Two of six returning first team All-CCC selections from 2007 include Lindsey Stone of Southern Oregon (left), the CCC Player of the Year, and College of Idaho outside hitter Kathryn Ely.
C of I, SOU Tabbed 1-2 in CCC Volleyball Poll
PORTLAND, Ore. – The upper half of the 2008 Cascade Collegiate Conference preseason volleyball poll looks strikingly similar to the CCC’s 2007 final regular season standings.
College of Idaho, which shared last year’s league title with Southern Oregon after both went through double round-robin play with 19-1 league marks, tallied seven first-place votes and 116 points overall in balloting of the league’s head coaches. C of I narrowly outpointed SOU, which totaled three first-place votes and 111 points for the No. 2 position in the poll. Oregon Tech, last year’s third-place finisher, totaled 94 points (and one first-place vote) to finish third in the preseason balloting. Eastern Oregon, which placed fourth in the 2007 regular season standings, finished with 89 points to place fourth.
Concordia was fifth, followed by Corban, Northwest, Warner Pacific, Northwest Christian, Cascade, and Evergreen.
The Coyotes of College of Idaho, who are coming off a 25-8 season, return three starters and eight letterwinners from last year’s squad, which finished eighth in the final 2007 NAIA Top 25 poll. Top returnees include outside hitter Kathryn Ely (337 kills), middle blockers Sarah Buhler (256 kills) and Kristin Henning (256 kills), and setters Naomi Reimer (478 assists) and Madie Machurek (511 assists, 216 digs). Eighth-year head coach Liz Mendiola, whose husband, Al, coached the C of I softball team to the NAIA College World Series last spring, is 161-64 during her career at C of I.
Southern Oregon, which finished the 2007 season ranked 10th in the final NAIA poll of the year, returns eight letterwinners, including 2007 CCC Player of the Year Lindsey Stone. Stone, a setter, averaged 12.4 assists per game last year in helping SOU to a 26-6 overall record and CCC co-championship. Other top returnees for second-year head coach Josh Rohlfing include first team All-CCC middle blocker Mia Wortel, and outside hitter Samantha Yutzie.
Six of last year’s 12 first team all-conference selections return in 2008; in addition to Stone and Wortel from SOU, other returning first teamers include right-side hitter Rashelle Davenport of Corban, middle hitter Grace Deboodt of Eastern Oregon, outside hitter Leah Gradwohl of Warner Pacific, and outside hitter Lauren Holtz of Northwest.
CCC teams will play a 20-match conference schedule – home and away contests against each of the other 10 league opponents. The top six teams in the final regular season standings will advance to the CCC’s postseason tournament in mid-November. Two quarterfinal matches will be played at campus sites Nov. 11, with the semifinals and finals slated to be hosted by the regular season champion Nov. 14-15.
The winner of the CCC’s six-team postseason tournament will earn the league’s automatic bid to the NAIA Championships, which begin Nov. 22.
2008 CCC Preseason Volleyball Poll
| Rk. |
Institution |
Points |
2007 Overall |
2007 CCC |
| 1 |
College of Idaho (7) |
116 |
25-8 |
19-1 |
| 2 |
Southern Oregon (3) |
111 |
26-6 |
19-1 |
| 3 |
Oregon Tech (1) |
94 |
23-13 |
15-5 |
| 4 |
Eastern Oregon |
89 |
16-10 |
13-7 |
| 5 |
Concordia |
78 |
14-16 |
9-11 |
| 6 |
Corban |
62 |
12-14 |
10-10 |
| 7 |
Northwest |
53 |
9-13 |
8-12 |
| 8 |
Warner Pacific |
49 |
13-12 |
9-11 |
| 9 |
Northwest Christian |
33 |
12-17 |
6-14 |
| 10 |
Cascade |
21 |
3-24 |
0-20 |
| 11 |
Evergreen |
20 |
2-18 |
2-18 |
| First place votes in parentheses |