Whitworth Set for Volleyball Regional at CLU
SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Whitworth Pirates are back in the NCAA Division III volleyball tournament for the second year in a row, and the fifth time in school history. Whitworth is headed to the California Lutheran regional in Thousand Oaks, California and the Pirates are slated to take on tournament host CLU in Friday's first round match. It is the last of four first round matches on Friday and is scheduled to tip off at 8:00 p.m.
The Bucs remained 23rd in this week's AVCA Division III coaches top-25 poll. Cal Lutheran is ranked 17th.
Links to this weekend's tournament website and live coverage can be found in the column to the right.
The Pirates : Whitworth withstood the final week of pressure during the NWC schedule and came away with two victories last week to clinch its second straight outright Northwest Conference championship.
The pressure to win looked like it might get to the Bucs in last Wednesday's match at Whitman. The Pirates fell behind the much-improved Missionaries by two sets before rallying to win 20-25, 17-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-13. It was the second time this season that Whitworth has rallied to win from two sets down on the road (Oct. 14 at George Fox was the first). Amanda Grumbach (Sr., OH, Curlew, Wash.) had 15 kills and 17 digs, while Kaimi Rocha (Sr., OH, Pukalani, Hawaii) had 11 kills and 18 digs. Ka'ipo Rocha (Sr., MB, Pukalani, Hawaii) finished with 10 kills.
Whitworth took control early in Friday's season finale against Lewis & Clark, winning 25-18, 25-16, 25-14 to clinch the outright NWC title. Kaimi Rocha had 13 kills and 12 digs, while Ka'ipo Rocha added 12 kills and hit .611. Bree Riddle (Sr., S, Spokane, Wash.) had 38 assists and Whitney Santos (So., Lib, Wailuku, Hawaii) had a match-high four aces and 13 digs.
Back to Back: Whitworth claimed its second straight Northwest Conference volleyball championship. The last time the Pirates accomplished back to back crowns was in 2001 and 2002. Click here for the current NWC standings.
NWC Honors: For the second straight season the Pirates were well-represented on the All-Northwest Conference team, which was released on Monday. Kaimi Rocha was selected by conference coaches as the NWC Player of the Year for the second straight season, while Steve Rupe was voted by his colleagues as the NWC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. Bree Riddle was voted as First Team All-NWC, while Ka'ipo Rocha was selected to the Second Team. Amanda Grumbach received honorable mention consideration. Click here for the full Whitworth All-NWC release.
NCAA Tournament History: Whitworth has made four previous NCAA Division III tournament appearances:
- In 2001 the Pirates received a first round bye before falling in the second round to eventual NCAA champion La Verne.
- In 2002 Whitworth hosted and again received a first round bye. This time the Pirates knocked off defending NCAA Div. III champion La Verne before falling to top-ranked CSU-Hayward in the regional final.
- In 2005 the Pirates hosted the regional for a second time - defeating Colorado College in the first round and Linfield in the second round before losing to La Verne in the regional championship.
- In 2010 Whitworth played at the St. Thomas (Minn.) regional and defeated Concordia-Moorhead in the first round before falling to St. Olaf in the second round.
Whitworth is 4-4 all-time in NCAA Division III tournament contests.
The Opponents: California Lutheran is 26-6 overall and finished 13-1 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (SCIAC) to win the regular season championship. The Regals, ranked 17th in this week's AVCA Division III coaches poll, lost in five sets to Occidental in the SCIAC tournament championship match. Two new players made a huge impact for CLU this season. Kylie McLogan (Fr., OH) led the team in kills per set (3.48) and aces per set (0.39) in her first year of collegiate volleyball. She is a junior academically after spending two years at Mt. San Antonio College without playing volleyball. Shannon Pearson (Jr., MB) transferred from Moorpark College after playing one season at NCAA Div. I Colgate in 2009. She added 2.71 kills per set and led the team in hitting percentage (.323). The last meeting between Whitworth and Cal Lutheran occurred on Sept. 11, 2009 when CLU defeated the Pirates in five sets at the Cal-Lu-Fornia Classic tournament in Thousand Oaks.
The winner of Friday night's match between CLU and Whitworth will take on the winner of a first-round contest between Southwestern (Texas) and Chapman. Southwestern is 30-3 and ranked 10th in this week's poll. The Pirates won the Southern Collegiate Athletics Conference (SCAC) regular season championship with a 14-0 record, but were upset by Trinity in the conference tournament semifinals. Senior center Christina Nicholls was voted as the SCAC Player of the Year. Chapman earned an at-large bid in its final season as a Division III independent before becoming a full member of the SCIAC next season. The Pirates and Tigers will play at 5:30 p.m. on Friday night.
The other half of the bracket includes #22 Pacific Lutheran (21-5, NWC runner up) vs. Occidental (21-8, SCIAC tournament champion) at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, followed by #12 Colorado College (31-6, SCAC tournament champion) vs. Hardin-Simmons (29-5, American Southwest Conference tournament champions) at 3:00 p.m.
The Coach: Steve Rupe, finishing his 13th season coaching the Pirates, has now been named the Northwest Conference Coach of the Year four times (2001, 2002, 2010, 2011), AVCA Regional Coach of the Year once (2005) and has become the winningest coach in school history with a record of 203-136 (.599). Under his direction, the Pirates have won five NWC titles and have advanced to the NCAA Division III regional finals twice (2002, 2005).
Coming Up: The winner of the California Lutheran regional will advance to the eight-team NCAA Division III finals on Nov. 18-20 at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
