SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth Pirates have grabbed sole possession of first place in the Northwest Conference volleyball standings. But the work is only half done. Whitworth opens the second half of its NWC schedule on the road this weekend at George Fox (Friday, 7:00 pm) and at Pacific (Saturday, 6:00 pm).
Check the Whitworth volleyball schedule (link above-right) for up-to-date access to live results.
The Pirates: Whitworth (16-2 overall, 8-0 NWC) earned wins at both Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound last weekend to build some separation with their Tacoma-area rivals in the standings.
The Pirates ended PLU's 22-match Northwest Conference winning streak last Friday and broke a three-match skid to the Lutes. Despite serving at set point, Whitworth lost the opening set but rebounded to win 24-26, 28-26, 25-23, 25-14 at Olson Auditorium. The Pirates tied their season-high with 15 team blocks, led by Cassidy Franklin who had one solo and seven block assists and Lauren Kremer who had seven block assists. Ella Jimenez led Whitworth with 20 points on 17 kills, an ace and four block assists. She also led the Bucs with 16 digs. Kremer added ten kills while hitting .321. Amblessed Okemgbo finished with a dozen kills. Megan Lange and Josephine Thompson finished with 24 assists apiece.
Whitworth carried the momentum into Saturday's 25-20, 25-21, 25-21 win at Puget Sound. If the Loggers had defeated the Pirates, it would have created a three-way tie atop the standings between Whitworth, PLU and UPS. The Pirates hit .236 as a team and got 14 kills from Jimenez and 10 from Franklin, who hit .643. Taylor Miche came up with a dozen digs and served three of Whitworth's nine aces. Kremer had five more block assists to lead the defense. Thompson finished with 22 assists.
Kremer honored by NWC: Lauren Kremer is this week's NWC Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week in women's volleyball. She finished with a dozen blocks to lead Whitworth to the Tacoma victories. She had seven in the 3-1 win at PLU and five in the 3-0 win at UPS, averaging 1.7 blocks per set.
Kremer's award is the sixth of the season earned by a Pirate player. Taylor Miche (Sept. 3) and Cassidy Franklin (Sept. 30) have each been the Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week once. Ella Jimenez (Sept. 9 and Sept. 23) and Amblessed Okemgbo (Sept. 16) have won the Offensive award.
NWC Stat Leaders: Whitworth leads the conference in several key statistical categories. The Pirates are first in team hitting percentage (.228 – 37th in NCAA DIII), opponent hitting percentage (.088 – 11th in DIII), kills per set (12.82), total kills (795), assists per set (11.71), total blocks (157.5 – 18th in DIII) and in blocks per set (2.54 – 5th in DIII).
Individually, Ella Jimenez leads the league in kills per set (3.55), total kills (220), points per set (4.50), and is fourth in service aces per set (0.53). Cassidy Franklin leads the NWC in hitting percentage (.321) and is second in blocks per set (1.06). Lauren Kremer is third in hitting percentage (.285) and fourth in blocks per set (1.02). Amblessed Okemgbo is fourth in hitting percentage (.272). Taylor Miche is fifth in digs per set (4.42) and seventh in aces per set (0.48).
NWC Standings Update: Whitworth (8-0) leads the conference at the halfway point, one game ahead of PLU (7-1) and two ahead of Puget Sound (6-2) in the standings. The top four teams will make the NWC tournament at the end of the season (Nov. 15-16) and the team that finishes first in the regular season earns the right to host.
The Coach: Kati Bodecker has a record of 209-81 in her 12th season guiding the Pirates. Bodecker picked up her 200th win as Whitworth's coach on Sept. 13th vs. Chapman University. She is a four-time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year after leading Whitworth to five NWC championships in her first nine seasons. She is 150-32 in conference matches. Bodecker has also directed the Pirates to five appearances in the NCAA Division III tournament (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021). 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: George Fox is 9-8 overall and 5-3 in the NWC, hunting for one of the four conference tournament spots. The Bruins took a big step in that direction with a pair of wins last week, defeating Lewis & Clark 3-1 at home and Linfield 3-0 on the road. Emily Davis continues her ninth season as head coach. GFU leads the NWC in service aces per set (2.42) and ranks second in both kills per set (11.73) and assists per set (10.91). Sophomore RS Gracie Bearden leads her team in points per set (3.2) and in kills per set (2.75). Senior setter Addison Coulter leads the NWC in aces per set (0.66). Whitworth defeated George Fox at home on September 21st 3-0 thanks to a season-high .442 team hitting percentage. Ella Jimenez had 17 kills and three service aces.
Pacific is 8-8 overall and 3-5 in the NWC heading into a match at Linfield on Tuesday night. With three matches this week, the Boxers can put themselves in the thick of the NWC tournament chase with three victories. Pacific is second in the NWC in digs per set (16.38) under 12th year head coach Kip Yoshimura. The Boxers have an offensive dynamic duo in senior Mara Murphy and sophomore Emma Velcheck. Murphy is second in the NWC in kills per set (3.53), while Velcheck is third in kills per set (3.48) and second in points per set (4.07). Whitworth defeated Pacific 3-0 at home on September 20th in the conference opener for the Pirates. Lauren Kremer had 10 kills.
Coming Up: Whitworth will play at Whitman on Tuesday, October 22nd before returning home for the first time in three weeks for a match against Linfield on Saturday, October 26th.
