GSAC has strong showing in as tourney opens
By Terry Hersomthersom@siouxcityjournal.com | Posted: Wednesday, December 03, 2008
G-Pack this and G-Pack that.
The dominant Great Plains Athletic Conference dominates conversation year after year in the NAIA Division II women's basketball tournament, hosted by Sioux City for the last 11 years.
Now, it's time to get acquainted with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' one-class national volleyball tournament, which made its official debut Tuesday at the Tyson Events Center.
And, instead of all that GPAC talk -- even with four teams among the 24 to make it here -- it's the G-Sack, the Golden State Athletic Conference, that has dominated this tournament for the last several years.
By all indications Tuesday, that isn't likely to change as no fewer than seven GSAC teams have made it here and all but one of them won their initial pool play match.
Strong as all the others performed, the team to beat is clearly defending national champion Fresno Pacific, still undefeated at 31-0 after breezing past Black Hills State of Spearfish, S.D., 25-16, 25-13 and 25-14.
"It was a good first match and I felt we played well,'' said Dennis Janzen, who has guided Fresno Pacific to all 18 of its national tournament trips, including 15 in a row. "We always seem to get everybody's best, but our conference prepares us for this tournament.''
Janzen's team, which features four foreign imports, divided up 46 kills impressively, getting nine each from 6-3 sophomore Ke Ke Wang, 6-1 sophomore Lisa Shilling and 6-4 senior Thais Julio.
Wang and senior setter Shu Liu both hail from Shen Yang, China, while Julio and Fabiana Leomil, a 5-10 senior, are from Sao Paulo Brazil.
Black Hills State, the Dakota Athletic Conference champs, got nine of its 21 kills from 5-10 sophomore Maggie O'Neill and 17 assists from junior setter Mandy Brumfield. The Yellow Jackets will face Morningside of Sioux City in a must-win match for either team tonight at 6 o'clock.
#2 BIOLA (Calif.) 3,
#24 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (Texas) 1
The second-ranked team in the country isn't supposed to open a national tournament appearance by losing the first set.
No. 2 Biola did just that, however, before bouncing back to top Lubbock Christian in four games, 20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22.
Jessica Buffum, a 5-10 senior outside hitter, had a match-high 15 kills to help Biola, a team that lost in last year's semifinals, improve to 28-3. Two of the Eagles' three losses are to top-ranked and undefeated GSAC rival Fresno Pacific -- a five-gamer and a four-gamer.
Abbie Wright had 22 assists and Christina Perkins 20 for a 6-2 attack that actually got assists from seven different players. The Eagles' only other loss came in one of two meetings with No. 3-ranked Concordia, another league rival.
Lubbock Christian is in the tournament for the sixth time, but the previous five were all in a six-year span from 1998 through 2003. The Lady Chaparrals of Coach Jennifer Lawrence, now 33-5, got 14 kills from 5-11 sophomore Elissa Loynes and 12 from 5-10 senior Suzanne Childress.
#3 CONCORDIA (Calif.) 3,
#21 WALSH (Ohio) 0
No. 3 in the GSAC and No. 3 in the country, Concordia made quick work of Walsh in a three-game sweep that took just 64 minutes. Scores were 25-13, 25-18 and 25-18 as the Pool C favorites improved to 27-5.
A semifinalist the last two years, Concordia turned in a .304 hitting performance as 5-11 senior Stephanie Scheele led a balanced offense with 12 kills. Traci Weamer, a 6-foot senior, added 10 kills while 6-1 sophomore Amber Ridens had nine (plus a .471 hitting effort with just one error in 17 attacks) and 5-10 freshman Serrina Russo added eight.
The Eagles were 15-5 in conference play losing twice to top-ranked Fresno Pacific while splitting two matches each with No. 2 Biola, No. 7 Cal Baptist and No. 17 Vanguard, all of which are also in the field.
Walsh, 30-11, which had its three previous national tournament appearances all in succession from 2001 to 2003, got eight kills each from 5-10 senior Megan McDonald and 6-foot junior Natalie Borland while freshman setter Jessica Schmidt had 26 assists.
