Oct. 9, 2007

VOLLEYBALL: Lutes Riding 10-Match Winning Streak

THIS WEEK: The Pacific Lutheran volleyball team hosts Saint Martin’s at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Olson Auditorium. On Friday, the Lutes travel to Salem, Oregon to take on Willamette at 7 p.m. Saturday, the Lutes play Lewis & Clark at 7 p.m. in Portland, Ore.

ABOUT THE SAINTS: The Saint Martin’s volleyball team has fallen on hard times this season as it brings a 1-15 record to Olson Auditorium. The Saints swept University of Alaska Anchorage last Saturday to notch their first victory of the season. Shealun Campisi leads the offensive attack for Saint Martin’s. Campisi has recorded 140 kills this season, averaging 2.37 kills a game. Andrea Tarbet has 130 kills on the season for a 2.20 average. The Two teams met last year with the Lutes squeaking out a 3-2 victory in Lacey. The last time Saint Martin’s knocked off the Lutes was in 2004 when the Saints earned a 3-2 victory.

SOME NEW FACES: Expect to see some new faces on the hardwood as head coach Kevin Aoki will most likely rotate in some athletes who have seen less action. The combined record of the Lutes opponents this week is 9-41.

LUTES SWEEP LINFIELD: Friday’s match against Linfield figured to be close as it featured the defending conference co-champions going head-to-head. A noisy crowd estimated at 500 added to the atmosphere, and both teams gave the fans plenty to cheer about. Linfield, which came into the match having won nine of its last 10, led in all three games but was unable to finish off the Lutes. PLU swept the Wildcats by a score of 30-25, 31-29, 30-25. Beth Hanna had another impressive match for the Lutes with 17 kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Stacie Matz added 16 kills and Kelcy Joynt contributed 13 for the Lutes, who also got 48 assists from senior setter Gina Di Maggio. The Lutes hit .259 as a team and limited the visiting Wildcats to a .174 percentage.

PACIFIC RESULTS: The Boxers lead early in the first two games but the Lutes were just too much for Pacific to handle as PLU won their 10th straight match 30-24, 30-26, 30-18. Senior setter Gina Di Maggio led the Lutes with 37 assists, while senior Libero Megan Kosel’s 12 digs were also tops on the team. Hanna finished with 21 kills on a .366 attack percentage and senior outside hitter Stacie Matz contributed 11 kills and seven digs. The Lutes finished the match with a .288 attack percentage while holding the Boxers to.072. In each of the past nine matches, Hanna has contributed at least 15 kills, an average of 5.8 kills per game. During that same stretch, Di Maggio has averaged almost 13.3 assists per game.

Gina Di Maggio

DI MAGGIO EARNS NWC HONORS: Gina DiMaggio, who led the Lutes to 3-0 sweeps of second-place Linfield and Pacific with 85 assists (14.1 per game) to go along with 11 digs, five blocks and four aces, has earned NWC Volleyball Player of the Week honors. This is the second time in four weeks that DiMaggio has received this honor. The past two weeks it was teammate Beth Hanna who earned the honor.

LUTES STAY AT NO. 17: Pacific Lutheran remains in the No. 17 spot in this week’s American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III national poll. The Lutes have bounced a little bit in this year’s polls, starting out at No. 22 in the Aug. 21 preseason poll. They moved up one spot to No. 21 in the first regular season poll, dropped back down to No. 22, and have held down No. 17 for three weeks.

LUTES GO STREAKING: The Volleyball team has been on quite a win streak after knocking off their last 10 opponents. Since a 3-2 loss to SUNY Cortland on September 8, PLU has won an incredible 30 of its past 31 games. The school record for a win streak is 15 set by the 2004 team that later went on to win the NWC title.

ABOUT THE COACH: Now in his 12th year as head coach at his alma mater, Kevin Aoki is within 9 wins of 200 in his outstanding career. Aoki has a 191-109 record, a .640 winning percentage.

- PLU -