s in part because the school was a junior college until two years ago.

Virginia-Wise, 25-13 also is making its first trip to the national tournament. The Cavaliers were the No. 5 seed in the six-team Region XII tournament, but stunned top seed King College in the semifinals and then defeated No. 3 Bryan College in the championship match.

Virginia-Wise was picked to finish seventh in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, but wound up finishing fourth. The Cavaliers came on at the right time to finish second in the conference tournament and then beat King College for the first time on the road en route to the regional title. Virginia-Wise did not receive a vote in the final Top 25 poll, which came out prior to the regional tournament.

California schools from the Golden State Athletic Conference, which held the top five positions for most of the season, earned the top four seeds in the tournament, while defending champion National American of South Dakota is the No. 5 seed. Westminster, also from the Frontier Conference like LCSC, is the No. 11 seed and will be in the same pool as top seed Fresno Pacific, which held down the No. 1 ranking all season and is undefeated at 34-0.

LCSC’s previous seven tournament appearances came in 1988, 1989, 1994, and 1996-99.

NAIA VOLLEYBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Pool A – #1 seed Fresno Pacific, #10 Northwestern (Iowa). #11 Westminster (Utah), #20 Canton (N.Y.)

Pool B – #2 California Baptist, #9 Lewis-Clark State. #12 Texas-Brownsville. #19 Virginia-Wise.

Pool C – #3 Concordia (Calif.), #8 Mt. Vernon Nazarene (Ohio), #13 Madonna (Mich.), #18 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)

Pool D – #4 Biola (Calif.) #7 Columbia (Mo.) #14 Campbellsville (Ky.), #17 Mobile (Ala.).

Pool E – #5 National American (S.D.), #6 Lindenwood (Mo.), #15 Savannah College of Art and Design (Ga.), #16 Bellevue (Neb.).

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The Warriors wrap up a two-week five-game road trip with a pair of games in Oregon this weekend.

LCSC takes on Pacific University for the second time this season and then squares off against Lewis & Clark College on Saturday.

Two weeks ago in the Staples Classic at Lewiston, the Warriors ruined Pacific’s season opener with an 84-50 triumph.

The Warriors, ranked No. 12 in the NAIA preseason poll, stand 7-2 on the season. Pacific is 0-3 with a game Tuesday night against Northwest Christian before entertaining LCSC. Lewis & Clark is 3-1 on the season and the Pioneers are picked to finish third in their NCAA Division III league.

Senior Mandy Troutt, a 6-foot-2 post from Pullman, Wash., has been on a tear for the Warriors this season. She has recorded five double-doubles (double digits in both scoring and rebounding) and has been in double figures in either points or rebounds in every game this season.

Troutt also has two MVP awards this season, earning the honor at the Staples Classic and again last week in the Menlo College Thanksgiving Classic. Her averages of 14.9 points and 9.2 rebounds per game are both team highs. And her average of five offensive rebounds per game ranks fifth in the NAIA.

LCSC has three players averaging in double figures and another four scoring better than 7.1 points per game. Breianna Gaines is at 11.0 points per outing, while senior guard Jade Fulbright is at 10.4 points. Sadie Short is second on the team in rebounding at 6.9 boards per game.

As a team, LCSC is shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 81.7 points, while holding opponents to just 33.9 percent and 49 points a game. LCSC also is outrebounding opponents by an average of more than 17 a game, which is tops among all NAIA teams.

LCSC ranks second in the NAIA in four categories: offensive rebounds per game (22.6), points allowed (49.0), steals per game (17.8), and rebounds per game (47.9). The Warriors also are fourth in turnover margin (11.8) and scoring margin (32.6) and are sixth in assists per game (19.0).


FRONTIER NONCONFERENCE RECORDS – Carroll 8-0, Westminster 7-1, Montana Western 6-1, Lewis-Clark State 7-2, Montana State-Northern 6-3, Great Falls 5-5, Montana Tech 4-4, Rocky Mountain 3-4.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Warriors take part in their fourth and final regular-season tournament this weekend when they head to Fort Lewis, Colo., to face a pair of tough NCAA Division II schools.

On Friday, the Warriors face Fort Lewis College, which is 2-1 on the season. The Skyhawks lost a four point overtime decision in an exhibition game to Weber State and the high-scoring team has put up at least 77 points in every game this season.

Adams State stands at 4-1 with its only loss being to national power Arizona 88-64. The team returns four key players from last year’s team, which tied Fort Lewis for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference West Division championship.

Fort Lewis was picked to win the West Division this season, while Adams State was picked to finish fifth in the coaches poll.

These are the final nonconference road games for the Warriors this season. Their four remaining games in December are at home at the LCSC Activity Center. The Warriors then begin Frontier Conference play on Jan. 5.

The Warriors currently have three players averaging in double figures. Senior forward Mike Gordy is returning to home state in hopes of continuing his strong play. Gordy, a second-team NAIA All American last year, is averaging 21.3 points and 5.9 rebounds a game this season. Gordy is hitting 68 percent from the field, which is seventh in the NAIA, and is scoring average ranks 12th in the nation.

Mikel Watson is averaging 10.9 points per game.

Sophomore guard Napoleon Gordon leads the team in both assists and steals. His average of 3.6 steals per game is fourth in the NAIA.

As a team, the Warriors are shooting 50.1 percent from the field and are averaging 88.1 points per game. Defensively, the team is holding opponents to 44.5 percent accuracy and 63.4 points per game.

The Warriors also rank No. 1 in the NAIA in turnover margin, forcing 13.6 more turnovers than they commit per game. LCSC also is No. 2 in steals per game at 14.6, and ninth in assist/turnover ratio at 1.209. Finally, LCSC ranks 10th in free throw percentage at 73.8 percent.

Jon Daly has a staph infection in his leg and is listed as day-to-day.

FRONTIER NONCONFERENCE RECORDS – Westminster 7-1, Carroll 9-2, Lewis-Clark State 6-2, Montana State-Northern 6-2, Rocky Mountain 5-2, Montana Tech 3-6, Montana Western 3-7, Great Falls 1-5.

WAA WINTER SPORTS LUNCHEON

The Warrior Athletic Association’s annual Winter Sports Lunch for the Lewis-Clark State College men’s and women’s basketball programs will be Dec. 5 at noon-1 p.m. on the West Mezzanine of the LCSC Activity Center.

Men’s basketball coach Tim Walker and women’s basketball coach Brian Orr will discuss their teams and some of their players will be in attendance.

Happy Day Corporation is the sponsor of the lunch and also will cater the event.

The cost of the lunch is $10 per person and anyone interested in attending is asked to contact Cindi Durgan at either cfdurgan@lcsc.edu, or at 792-2692.