November 6, 2007

Volleyball team begins post season play

VOLLEYBALL

After winning its final five matches to claim the Frontier Conference regular season title, the Warriors look to add to their list of accomplishment this season when they go after the conference tournament title this weekend in Billings, Mont.

All eight conference teams will take part in the single-elimination tournament, which opens Friday. The semifinals are Saturday morning, with the championship match on Saturday night. A third-place match, between the two semifinal losers, will take place prior to the title tilt.

LCSC and Westminster, which finished 1-2 in the conference standings, have already earned automatic berths into the eight-team Region I Tournament, which is Nov. 15-17 in Spokane. The highest finisher among the remaining six teams in the conference tournament also earns an automatic berth.

The Warriors, who went 12-2 in the conference, stand 18-5 overall and will take on winless Montana-Western in the conference tournament’s opening round at noon. Montana-Western is 0-24 overall and lost in three straight games in both meetings against LCSC this season, including the second meet last Friday.

“The team is playing well now,” LCSC coach Jen Greeny said.  “We need to focus on the Conference Tournament and then hopefully get a good seed in the Regional Tournament.  We are excited and still working hard.”

LCSC was ranked No. 20 in last week’s NAIA poll and could move up when this week’s poll is announced on Wednesday.

The Warriors rank No. 23 in the country in kills per game at 14.9, are No. 27 in assists at 13.3, and are No. 39 in service aces per game at 2.4.

Senior middle blocker Brittney Kubik is No. 22 in the NAIA in blocks at 1.5 per game, and is No. 45 in hitting percentage at .331, which leads all Region I competitors. Teammate Anile Clemente is second at .308.

LCSC ranks first in the conference in hitting percentage, kills, assists, and service aces, and is second in digs.

FRONTIER CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

At Billings

Friday’s pairings

Quarterfinals – #1 seed LCSC  (18-5) vs. No. 8 Montana-Western (0-24), noon; #4 Rocky Mountain (14-14) vs. #5 Great Falls (13-12), 1 p.m.; #3 Montana Tech (18-8) vs. #6 Montana State-Northern (5-18), 5 p.m.; #2 Westminster (19-7) vs. #7 Carroll (9-17), 7 p.m.

Saturday’s pairings

Semifinals – L-C/UMW winner vs. Rocky Mountain/Great Falls winner. 10 a.m.; Tech/MSU-N winner vs. Westminster/Carroll winner, noon.

Third place – semifinal two losers, 5 p.m.

Championship – semifinal two winners, 7 p.m.            

MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Warriors, tied for No. 13 in the NAIA preseason poll,  look to stay undefeated in both tournament and regular-season action this week when they take part in the Walla Walla University Hoop Classic in Walla Walla, Wash.

The tournament features three teams in a round-robin tournament, but the Warriors will only play two games, starting with Andrews University of Michigan on Thursday at 4 p.m. LCSC then takes on host Walla Walla University, which changed its name from Walla Walla College during the summer, at 2 p.m. on Friday. Walla Walla and Andrews will play on Saturday.

Both Andrews and Walla Walla take part in National Christian College Athletic Association and both are Adventist institutions. Andrews is located in Battle Creek, Mich., and has only one player taller than 6-foot-4. Andrews is 0-2 on the season after falling to Goshen College 90-59 and Davenport University 94-64. Goshen and Davenport are both NAIA schools.

“What we’ve seen is that they are quick and athletic,” LCSC coach Tim Walker said.  “They play some zone and run motion, so we’ll have to attack the zone efficiently, and get up into them defensively and try to make it hard for them to run things.”

Walla Walla University also has found the going tough entering an exhibition game against the University of Idaho on Tuesday night. The team has played its first five games on the road and lost to Eastern Oregon 108-78, Cascade College 76-73, Montana State-Northern 99-57, and Montana State University 82-60.  Walla Walla also will play Cascade College again at home on Thursday night before opening tournament play.

LCSC defeated Cascade 59-52 last Saturday in a game where it forced 37 turnovers but shot only 29.8 percent from the field.

“Walla Walla University will be good,” Walker said.  “They played Cascade tough, are well-coached, and have some nice players.  We need to strive for more consistency offensively and defensively, and value the ball very well.”

The contests are the first regular-season road contests for the Warriors. LCSC played at Washington State in an exhibition game on Sunday and lost to the NCAA Division I Cougars. 

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The Warriors face a challenging weekend by heading to California and taking on a couple of impressive Golden State Athletic Conference foes.

The Warriors, who were ranked No. 12 in the NAIA preseason poll, take on No. 16 Azusa Pacific on Friday at 4 p.m., in Azusa, and then head to Fullerton to meet surprising Hope International on Saturday at 5 p.m.

LCSC is 2-0 on the season and suffered a tough 72-65 setback to Boise State in an exhibition game on Sunday. In that game, the Warriors led by nine at halftime, but the Broncos, who are favored to defend their Western Athletic Conference title, rallied in the second half for the win.

Friday’s contest will be the season opener for Azusa, which went 24-10 last season, finished second in the GSAC, and was ranked No. 10 in the final NAIA poll. The Cougars return eight letterwinners, including three starters off last year’s team, including 6-foot-2 senior post Abby Johnson of Clarkston, who started her career out at Eastern Washington University.

Hope International will be playing its third straight game against Frontier Conference competition after starting the season 1-1 in the Kiwanis Classic in Helena, Mont. Hope defeated Montana Tech 72-66, but then lost to Carroll College 73-60.

The Warriors balanced attack features five players averaging in double figures, led by senior post Mandy Troutt, who is at 17.5 points and 9.0 rebounds a game. Jade Fulbright is at 12 points a game, followed by Breianna Gaines at 11.0, and Lacie Titmus and Kim Preston at 10.0.