WOU Weekly Women’s Volleyball Digest

Up next for the Lady Wolves: Wednesday at Saint Edwards, 7 PM, September 1st & 2nd @ Alamo City Classic hosted by Incarnate Word.

Photo: WOU

MONMOUTH - Tangling with Texans and others: With just enough time to unpack, wash clothes and re-pack, the Western Oregon volleyball team will hit the road again this week for five matches in six days.

Having played a vigorous schedule against nationally ranked teams from the California Collegiate Athletic Association last week, the Wolves will now tackle teams from Texas and beyond at the Alamo City Classic in San Antonio.

Follow the action: Call the Wolves Sports Scoreboard after the match (838-8020) or log on to WOU’s site at www.wouwolves.com to get complete results. For WOU home matches, you can follow along through Live Stats on the WOU website.

Clipped in California: Western Oregon returns from the UC San Diego Invitational with a 1-4 record, with all four losses coming to teams ranked in the NCAA Division II national Top 20. The Wolves pushed No. 14 Cal Poly Pomona to five games and defeated Cal State Dominguez Hills to highlight action.

Freshman middle blocker Lisa Martini (Philomath) was named to the all-tournament team for her efforts, tallying 45 kills in five matches and hitting nearly .300. She also led the Wolves with 18 total blocks.

Everyone plays: The Wolves were without middle blocker Sharon Peterson (So., Corvallis, Mont.), who rested an injured ankle. But all 14 players in uniform saw plenty of action in Coach Joe Houck’s liberal substitution plan.

In many games, all 14 had already hit the court by game two. 11 players were called out for the starting line-up at least once, and 11 also played in all five matches.

Two-headed setter: Houck’s swarm of substitutions included nearly equal time on the court for two setters: junior transfer Lisa Tedder (Coos Bay/Marshfield HS/St. John’s) and freshman Amy Heron (Spokane/Mead HS).

Both played in all 20 games and all five matches, with Heron contributing a total of 97 assists and Tedder 95. Heron also had a team-best 11 service aces on the weekend.

The strategy: The Wolves will employ line-ups of various sizes and shapes throughout the season, throughout a match and maybe even throughout each game. “We have a lot of kids who can play part of the game, but may not be able to “do-it-all” as of yet,” Houck explained. “That gives us as a coaching staff an opportunity to tweak the line up and match up with different lineups more than most teams. We have a ton of personnel and systems changes we can throw into the fray, and we should be a really tough read for the other team. The flip side is the usual lack of consistency we may experience from time to time.

That type of play requires a special bond if a team is going to be consistent. We have shown signs of being that type of special team so far in practice, but it truly is a mandatory element for us this season.”

Alamo Field: The Wolves will play two teams from the Heartland Conference, two squads from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and one club from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this week. All opponents are NCAA D-II members.

• St. Edward's was 10-22 last season and went 7-7 in the Heartland Conference. The Hilltoppers played at the Tampa Classic in Florida over the weekend, going 1-2.

• Northern Michigan went 15-12 in 2005 and 12-6 in the GLIAC. Three starters return, including the GLIAC Freshman of the Year, Nicole Hintze. NMU went 4-0 last weekend at its own tournament.

• Incarnate Word was 17-17 a year ago, but went 9-3 in the Heartland Conference. Three starters are back, and the Crusaders are picked to finish second in the league. UIW went 2-2 last weekend at the Nova Southeastern Shark Classic.

• Chadron State was 3-26 in 2005, 2-17 in the RMAC. The Eagles began the year with an 0-4 mark at the Mile High Classic over the weekend.

• Ferris State had a sparkling 22-10 record last fall, and tied with Northern Michigan in the GLIAC with a 12-6. Three starters are back. The Bulldogs were 4-1 last weekend in their own tournament.

Improvement: In 2005, under first-year coach Houck, the Wolves won five more games in conference play than in 2004 and picked up three more wins overall to finish 11-15 and 9-9 in the GNAC.

Houck Headlines: Coach Joe Houck came to WOU with a 97-32 career record, gained from leading the Concordia University program for five seasons (his 51-10 record at Eastern Washington as associate head coach is not included in his career mark).

Houck, who also won three state titles as a prep coach at Barlow High School in Gresham, now has a collegiate mark of 109-51.

WOU’s Alamo City Classic game schedule:

Sept. 1 vs. Northern Michigan, 9 AM

Sept. 1 vs. Incarnate Word, 2 PM

Sept. 2 vs. Chadron State, 9 AM

Sept. 2 vs. Ferris State, 4:30 PM

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