#4 BELLEVUE (Neb.) 3,
#22 DOANE (Neb.) 1
An all-Nebraska matchup saw heavily favored Bellevue need a deciding fifth game to escape Doane, 23-25, 25-23, 25-14, 19-25 and 15-10.
The highly regarded Bruins, who lost all three of their pool play matches in just the school's second national tournament trip a year ago, are the favorites this time in Pool D. Moreover, Coach Trish Siedlik's team posted a 3-0 sweep in a Sept.12 encounter with Doane, which grabbed the last spot in the 32-team national tournament field after Morningside won the Great Plains Athletic Conference post-season title and no longer needed its guaranteed host berth.
Bellevue pulled it out with 11 kills and only one error in the fifth game as a pair of 5-11 freshmen, Maureen Wardian and Kali Schnacker, fourth and fifth on the team in kills, each had 16 to lead the way. Senior setter Candace Clow, sixth nationally in assists, dished out 64 as the Bruins improved to 31-4.
Doane, 27-9, got a match-high 18 kills from senior middle b locker Chelsee Marvin while freshman Terra Andreasen, a Bellevue native, added 15 in the loss to her hometown college.
#5 COLUMBIA (Mo.) 3,
#20 MOBILE (Ala.) 1
A dominant performance up front came from Flavia Lino, a 6-1 junior from Sao Paulo, Brazil, who accounted for 21 of her team's 56 kills as tradition-rich Columbia improved to 40-3, winning the first two games en route to a 25-22, 25-11, 23-25, 25-15 win.
Lino had a .381 hitting performance and accounted for 42 of the Cougars' 129 attacks. Meanwhile, senior setter Luana Branco, a two-time first-team All-American and another of seven Brazilians on the roster, contributed 41 of the winners' 45 assists while also chalking up 10 kills.
This is the 15th straight national tournament for Columbia, which has won three national championships, and Coach Melinda Wrye-Washington's team is the favorite in Pool E. Their second of three pool play matches is an 11 a.m. matchup today with 16th-ranked Dordt, one of the Siouxland crowd favorites.
Mobile, 33-4, was led by sophomore DeCreisha Arrington's eight kills and classmate Kelly Sherling's seven. The Rams were a national tournament newcomer last year and went 1-2, losing another match with Columbia in three straight games.
#6 GEORGETOWN (Ky.) 3,
#19 COLLEGE OF IDAHO 1
Georgetown, a 13-time national tournament qualifier, spotted College of Idaho the first game before regrouping to win three close sets in a row against the Coyotes. Scores were 16-25, 25-21, 25-22 and 25-22.
Defense helped spell the difference for Georgetown, totaling 63 digs to 49 for College of Idaho, which had the edge at the net with a .159 hitting percentage to just a .091 showing for the victorious Tigers.
Erica Janszen (14 kills), Jessica Hoeh (12) and Kristy Hock (9) led Georgetown, just as they have all season. Jessica Gronotte, the only senior other than Hoeh for the Pool F favorites, dished out 32 assists as Georgetown improved to 34-6.
College of Idaho, 24-8, got a team-high 11 kills from 5-7 sophomore Naomi Reimer, who also had 15 assists as one of two setters in a 6-2 offense.
#7 CAL BAPTIST 3,
#18 INDIANA TECH 0
Three-game sweep or not, powerhouse California Baptist had to battle hard for an opening win over an Indiana Tech squad that is a national tournament newcomer, squeezing out a 25-21, 32-30, 25-22 verdict.
Fei Shi, a 6-3 junior from Nanjing, China, and one of 12 first-team All-Americans last season, collected a team-leading 14 kills and backed up libero Katrina Clark's 18 digs with 16 for the victorious Lancers. The winners rang up 10 ace serves to just one for Tech.
California Baptist, 25-8, is appearing in its 12th national tournament and was last year's runner-up to Golden State Athletic Conference rival Fresno Pacific. Coach Ryan McGuyre's Lancers have reached at least the semifinals the last four years in a row, starting with back-to-back national championships in 2004 and 2005.
Erika Stouder, a 6-1 sophomore, had 14 kills to lead Indiana Tech, which sports an impressive 32-4 record despite the loss. Ashley Hamilton, a freshman, added 10 kills and senior setter Laura Booker had 35 assists for the team from Fort Wayne, Ind.
#9 LINDENWOOD (Mo.) 3,
#17 VANGUARD (Calif.) 1
The last of seven Golden State Athletic Conference teams to make the field, finishing 10-10 in that powerhouse league, Vanguard didn't go quietly for favored Lindenwood, which prevailed in four games, 19-25, 25-20, 30-28, 25-19.
Lindenwood season leader, Ellen Fandry, a 6-foot freshman from Houston, lived up to her role with a team-best 16 kills. Likewise, Krista Yoder, a 6-foot sophomore from Murray, Neb., who ranks second on the year, was second on Tuesday with 13 for the Lady Lions, who made their national tournament debut just last year.
Vanguard, a newcomer, got a balanced effort as Heather DeJong, a 6-2 junior, led the offense with 16 kills. Kelsey Wirt added 13 and Michal Shortridge 12 for the Californians, who had 60 kills to Lindenwood's 51.
The match was won on the block, where Lindenwood, 36-7, enjoyed an 18-4 advantage.
#14 LEWIS-CLARK STATE (Idaho) 3,
#11 MADONNA (Mich.) 2
One of only two so-called upsets in the first day of action, Lewis-Clark State, the perennial NAIA baseball champ, celebrated a dramatic national volleyball tournament win, spotting Madonna the first two games before battling back for a five-game triumph.
While the top 10 teams in the final NAIA rankings were first-day winners, No. 11 Madonna and No. 12 Morningside weren't as fortunate, losing to teams ranked 14th and 13th, respectively.
Lewis-Clark State prevailed 23-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20 and 15-13 after Madonna cut a 14-10 deficit in Game 5 down to 14-13. The favored Crusaders from Livonia, Mich., couldn't finish the job as a hitting error finished it off.
Lewis-Clark State, 30-2, featured 21 kills and a .347 hitting effort by 6-foot senior Julia Maciboba. Brazilian import Anile Clemente, a 5-11 junior, added 15 kills and 5-11 junior Dana Christensen added 12 while hitting a sterling .458.
Madonna, 35-5, got a match-high 23 kills from Lubovj Tihomirova, a senior from Riga, Latvia, who is one of only two players on the team from outside of Michigan.
The dominant Great Plains Athletic Conference dominates conversation year after year in the NAIA Division II women's basketball tournament, hosted by Sioux City for the last 11 years.
Now, it's time to get acquainted with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' one-class national volleyball tournament, which made its official debut Tuesday at the Tyson Events Center.
And, instead of all that GPAC talk -- even with four teams among the 24 to make it here -- it's the G-Sack, the Golden State Athletic Conference, that has dominated this tournament for the last several years.
By all indications Tuesday, that isn't likely to change as no fewer than seven GSAC teams have made it here and all but one of them won their initial pool play match.
Strong as all the others performed, the team to beat is clearly defending national champion Fresno Pacific, still undefeated at 31-0 after breezing past Black Hills State of Spearfish, S.D., 25-16, 25-13 and 25-14.
"It was a good first match and I felt we played well,'' said Dennis Janzen, who has guided Fresno Pacific to all 18 of its national tournament trips, including 15 in a row. "We always seem to get everybody's best, but our conference prepares us for this tournament.''
Janzen's team, which features four foreign imports, divided up 46 kills impressively, getting nine each from 6-3 sophomore Ke Ke Wang, 6-1 sophomore Lisa Shilling and 6-4 senior Thais Julio.
Wang and senior setter Shu Liu both hail from Shen Yang, China, while Julio and Fabiana Leomil, a 5-10 senior, are from Sao Paulo Brazil.
Black Hills State, the Dakota Athletic Conference champs, got nine of its 21 kills from 5-10 sophomore Maggie O'Neill and 17 assists from junior setter Mandy Brumfield. The Yellow Jackets will face Morningside of Sioux City in a must-win match for either team tonight at 6 o'clock.
#2 BIOLA (Calif.) 3,
#24 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (Texas) 1
The second-ranked team in the country isn't supposed to open a national tournament appearance by losing the first set.
No. 2 Biola did just that, however, before bouncing back to top Lubbock Christian in four games, 20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22.
