Pacific University Weekly Women’s Volleyball Digest

The Boxers are 3-9 on the season.

Photo courtesy: Pacific University

FOREST GROVE - TAKING TO THE ROAD IN SEARCH OF A WIN: After dropping two matches in the friendly confines of the Pacific Athletic Center, the Boxers' volleyball team will take to the road in search of their first Northwest Conference victory. Pacific plays at Willamette on Friday and at nationally ranked Linfield on Saturday.

PACIFIC DEF. EVERGREEN STATE 30-19, 31-29, 30-21:

The Boxers ended a five-match losing streak Wednesday with a three-game victory over Evergreen State at the Pacific Athletic Center. Pacific sandwiched a very close game two with decisive victories in games one and three. The Boxers never trailed in game one and opened up a 21-5 lead in game three before allowing the Geoducks back into the game. Evergreen State trailed 24-20 in the final set before the starters came back to put the match out of reach. Megan Van Domelen led the Boxers with 13 kills. Melissa Dunn and Anela Iseke each registered double-doubles. Dunn finished with 12 kills and 10 digs, while Iseke had 39 assists and 13 digs.

PACIFIC LUTHERAN DEF. PACIFIC 30-22, 30-27, 30-23:

After watching Pacific charge ahead early in game one, Pacific Lutheran rebounded from a nine-point first game deficit to take control and beat the Boxers in three games Friday at the Pacific Athletic Center. The Boxers built a 14-6 lead in the opener, thanks to kills from Sarah Braun and Jill Peacock. The Boxers stalled at that point, however, and watched the Lutes tie game at 16-16 and use a string of three Pacific errors to go up 21-18 and never look back. Pacific could not take advantage of a close game two and watched the Lutes build an insurmountable 17-9 lead on 11 straight service winners by Stacie Matz. Kati McGinn led the Lutes offensively with 15 kills. Peacock led Pacific with eight kills.

PUGET SOUND DEF. PACIFIC 30-19, 30-26, 30-19:

Pacific benefited from improved hitting Saturday against Puget Sound, but the Loggers maintained control to knock off the Boxers in three games at the Pacific Athletic Center. Pacific hit .136 for the match, but saw the Loggers limit their errors in games one and three to finish with a .246 attack percentage. The Boxers gave Puget Sound a scare in game two, leading 24-22 before kills by Joanna Ricken bolstered a five-point for a 28-24 UPS lead on their way to the victory. Monica Groves led UPS with 17 kills. Jill Peacock led Pacific with 12 kills.

SCOUTING WILLAMETTE:

The Bearcats enter the week with a 3-8 overall record and are tied with George Fox and Pacific at 0-2 in the NWC. On Friday, Whitman beat the Bearcats in three games, and then took defending NWC champion Whitworth to five games before the Pirates dusted the Bearcats 15-4 in the deciding game. Willamette has now lost three straight matches and last won on 9/8/06, when they beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in five games. Julie Stutzman leads the Willamette offense with 127 kills and a .167 attack percentage. Willamette leads the all-time series 38-10. The two teams split their meetings in 2005. Willamette won a five-game showdown in Salem 9/30/05, while the Boxers took a five-game meeting of their own in Forest Grove on 10/28/05. It was the first win for the Boxers over the Bearcats in nine meetings.

SCOUTING LINFIELD:

The Wildcats are ranked No. 10 in the CSTV/AVCA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll after starting the season 9-0. Linfield easily dispatched Whitworth in three games Friday, but saw Whitman push them to the limit in a five-game victory. Linfield won games two and three and failed to closed it out in a 32-30 game four before outlasting the Missionaries in the fifth game. Linfield began the season by winning seven straight matches, including capturing the Colorado College Invitational and beating No. 25 Elmhurst. Lauren Kreiger leads the Linfield offense with 97 kills and a .228 attack percentage. Linfield leads the all-time series 46-8. Linfield won in four games last year at Forest Grove 9/14/05 and in three games at McMinnville 10/12/05.

TREATMENT TABLE:

Libero Jamie Furutani continues to sit out with a fracture in her right hand. Furutani suffered the injury at the Washington University tournament in St. Louis.

PEACOCK'S PLAY:

Despite an off-weekend for the Boxers at the net, junior outside hitter Jill Peacock turned in a pair of consistent performances against both Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound. Against the Lutes on Friday, Peacock led the team with eight kills. Against the Loggers on Saturday, Peacock was the only Boxer in double figures with 12 kills and finished with a .278 attack percentage in the match to go along with 11 digs. For the week, Peacock finished with 26 kills in three matches to lead the Boxers. For the season, the Baker City native leads the team with 113 kills and is third with her .166 attack percentage.

MIDDLES HITTING:

Pacific's two starting middle blockers have contributed greatly with their hitting, combining for 32 of the Boxers' 114 kills last week. Megan Van Domelen had the second most kills for the Boxers last week, putting away 22 balls and amassing a .238 attack percentage and led the Boxers with seven blocks (4 solo, 3 assists). Sarah Monda had 10 kills and led the Boxers with a .286 attack percentage.

SIBLING RIVALRY:

Friday's match was the start of what could become another great sibling rivalry between two schools. Jenna Archibald, who is rostered with the Boxers, met twin sister Brenna when the Boxers and Pacific Lutheran took to the floor. While Jenna did not appear in the match, Brenna played in one game for the Lutes. Jenna, who will also play basketball for Pacific this fall, saw her first action on Wednesday against Evergreen State. She started her Boxer volleyball career by serving an ace.

Boxer Statistics as of Sept. 17th

Team Match Highs:

Attack Pct.: .267 vs. Texas Lutheran (9/3)

Kills: 57 vs. Southwestern (9/3) and vs. Cal State East Bay (9/2)

Attempts: 199 vs. Southwestern (9/3)

Assists: 51 vs. Southwestern (9/3)

Digs: 97 vs. Southwestern (9/3)

Aces: 14 vs. Texas Lutheran (9/4)

Blocks: 16.0 vs. Wittenberg (9/9)

Individual Match Highs:

Attack Pct.: .571, Megan Van Domelen vs. TESC (9/13)

Kills: 20, Jill Peacock vs. CSUEB (9/2)

Attempts: 52, Jill Peacock vs. Southwestern (9/3)

Assists: 47, Anela Iseke vs. Southwestern (9/3)

Digs: 23, Jamie Furutani vs. CSUEB (9/2)

Aces: 4, Melissa Dunn vs. PLU (9/15)and Megan Van Domelen vs. TLU (9/3)

Blocks: 6, Joanna Delanty vs. Wittenberg (9/9) and Sarah Monda vs. Southwestern (9/3)

Northwest Conference Statistics as of Sept. 17th

Hitting Percentage: .112 (8th)

Opponent Hitting Pct.: .200 (7th)

Assists: 10.70 per game (7th)

Kills: 11.73 per game (7th)

Blocks: 1.73 per game (8th)

Service Aces: 2.03 per game (5th)

Digs: 17.25 per game (6th)

NWC Individual Leaders as of Sept. 17th

Assists: Anela Iseke, 9.45 per gm. (4th)

Aces: Melissa Dunn, 0.45 per gm. (6th)

Digs: Melissa Dunn, 3.80 per gm. (9th)

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports