Lutes Look to Add to Unbeaten Conference Record

THIS WEEKEND: Pacific Lutheran heads to Oregon for a pair of Northwest Conference matches. The Lutes play at Pacific in Forest Grove at 7 p.m. Friday and at George Fox in Newberg at 7 p.m. Saturday.

PLU MOVES UP MORE SPOT: For the third straight week the Lutes have moved up one spot in the AVCA Division III Coaches Top 25 Poll. PLU is ranked No. 16 this week with 202 total points. Over the past three weeks the Lutes have moved from No. 19 to their current spot at No. 16. They were ranked as high as No. 10 this year before losing four straight matches to other highly ranked teams - Washington-St. Louis is No. 4 this week, Ohio Northern No. 5, Wisconsin-Whitewater No. 10 and Concordia (Minn.) No. 18.

LUTES START SECOND HALF OF NWC SLATE: After sweeping through the first half of the Northwest Conference schedule with a perfect 8-0 record - and without losing even a set during those eight wins - the Lutes start the second half of the conference schedule with a two-match lead over second-place George Fox. The Bruins enter the weekend with a 7-2 conference record after a Wednesday night road victory over third-place Lewis & Clark to start the second half of conference play. That gives particular importance to Saturday's contest against the Bruins in Newberg, but the Lutes would be remiss to overlook the Pacific Boxers on Friday. While the Boxers have struggled to a 2-6 first half, they are 7-9 overall with a non-conference win over nationally ranked University of La Verne.

ABOUT THE BRUINS: George Fox has been on a roll of late with nine consecutive victories, including seven straight in the conference after opening with losses to Lewis & Clark and PLU. The Bruins, 14-3 overall, have a balanced offensive attack led by Lyndsay Hovee's 2.94 kills per set. Where the Bruins do their most damage is on defense as they average 18.31 digs and 2.22 blocks per set. Hovee averages 3.88 digs and Jennifer Panico chips in with 3.73, while Eliza Pledger has 1.28 blocks per set and Kaitlyn Maddams adds 0.94 per set. PLU swept aside George Fox, 25-18, 25-22, 25-21, in Olson Auditorium on Sept. 18. PLU's three-pronged attack of outside hitters Beth Hanna and Kelsie Moore and middle blocker Kelcy Joynt was in good form as the trio combined for 28 of the Lutes' 39 total kills. Moore, a sophomore, led the Lutes with 10 kills and hit .286 in the match. Joynt, a senior, finished with nine kills and hit .318, while Hanna had nine kills and finished with a .171 hitting percentage. Junior setter Sarah Beaver finished the match with 30 assists and also contributed five kills in only eight attempts. Joynt and Hanna both had 10 digs to lead the Lutes in that department, and Joynt finished the night with one solo blocks and two block assists.

ABOUT THE BOXERS: Pacific started the season with a 5-0 non-conference record but since has gone 2-8. The Boxers are 6-3 on their home court, however, so expect them to really challenge the Lutes. Alexa Block has a great name for a middle blocker, but she is the Boxers' big gun as an outside hitter with an average of 3.88 kills per set. Kelsy Takashima averages 2.66 kills and 0.80 blocks per set while Jade Thompson leads the back row with 4.00 digs per set. Pacific Lutheran jumped on Pacific in a first set rout and went on to defeat the visiting Boxers, 25-10, 25-19, 25-16, the first time these teams played back on Sept. 19 in Olson Auditorium. Beth Hanna finished with 14 kills and no errors in 25 attempts, a .560 attack percentage. Kelcy Joynt added 12 kills and one error in 21 attempts, a .524 mark, and Erin Bremond had five kills and hit .500 for the match. As a team, the Lutes were a season-best .387 in the hitting category. Sarah Beaver, the team's junior setter, had 32 assists and five kills of her own. Joynt finished the match with one solo block and six block assists and Katy Tauscher chipped in with six block assists. Brenna Archibald led all players with 13 digs. Alexa Block ended the match with 13 kills and a .158 attack percentage for Pacific.

ON A ROLL: Pacific Lutheran's streak of sweeping conference opponents in three sets has surpassed that of PLU's unbeaten 2007 conference championship squad. At one time during the season, the 2007 volleyball team won six consecutive conference matches without going into a fourth set. PLU ended its season winning an incredible 12-of-16 conference matches in three sets.

LUTE NOTES: The Lutes (12-5 overall, 8-0 NWC) started the season with four consecutive wins, lost five in a row, and have now won eight in a row. Junior outside hitter Beth Hanna leads the Lutes with 3.68 kills per set and she is hitting .224 this season. Middle blocker Kelcy Joynt averages 3.06 kills and is hitting a robust .300, while sophomore Kelsi Moore averages 2.89 kills while hitting .261. Junior setter Sarah Beaver averages 10.11 assists per set, and sophomore middle blocker Erin Bremond comes in at exactly 1.00 blocks per set. Hanna leads the team with 3.52 digs per set, followed closely by libero Brenna Archibald with 3.47 digs per set.

LISTEN LIVE: You can listen to all PLU volleyball home matches on Stretch Internet by pointing your browser to the following link - http://www.golutes.com/information/listenlive. Students Paul DiPietro and Bret Handy call the majority of the matches. This week, the Lutes' road matches at Pacific and George Fox will be broadcast by Jeff Hanna, the father of Beth Hanna.

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