Jessica Buffum, a 5-10 senior outside hitter, had a match-high 15 kills to help Biola, a team that lost in last year's semifinals, improve to 28-3. Two of the Eagles' three losses are to top-ranked and undefeated GSAC rival Fresno Pacific -- a five-gamer and a four-gamer.
Abbie Wright had 22 assists and Christina Perkins 20 for a 6-2 attack that actually got assists from seven different players. The Eagles' only other loss came in one of two meetings with No. 3-ranked Concordia, another league rival.
Lubbock Christian is in the tournament for the sixth time, but the previous five were all in a six-year span from 1998 through 2003. The Lady Chaparrals of Coach Jennifer Lawrence, now 33-5, got 14 kills from 5-11 sophomore Elissa Loynes and 12 from 5-10 senior Suzanne Childress.
#3 CONCORDIA (Calif.) 3,
#21 WALSH (Ohio) 0
No. 3 in the GSAC and No. 3 in the country, Concordia made quick work of Walsh in a three-game sweep that took just 64 minutes. Scores were 25-13, 25-18 and 25-18 as the Pool C favorites improved to 27-5.
A semifinalist the last two years, Concordia turned in a .304 hitting performance as 5-11 senior Stephanie Scheele led a balanced offense with 12 kills. Traci Weamer, a 6-foot senior, added 10 kills while 6-1 sophomore Amber Ridens had nine (plus a .471 hitting effort with just one error in 17 attacks) and 5-10 freshman Serrina Russo added eight.
The Eagles were 15-5 in conference play losing twice to top-ranked Fresno Pacific while splitting two matches each with No. 2 Biola, No. 7 Cal Baptist and No. 17 Vanguard, all of which are also in the field.
Walsh, 30-11, which had its three previous national tournament appearances all in succession from 2001 to 2003, got eight kills each from 5-10 senior Megan McDonald and 6-foot junior Natalie Borland while freshman setter Jessica Schmidt had 26 assists.
#4 BELLEVUE (Neb.) 3,
#22 DOANE (Neb.) 1
An all-Nebraska matchup saw heavily favored Bellevue need a deciding fifth game to escape Doane, 23-25, 25-23, 25-14, 19-25 and 15-10.
The highly regarded Bruins, who lost all three of their pool play matches in just the school's second national tournament trip a year ago, are the favorites this time in Pool D. Moreover, Coach Trish Siedlik's team posted a 3-0 sweep in a Sept.12 encounter with Doane, which grabbed the last spot in the 32-team national tournament field after Morningside won the Great Plains Athletic Conference post-season title and no longer needed its guaranteed host berth.
Bellevue pulled it out with 11 kills and only one error in the fifth game as a pair of 5-11 freshmen, Maureen Wardian and Kali Schnacker, fourth and fifth on the team in kills, each had 16 to lead the way. Senior setter Candace Clow, sixth nationally in assists, dished out 64 as the Bruins improved to 31-4.
Doane, 27-9, got a match-high 18 kills from senior middle b locker Chelsee Marvin while freshman Terra Andreasen, a Bellevue native, added 15 in the loss to her hometown college.
#5 COLUMBIA (Mo.) 3,
#20 MOBILE (Ala.) 1
A dominant performance up front came from Flavia Lino, a 6-1 junior from Sao Paulo, Brazil, who accounted for 21 of her team's 56 kills as tradition-rich Columbia improved to 40-3, winning the first two games en route to a 25-22, 25-11, 23-25, 25-15 win.
Lino had a .381 hitting performance and accounted for 42 of the Cougars' 129 attacks. Meanwhile, senior setter Luana Branco, a two-time first-team All-American and another of seven Brazilians on the roster, contributed 41 of the winners' 45 assists while also chalking up 10 kills.
This is the 15th straight national tournament for Columbia, which has won three national championships, and Coach Melinda Wrye-Washington's team is the favorite in Pool E. Their second of three pool play matches is an 11 a.m. matchup today with 16th-ranked Dordt, one of the Siouxland crowd favorites.
Mobile, 33-4, was led by sophomore DeCreisha Arrington's eight kills and classmate Kelly Sherling's seven. The Rams were a national tournament newcomer last year and went 1-2, losing another match with Columbia in three straight games.
