Women's Volleyball

Chaminade Keeps Hopes Alive, But Point Loma Keeps Winning

'Swords win Team of the Week and Player in Greta Corti, PL's Massari win another Defender award

The Silverswords righted the ship after a loss to Point Loma with three straight wins on the road to claim Team of the Week and Player of the Week in uber consistent Greta Corti. Speaking of consistent, Point Loma's Anna Massari is the Defender of the Week with terrific play at the net in two more Sea Lion wins.

2023 Results/Schedule
2023 Standings
2023 Statistics
2023 AVCA National Poll
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Chaminade's Greta Corti, OH, Sr., 6-1, Varese, Italy                                                                    
Chaminade's Greta Corti has been a Player of the Week contender nearly every week of this season, and in the first week of November she finally gets her name on the certificate. In three Silversword wins last week, she totaled 39 kills (3.9 per set), had 23 digs, six blocks and two aces. Corti was a First Team All-PacWest Conference selection last year and a all-region pick. The third-year Silversword is huge key to Chaminade's success, according to head coach Kahala Kabalais Hoke. "Greta continues to be solid for us, even carrying a huge load in a 2-man serve receive pass and keeps us in system, something that is not statted but a huge element in our success."

DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Point Loma's Anna Massari, MB, Jr., 6-2, Las Vegas, Nev.                                                        
Point Loma middle blocker Anna Massari was a block machine and also played the offensive side of the net well last week as the Sea Lions picked up two more victories. The 6-foot-2 middle had 11 blocks (1.9 per set), nearly an even split with six against Fresno Pacific and five versus Hawai`i Pacific. She also had 10 kills against the Sharks, but really stepped up offensively against the Sunbirds with 14 kills and a .609 attack percentage--with no errors. On the season, Massari leads the PacWest in blocks per set (1.33) and is fifth in attack percentage (.330). This is the fourth PacWest Defender of the Year award in her three-year career.
 
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Chaminade Silverswords                                                                                                                            
The PacWest Team of the Week is Chamiande, who bounced back from a tough 5-set loss to Point Loma to win three straight matches on their southern California trip. The Silverswords swept Westmont on Monday, beat a tough Biola team on Wednesday (3-1) and finished the week with a very impressive sweep of Azusa Pacific on Friday. Chaminade improved to 26-3 overall with the trio of wins and to 14-3 in conference play. Greta Corti (see above POW) had 18 kills and nine digs in the win over Biola and Ajack Malual added 14 kills. Malual put down 15 balls against the Cougars, hit .433, had four blocks and nine digs. Defensively, Lizanyela Lopez had 18 blocks on the week (including eight in three sets at APU) and Hula Crisostomo had 52 digs. The 'Swords are No. 15 nationally in today's AVCA poll. 

PACWEST PROGNOSIS: With two weeks left in the regular season, Point Loma is still unbeaten (16-0) with four matches left to be played. They need just one win to clinch at least tie for the PacWest title, and one of those potential ties would be with Chaminade (14-3), whom the Sea Lions beat twice--meaning one more win gets Point Loma the AQ (automatic qualifier) into the NCAA West Regional Championships. Point Loma's quest for the title isn't easy though as it continues on Thursday with a match at Biola (11-5), Saturday at Westmont (8-9), Nov. 16 at Azusa Pacific (12-4, who could also still tie for title) and lastly Nov. 18 vs. Concordia (9-6). 

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Concordia went 2-0 last week with wins over Hawai`i Hilo (3-0) and Fresno Pacific (3-1)...Kyra Palmbush helped Azusa Pacific go 2-1 with 14 total blocks (1.55 per set) and 11 kills without an error against the Vulcans...Macy Reynolds had another big week for Point Loma on defense with 34 digs (5.6 per set)...Westmont (8-9) topped Hawai`i Hilo (7-9) in four sets, slipping past UHH in the conference standings. Sara Krueger had 16 kills in the match and hit .500...Krueger also had 11 kills without an error (.688) in a 3-0 victory over Hawai`i Pacific...Academy of Art fought off Domincan (3-1) behind Amalie Rupertova's 14 kills and Maya McClellan's 13 kills and three service aces.

RECORD BOOK WATCH: Biola's Abigail Copeland has 412 total blocks, now third all-time, with Azusa Pacific's Julianne Miller (2016-19) on top with 465. Next on the rung for Copeland would be the second spot, occupied by Hawai`i Hilo's Ashton Jessie, who had 415 (2017-21).  Copeland is also second in solo blocks with 117. Caitlin Torres of Notre Dame de Namur (2006-09) is the career leader with 120...Azusa Pacific's Annaka Jorgenson has 1,498 career kills (2019-23), sixth on the PacWest career list, with former Point Loma standout Heather Levitt next at 1,534 (2012-15)...Fresno Pacific's Corinne Acosta has 1,275 kills, tied for 10th on the same list...Acosta has 1,551 digs, 12th all-time in the PacWest...Makena Ogas of the Sunbirds has 67 solo blocks, tying her for tenth all-time in the conference...Kirra Schulz has 1,066 kills, moving into the 24th slot all-time.