SPOKANE, Wash. - The Whitworth volleyball team hopes to continue its strong play on the road this weekend when the Pirates visit Willamette (Friday at 7:00 p.m.) and Lewis & Clark (Saturday at 5:00 p.m.) to begin the second half of the Northwest Conference schedule. Whitworth (11-9 overall) has won three of its last four conference matches to improve to 4-4 in the NWC. The Bucs rallied to win at Whitman last Wednesday, then handed Linfield its first home loss of the season on Saturday.

At the halfway point of the NWC schedule Whitworth is currently tied with Linfield, George Fox and Pacific at 4-4 in the conference. There is a three-way tie for first place between Lewis & Clark, Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran, all with a 6-2 record. View NWC standings.

Nikki Bardwell

Blistering Bardwell: Nikki Bardwell (Sr., OH, Colville, Wash.) was runner-up for the NWC Volleyball Student-Athlete of the Week award after her strong performance last week. In the two victories she had 25 kills with a .310 hitting percentage and added 31 digs defensively. She had 16 kills and hit .410 in the Pirates' first win at Linfield since 2002.

Rocha's Big Start: Kaimi Rocha (Fr., OH, Pukalani, Hawaii) has already made a big impact on the Whitworth volleyball team. The dynamic freshman was named the MVP of the NYU Labor Day Invitational and was also named to the Whitworth Invitational All-Tournament team. She is leading the team in kills (3.24 per set), is second in hitting percentage (.217) and has also been solid defensively, averaging 2.7 digs per set, which is third on the team among regular players. Ka'ipo Rocha (Fr., MB, Pukalani, Hawaii) has also been strong in the middle. After missing the first weekend of play due to injury, Ka'ipo now averages 2.14 kills with a team-leading .221 hitting percentage and 0.66 blocks per set. Ka'ipo was also named to the Whitworth Invitational All-Tournament team.

Setter-Setter: Whitworth has been running a 6-2 offense since the beginning of the season, utilizing the skills of both Bree Riddle (Fr., S, Spokane, Wash.) and Jordon Hoffnagle (Fr., S, Spokane, Wash.). Both have played in all 73 sets this season (the only two Pirates to do so) with Riddle averaging 4.89 assists per set and Hoffnagle averaging 4.52 assists per set.

NWC Statistics : Several Pirates are listed among the NWC statistics leaders. Kaimi Rocha is fourth in kills per set (3.24) and eighth in hitting percentage (.217). Ka'ipo Rocha is seventh in hitting percentage (.221). Bree Riddle is 7th (4.89) and Jordon Hoffnagle is 10th (4.52) in assists per set. Holly Tomlin (Sr., MB, Kirkland, Wash.) is seventh in blocks per set (0.77) and 10th in hitting percentage (.210), while Bethany Castilleja (Sr., DS, Kennewick, Wash.) is second in digs per set (4.33).

Live Stats: Live stats of all home contests will be available beginning this weekend at the following link: http://www.whitworth.edu/Athletics/Teams/Volleyball/statistics/livestats/xlive.htm.

The Coach: Steve Rupe, currently in his tenth season as Pirate head coach, has served longer in this capacity than any coach in program history. Rupe has been named the Northwest Conference Coach of the Year twice (2001, 2002), AVCA Regional Coach of the Year once (2005) and has become the second-winningest coach in school history with a record of 142-92 (.607) over his first nine seasons. Under his direction, the Pirates have won three NWC titles and have advanced to the NCAA Division III regional finals twice (2002, 2005).

Coming up: Willamette is 4-14 overall and 2-6 in the NWC coming into the week, but the Bearcats are flying high after posting their first 3-0 sweep of a conference opponent in four seasons after last Saturday's blanking of George Fox at home. Willamette had lost 3-0 at Pacific Lutheran on Friday night. Whitworth defeated the Bearcats 25-15, 25-21, 26-24 in Spokane in the teams' first meeting of the season on September 19th. Kaimi Rocha had 14 kills and hit .306 to lead the Bucs to that win.

Lewis & Clark (11-8 overall, 6-2 NWC) has positioned itself to make a strong run at the Northwest Conference title. The Pioneers won a pair of road matches last week, gutting out a 3-2 decision at Pacific before knocking off 13th-ranked Puget Sound 3-1 in Tacoma on Saturday night. On September 20th L&C handed Whitworth its first NWC loss of the season, winning 27-29, 25-18, 25-20, 25-18 in Spokane. Kaimi Rocha led the Bucs with 14 kills and 12 digs in the loss.