Whitworth College opens the 2006 volleyball season this weekend ranked 20th in the CSTV/AVCA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Pirates are coming off of a Northwest Conference championship season in which the team finished 22-4 and advanced to the NCAA Regional Final. Click here for the entire AVCA poll.
But the Pirates will be making due with six new starters after losing all six from 2005 to graduation. Included in the loss are 2005 NWC Player of the Year and First Team AVCA All-American Natalie Danielson, along with All-NWC and Honorable Mention All-American setter Bekah Hornor. Seniors Angie Florence and Nicole Vander Meulen, along with junior libero Cassie Moore provide the Pirates with the most on-court experience as the team opens the 2006 season this weekend. Whitworth will open with a neutral site match against UC Santa Cruz on Friday at Noon. The match will be played at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. The Slugs are an NCAA Division III independent. On Saturday and Sunday, Whitworth will participate in the Pacific Boxer Kick Off Classic in Forest Grove, Oregon. On Saturday, the Pirates will open against Cal State East Bay at 1:00 pm, followed by a match against Southwestern (Texas) at 6:00 pm. On Sunday Whitworth will take on Texas Lutheran University at 10:00 am, followed by a match against St. Thomas (Minn.) at 4:00 pm. Three of the four opponents at the Boxer Kick Off are also ranked in the AVCA poll. Cal State East Bay is ranked 23rd after finishing 2005 with a 27-11 record. The Pioneers are an NCAA Independent. Southwestern is ranked 24th after winning the 2005 Southern Collegiate Athletics Conference (SCAC) title with a record of 35-5. St. Thomas, which won the 2005 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) title with a record of 31-7, is ranked 10th. Whitworth has not played East Bay since the 2003 season, a 3-1 loss in a tournament match at Tacoma. The Pirates have never played the other three opponents. |
