Been There, Done That: Lutes Off to California for Regional

VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT TIME: Pacific Lutheran will make its sixth NCAA Division III regional volleyball tournament appearance on Thursday when it plays the University of La Verne (21-13) in a West Region opening round match at the University of Redlands' Currier Gymnasium. PLU enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed while the Leopards come in as the No. 6 seed.

LISTEN LIVE: You can listen to Pacific Lutheran's match(es) at the regional tournament by clicking on the following link - http://www.golutes.com/information/listenlive.

TOURNAMENT WEB SITE: http://www.goredlands.com/sports/wvb/2009-10/news/NCAA_VB_general

TOURNAMENT LIVE STATS: http://livestats.prestosports.com/redlands/

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: The Lutes and the Leos will play at 4:30 p.m. following the tournament's 2 p.m. opening match between the No. 4 seed University of Puget Sound Loggers (18-6) and No. 5 seed California Lutheran (20-11). The final opening round match, scheduled for a 7 p.m. start, will pit tournament host and No. 3 seed Redlands (22-5) against No. 7 seed Chapman (18-13). Friday's competition starts at 4:30 p.m. with the winner of the UPS versus Cal Lutheran game taking on No. 1 seed Colorado College (33-4), that followed by a 7 p.m. contest between the winners of the PLU vs. La Verne and Redlands vs. Chapman matches. The tournament championship match is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday.

HOW THE LUTES GOT THERE: PLU enters the West Region tournament with a 20-6 overall record. The Northwest Conference champions for the fourth straight year, the Lutes finished the conference season with a perfect 16-0 record.

LUTES BY THE NUMBERS: Beth Hanna leads the Lutes in kills per set with 3.56, but she won't be playing after suffering a season-ending knee injury less than two weeks ago. So following are numbers of players who will be carrying the torch for PLU. Senior middle blocker Kelcy Joynt, voted by the NWC coaches as the Northwest Conference Player of the Year, finished the regular season averaging 3.28 kills while hitting .279. She also contributes 3.04 digs and 0.48 blocks per set. Sophomore outside hitter Kelsie Moore has had a strong season, averaging 2.96 kills while hitting .262. She also contributes 2.23 digs per set. Junior setter Sarah Beaver spreads the ball around to the tune of 10.10 assists per set, and she also gives the Lutes a defensive presence with 2.00 digs per set. Sophomore Erin Bremond, a 5-7 middle blocker, leads her team with an average of 0.86 blocks, and senior libero Brenna Archibald is among the team leaders with 3.45 digs per set.

THREE KNEES: For the third straight year, PLU will be without one of its top players in the regional tournament. The Lutes lost two-time Northwest Conference Player of the Year and two-time All-America outside hitter Beth Hanna to a knee injury on Oct. 31. Each of the past two years, middle blocker Kelcy Joynt suffered knee injuries and missed postseason action.

LEAVIN' ON A JET PLANE: Pacific Lutheran will make its sixth NCAA postseason tournament appearance since 1999 and its fifth in the past six years. Each time, the Lutes have had to travel to California, though this will be their first trip to Redlands. The 1999 team made the program's first-ever Division III postseason appearance, winning its first round match before losing to tournament host UC San Diego. Since then, the Lutes have played twice in Hayward, Calif. (2004 and 2007) and twice in La Verne, Calif. (2006 and 2008). Pacific Lutheran has a 2-5 overall record in postseason play.

ABOUT LA VERNE: The University of La Verne Leopards are 21-13 overall after starting the season with a 9-9 record. La Verne, making its 10th consecutive tournament appearance, received an at-large bid to the tournament. The Leopards finished third in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings and lost to Redlands, 3-2, in the SCIAC postseason tournament championship match. Crista Jones, a 5-10 senior outside hitter, has averaged 4.04 kills per set while hitting .280. There is balance in the offense, however, with Randi Toomay (2.58), Rebecca Villanueva (2.53) and Anna Calmer (2.30) all averaging more than two kills per set. The Leos run a 6-2 offense with setters Kendall Kraiss (5.05) and Yesenia Lopez (4.58) averaring nearly equal assist numbers. Defensively, middle blocker Ashley Morgado leads her team with 0.92 blocks per set, and junior libero Chelsea Sleight is all over the floor with 6.25 digs per set. This is a program with a great tradition - in a total of 22 postseason appearances, La Verne has won two Division III national titles and finished among the top three a total of nine times.

MORE TOURNAMENT NOTES: La Verne is one of three SCIAC schools in the regional tournament, joined by SCIAC regular season and tournament champion Redlands, and California Lutheran, which finished second in the SCIAC during the regular season before losing to La Verne in a SCIAC conference tournament semifinal. Redlands, a West Region finalist in 2006, is making its third appearance in the Division III volleyball tournament while Cal Lutheran is making its 10th tournament trip since 1994. Colorado College, making its 12th straight postseason appearance, finished second in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season standings before falling to No. 12-ranked Southwestern University (Texas) in the SCAC tournament championship match. Chapman, in its sixth postseason tournament, received one of three berths given to Division III independents.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Three teams in the West Region tournament are ranked in the AVCA Division III Coaches Top 25 Poll - No. 13 Colorado College, No. 17 Pacific Lutheran and No. 22 Puget Sound.

LUTES FALL TWO SPOTS: After holding down the No. 15 spot in the AVCA poll for three straight weeks, the Lutes won their only two matches and yet dropped two spots to No. 17.

THREE SEED HOSTS: For the second time in three years, the region's No. 3-ranked team will host the regional tournament. Cal State-East Bay was the No. 3 team in the West Region when it hosted the 2007 event. In selecting Redlands, the NCAA tournament committee bypassed host bids from Colorado College, ranked No. 1 in the region, and Pacific Lutheran, ranked No. 2.

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