Sept. 18, 2007

VOLLEYBALL: Lutes Face Nationally Ranked UPS, East Bay

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran hosts Puget Sound, Wednesday, 7 p.m.; PLU at George Fox, Friday, 7 p.m.; PLU hosts Cal State-East Bay, Saturday, 7 p.m.

HOTTEST SHOW IN TOWN: Wednesday night’s Northwest Conference volleyball match between Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound will be a showdown of two of the top teams in the Northwest Conference and on the entire West Coast. Both teams sport a 7-3 record overall and are 2-0 in NWC play. Both teams are also ranked in the top 25 nationally with the Loggers at No. 15 and the Lutes seven spots back at No. 22. UPS comes to Parkland riding a five-match win streak while the Lutes have won their past three matches. Last season, these two teams met three times with the Lutes winning two out of three, including the two conference counters. Both teams come into Olson Auditorium with something to prove and one thing is sure - this match is going to be a barn burner.

MORE IN STORE: Puget Sound won’t provide the only challenge for the Lutes this week. On Friday night, PLU returns to Northwest Conference action against the George Fox Bruins in Newberg, Ore. Though the Lutes would appear to have more experience and firepower, never count out a George Fox team coached by Steve Grant. His Bruins squads are generally known for playing scrappy defense. Perhaps the most difficult match of this week’s three contests comes on Saturday when Cal State-East Bay comes to town. The Pioneers, who already own a three-game sweep of the Lutes in PLU’s season opener on Sept. 1, are 13-1 this season.

LEWIS & CLARK MATCH: Senior setter Gina Di Maggio recorded 42 assists and four service aces to lead Pacific Lutheran to a 30-14, 32-30, 30-21 Northwest Conference volleyball victory over the Lewis & Clark Pioneers last Saturday night. Di Maggio fed a potent PLU offense that recorded a .516 attack percentage in the first game. Though the Lutes cooled down in the second and third games, they still hit .248 overall as a team. Di Maggio herself had three kills in seven attack attempts and also added eight digs and three block assists. Freshman outside hitter Beth Hanna and senior outside hitter Stacie Matz both had 16 kills for the Lutes, who also got nine kills and a team-high 11 digs from Kelcy Joynt.

WILLAMETTE RESULTS: The Lutes started their conference title defense with a 30-18, 30-16, 30-16 win over the visiting Willamette Bearcats last Friday night. PLU broke away from a 10-10 tie in the first game, scoring five straight points on Megan Kosel’s serve, to take a 16-10 advantage. The Lutes never led by less than that amount through the remainder of the game. In the second game, Beth Hanna served three consecutive aces to give the Lutes a 9-3 lead, and they were never thwarted. The final game was more of the same as PLU jumped out to an early lead, allowing head coach Kevin Aoki to insert each of his 15 players into the match. Beth Hanna led the Lutes with 16 kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Kelcy Joynt had 10 kills and a .562 percentage, and Stacie Matz added 10 more kills.

DI MAGGIO EARNS NWC HONORS: Gina Di Maggio, who averaged 13.7 assists per game in leading Pacific Lutheran to a pair of Northwest Conference wins last week, has earned NWC Volleyball Player of the Week honors. Di Maggio (Tumwater, Wash. / Tumwater HS), averaging 11.3 assists per game this season, spearheaded a PLU offense that averaged a .270 attack percentage in three-game wins over Willamette and Lewis & Clark.

- PLU -