SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth volleyball team has a chance to make history this week with an unbeaten Northwest Conference record. The Pirates will play at Whitman on Wednesday night (6:00 pm) and host Lewis & Clark on Friday (7:00 pm) in the regular season finale.
Check the Whitworth volleyball schedule for live links to this weekend's action.
Protect the Crew: Washington State mandates require masks at all indoor athletic events, regardless of vaccination status. That includes matches at the Whitworth Fieldhouse. Please plan accordingly.
The Pirates: Whitworth (19-2 overall, 14-0 NWC) clinched the Northwest Conference championship, and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament, with a pair of impressive road victories at Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran last weekend.
The Pirates got stronger as the match progressed and finished with a 25-23, 25-19, 25-17 sweep at third place Puget Sound on Friday night. Whitworth hit .232 while holding the Loggers to a .114 clip. While the first set featured 14 ties and five lead changes, the Bucs controlled the final two stanzas from early on. Maddie Lee had 18 kills and hit .389 in a dominating performance. Jaye Hodge contributed nine kills and hit .364. Kaity Barr had five kills, served three aces and had two solo blocks. Joelle Forbes dished 22 of Whitworth's 40 assists.
PLU made the Pirates work to clinch the title on Saturday night. Whitworth served for match point once in the third set, then had to rally from a 19-14 deficit in the fourth set before prevailing 25-18, 25-23, 24-26, 26-24. The Pirates hit .226 while the Lutes finished .181. Lee had another big night with 20 kills and added 17 digs, while Hodge contributed a career-high 14 kills. Barr had nine kills and five blocks, while Cassidy Franklin added eight kills and five blocks. Eva Millan finished with a career-high 34 digs. Kaitlyn White served three aces and had the match-winning kill from the back row.
History in Sight: No Whitworth team has ever finished its Northwest Conference schedule undefeated. The Pirates have a chance to do so this week. The last NWC team to traverse the league slate without a loss was PLU in 2009.
Pirates Honored: Maddie Lee is the NWC's Offensive Student-Athlete of the Week for the third time this season, while Cassidy Franklin is the Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week. Lee finished the weekend with 41 points, averaging 5.9 points per set and 5.4 kills per set while leading the Pirates to a pair of championship-clinching road victories. Franklin finished the weekend with two solo blocks and six block assists in seven sets (1.14 blocks per set).
NWC Stat Leaders: Whitworth leads the Northwest Conference in several statistical categories. Most notably, the Pirates lead the NWC and rank seventh in all of NCAA DIII in team blocks per set (2.29). They also rank first in the NWC in kills per set (12.94), assists per set (12.04), team hitting percentage (.214), opponents' hitting percentage (.114), and they are third in digs per set (17.50).
Individually, Lee is first in points per set (4.35) and in kills per set (3.79). Franklin is still first in hitting percentage (.338) and third in blocks per set (0.99). Barr is second in blocks per set (1.04) and third in hitting percentage (.318). Eva Millan is fourth in digs per set (5.08).
NWC Poll: Whitworth was picked first on eight out of nine ballots in the 2021 NWC preseason coaches poll. The Pirates had 64 points to outdistance PLU, who had the remaining first place vote and 56 points. Puget Sound was third in the poll (45 points), while Pacific (Ore.) was fourth (43 points). Coaches cannot vote for their own school.
The Coach: Kati Bodecker, 140-59 heading into her ninth season guiding the Pirates, is a three-time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year after leading Whitworth to four NWC championships in her first eight seasons. Bodecker has also directed the Pirates to four appearances in the NCAA Division III tournament (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019). In 2013 she coached the Bucs to a 15-13 record, becoming the first Whitworth volleyball coach to post a winning record in her first season since Margaret Campbell in 1990. She previously had been the head coach at Priest River High School, leading the Spartans to five state tournament appearances, including a runner-up finish in 2012. She was a four-year starter at the University of Idaho, helping lead the Vandals to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances as a sophomore and junior.
The Opponents: Whitman is 6-17 overall and 4-10 in the NWC following losses at PLU (3-1) and Puget Sound (3-0) last weekend. Christina Boxberger, a junior, leads the Blues in kills (2.26) and points (2.69) per set. Sydney London, another junior, leads the team in blocks per set (0.81) and Whitman ranks second to Whitworth in the NWC in team blocking (1.77 per set). The Pirates defeated the Blues 3-0 in Spokane on Oct. 6th behind nine kills by Cassidy Franklin and three aces from Saylor Anderson. Whitworth has won the last eight matches against Whitman.
Lewis & Clark is 6-11 overall. The Pioneers are officially 5-9 in NWC matches, but had no-contests against Linfield, George Fox and Pacific this season, leading to a forfeit win and two forfeit losses in the league standings. L&C fell 3-1 at Linfield and 3-0 at Willamette last weekend. Izzy Willis (So.) ranks fourth in the NWC in kills per set (3.36) and leads the team in service aces (0.41 per set). Kelsey Parker (Sr.) adds 2.75 kills per set. Whitworth had to go to five sets to beat the Pioneers on Oct. 8th in Portland. Kaity Barr had a huge night with 17 kills and nine blocks.
Coming Up Next: Whitworth will find out who, when and where they play in the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament when the field is announced on Monday, Nov. 8.