#6 GEORGETOWN (Ky.) 3,
#19 COLLEGE OF IDAHO 1
Georgetown, a 13-time national tournament qualifier, spotted College of Idaho the first game before regrouping to win three close sets in a row against the Coyotes. Scores were 16-25, 25-21, 25-22 and 25-22.
Defense helped spell the difference for Georgetown, totaling 63 digs to 49 for College of Idaho, which had the edge at the net with a .159 hitting percentage to just a .091 showing for the victorious Tigers.
Erica Janszen (14 kills), Jessica Hoeh (12) and Kristy Hock (9) led Georgetown, just as they have all season. Jessica Gronotte, the only senior other than Hoeh for the Pool F favorites, dished out 32 assists as Georgetown improved to 34-6.
College of Idaho, 24-8, got a team-high 11 kills from 5-7 sophomore Naomi Reimer, who also had 15 assists as one of two setters in a 6-2 offense.
#7 CAL BAPTIST 3,
#18 INDIANA TECH 0
Three-game sweep or not, powerhouse California Baptist had to battle hard for an opening win over an Indiana Tech squad that is a national tournament newcomer, squeezing out a 25-21, 32-30, 25-22 verdict.
Fei Shi, a 6-3 junior from Nanjing, China, and one of 12 first-team All-Americans last season, collected a team-leading 14 kills and backed up libero Katrina Clark's 18 digs with 16 for the victorious Lancers. The winners rang up 10 ace serves to just one for Tech.
California Baptist, 25-8, is appearing in its 12th national tournament and was last year's runner-up to Golden State Athletic Conference rival Fresno Pacific. Coach Ryan McGuyre's Lancers have reached at least the semifinals the last four years in a row, starting with back-to-back national championships in 2004 and 2005.
Erika Stouder, a 6-1 sophomore, had 14 kills to lead Indiana Tech, which sports an impressive 32-4 record despite the loss. Ashley Hamilton, a freshman, added 10 kills and senior setter Laura Booker had 35 assists for the team from Fort Wayne, Ind.
#9 LINDENWOOD (Mo.) 3,
#17 VANGUARD (Calif.) 1
The last of seven Golden State Athletic Conference teams to make the field, finishing 10-10 in that powerhouse league, Vanguard didn't go quietly for favored Lindenwood, which prevailed in four games, 19-25, 25-20, 30-28, 25-19.
Lindenwood season leader, Ellen Fandry, a 6-foot freshman from Houston, lived up to her role with a team-best 16 kills. Likewise, Krista Yoder, a 6-foot sophomore from Murray, Neb., who ranks second on the year, was second on Tuesday with 13 for the Lady Lions, who made their national tournament debut just last year.
Vanguard, a newcomer, got a balanced effort as Heather DeJong, a 6-2 junior, led the offense with 16 kills. Kelsey Wirt added 13 and Michal Shortridge 12 for the Californians, who had 60 kills to Lindenwood's 51.
The match was won on the block, where Lindenwood, 36-7, enjoyed an 18-4 advantage.
#14 LEWIS-CLARK STATE (Idaho) 3,
#11 MADONNA (Mich.) 2
One of only two so-called upsets in the first day of action, Lewis-Clark State, the perennial NAIA baseball champ, celebrated a dramatic national volleyball tournament win, spotting Madonna the first two games before battling back for a five-game triumph.
While the top 10 teams in the final NAIA rankings were first-day winners, No. 11 Madonna and No. 12 Morningside weren't as fortunate, losing to teams ranked 14th and 13th, respectively.
Lewis-Clark State prevailed 23-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20 and 15-13 after Madonna cut a 14-10 deficit in Game 5 down to 14-13. The favored Crusaders from Livonia, Mich., couldn't finish the job as a hitting error finished it off.
Lewis-Clark State, 30-2, featured 21 kills and a .347 hitting effort by 6-foot senior Julia Maciboba. Brazilian import Anile Clemente, a 5-11 junior, added 15 kills and 5-11 junior Dana Christensen added 12 while hitting a sterling .458.
Madonna, 35-5, got a match-high 23 kills from Lubovj Tihomirova, a senior from Riga, Latvia, who is one of only two players on the team from outside of Michigan.
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