Women's Volleyball

Chaminade Continues to Roll, Jorgenson and Copeland Keep Their Teams Close

Chaminade continues to roll, picking up a pair of victories to improve to 11-0 in the Pacific West Conference. Annaka Jorgenson of APU was her dependable self again, putting up two double-doubles for the Cougars, and Biola’s Abigail Copeland stepped up on defense during a big win for the Eagles over Fresno Pacific.

2022 Results/Schedule
2022 Standings
2022 Statistics
2022 AVCA National Poll
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific’s Annaka Jorgenson, OH, 6-1, Jr., Eastvale, Calif.                                
For the second week in a row, Azusa Pacific’s Annaka Jorgenson filled up the stat sheet. The junior outside hitter put down 27 kills in a five-set loss to Fresno Pacific, converting her opportunities at a .397 efficiency rate. She also had 12 digs in that contest. The next night (Saturday) in a 3-1 win over Point Loma, the PacWest all-star had 14 kills and 17 digs for a total of 41 kills and 29 digs on the week. It was the third PacWest Player of the Week award in 2022 for Jorgenson, who averaged 4.5 kills a set last week and hit .347.

DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Biola’s Abigail Copeland, MB, 6-2, Sr., Olathe, Kan.                                                    
One night after Fresno Pacific had taken out Azusa Pacific in a five-setter, Biola stunned the Sunbirds in straight sets in La Mirada to further tighten the group of teams chasing Chaminade. Middle blocker Abigail Copeland was a big reason for that success, helping to halt a hot-hitting Sunbird team with four solo blocks at the net and five blocks overall. For the week, Copeland led the PacWest with 1.67 blocks per set. “Abby was locked in Saturday defensively,” said her coach Aaron Seltzer. “She is such a strong defensive middle and makes great decisions along the net. She loves hunting for blocks, closed up the seam nicely and made it really easy to defend behind her.”
 
CHAMINADE CONTINUES CONQUEST OF PACWEST: The PacWest Team of the Week is the Chaminade Silverswords, who won their 12th and 13th straight matches with 3-0 victories over Dominican and Academy of Art. The Silverswords improved to 16-6 overall and 11-0 in the PacWest. The 13th consecutive victory was a program record for the ’Swords, who have a 2.5 game lead in the PacWest over second place Fresno Pacific. As per usual, Chaminade was balanced in both matches and hit .432 against Dominican and .397 versus Holy Names. The victory was also their 19th straight, dating back to 2021, against PacWest teams.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: The five teams in the PacWest behind Chaminade (11-0) in the standings are separated by just one game—beginning with Fresno Pacific (9-3) and followed by Point Loma (8-3), Concordia (8-3), Biola (9-4) and Azusa Pacific (8-4)…Fresno Pacific's five-set win over APU snapped a string of 10-straight losses to the Cougars. It was also Fresno Pacific's fourth straight 5-set match…In that win, Makena Ogas had 18 kills and Corinne Acosta had 18 digs…Holy Names went 2-1 last week with victories over Hawai`i Hilo and Hawai`i Pacific to improve to 5-8 in conference play…Samara Cruz had 20 kills and 15 digs in a losing cause for the Vulcans…Chaminade’s Sasha Colombo hit .727 with eight kills and two aces in their win over Dominican…CUH’s Greta Corti had six service aces against Holy Names…HPU’s Ella Dotson had 16 kills and hit .483 in the Sharks win over the Penguins…Courtney Dyer had 35 digs on the week, including 22 in PLNU's loss to APU. She also had six total aces, moving into third place all-time in the PacWest with 147, inching past Savanna Wedemeyer (Point Loma) who had 141 and Fabiane Seben (UH Hilo) who had 145….Saupuni Mavaega put up a balanced stat sheet during a 3-1 win over the Sharks, with 13 kills (.400), three solo blocks, two block assists and seven digs…Mavaega now has 44 solo blocks on the season, the third highest total for a single season in the PacWest—only behind Grand Canyon’s Ashley Bright, who had 49 in 2007 and 46 in 2006…Point Loma’s Torina Hommes had 19 kills (.350) and five blocks assists in the loss to APU.

LOOKING AHEAD: Biola travels to Azusa Pacific for a Cornerstone Cup match on Tuesday, while Concordia and Point Loma head to Hawai`i for key match-ups with Chaminade. The Sea Lions get their crack at the Silverswords on Wednesday, while the Golden Eagles will play at McCabe Gymnasium on Friday….Azusa Pacific travels to Fresno Pacific for a Friday rematch with the Sunbirds.