Vanguard knocked off two teams above them in the PacWest standings to earn Team of the Week. Concordia won a pair with Kayden Croy putting down 40 kills in just seven sets for Player of the Week honors. Chaminade survived rivals Hawaii Pacific and Hawaii Hilo at home, using excellent offensive and defensive work from Lizanyela Lopez. 

2024 Results/Schedule
2024 Standings
2024 Statistics
2024 AVCA National Poll
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Concordia's Kayden Croy, OH, Soph., 6-1, Riverside, Calif.                                            
Concordia's Kayden Croy had career-best 24 kills in a four-set win over Menlo last Wednesday, and followed that up with 16 more putaways in a three-set sweep of Biola on Saturday. In both matches, she didn't waste swings by hitting .358 against the Oaks and .536 versus the Eagles. The sophomore also had 13 digs against Menlo for a double-double and totaled 18 on the week. The second-year Golden Eagle hit .420 with 40 kills and 18 digs in the two matches, good for 5.9 kills/set and 2.6 digs/set.

DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Chaminade's Lizanyela Lopez, MB, Sr., 6-1, Lima, Peru                                            
Chaminade's Lizanyela Lopez was a defensive force at the net and also posted highly efficient offensive numbers for the Silverswords last week. Lopez and Chaminade fended off Hawaii Pacific in four sets and Hawaii Hilo in five to keep the 'Swords unbeaten in PacWest play (10-0). The Peru native had six block assists against the Sharks and hit .645 with seven kills. Versus the Vulcans at home, she added two more blocks and had 14 kills with just one error for a sizzling .650 attack percentage. Head coach Kahala Kabalis Hoke had this to say about the 2023 PacWest Newcomer of the Year. "Lizzy's impact was a key reason why opposing middle's hit .000 last weekend. Even though she didn't get play-ending blocks, she got touches on attacks that allowed our passers to effectively run our offense or touches back to the other side that forced their hitters to commit errors."
 
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Vanguard Lions                                                                                                                        
The PacWest Team of the Week is Vanguard, after the Lions beat two teams that they were looking up at in the conference standings. The first-year PacWest member went the distance last Monday to win out over Fresno Pacific, winning a marathon battle 15-13 in the fifth. Adeline Galvanoni had 16 kills and hit .306 in the victory, and Payton Darm led the defense with eight block assists. In a 3-1 win over Westmont on Wednesday, Galvanoni put down another 16 kills, this time with a .424 attack percentage. Morgan Cole had 17 digs for the defense. The Lions, who had lost four of their last five matches prior to this pair of wins, improved to 4-6 in PacWest play and 7-7 overall. 

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Point Loma won its only match of the week, a 3-0 conquest of Biola to improve to 15-0 overall and 9-0 in PacWest play...Azusa Pacific's Sarah Wilson had a double-double with 15 kills and 17 digs in APU's three-set sweep of Fresno Pacific...Jessup and Dominican had a barn burner on Saturday, with the Warriors holding on for the 3-2 win. Jessup trailed 2-0 before a stirring comeback that saw three of the five sets go extra time in the 25-27, 26-28, 25-19, 25-17, 16-14 marathon. Rein Bocage had 36 digs for Dominican, the second highest total in the PacWest this year, and Kenzie Carpenter had 53 assists for the Penguins. Reagan Macha had a double-double with 22 kills and 15 digs. For Jessup, Madalyn Miller had 24 kills and Neena Dimas posted 28 digs...Speaking of defense, Menlo's Faith Oller had 45 total digs in eight sets for the Oaks, who split two matches last week...More Chaminade numbers: Anna Stucchi had 20 kills and hit .529 against Hawaii Hilo. She had three solo blocks in that match and seven for the week. Nanna Inoue had 36 digs in nine sets for the Silverswords...Hawai`i Hilo topped Hawai`i Pacific twice last week, once on Monday in Hilo and again on Sunday in Honolulu. Their win against the Sharks at home was their eighth straight victory...In addition to Kayden Croy's numbers in Concordia's 3-1 win over Menlo, Kawehi Chang had 52 assists and 10 digs, and Jaydn Orava had six aces...Westmont outlasted Fresno Pacific in five, 25-27, 31-29, 25-21, 18-25, 15-13. Makayla Smith had 19 kills to lead FPU and Sara Krueger had 16 putaways and a .387 attack percentage to pace the Warriors..Keely Grant had 10 total blocks as Menlo clipped Academy of Art, 3-1.

THIS WEEK IN THE PACWEST: Some big matches are on the docket this week as Point Loma, Concordia and Vanguard head to Hawai`i. Concordia takes on Hilo on Thursday and Chaminade on Saturday, while Vanguard has the Silverswords on Friday and Hawaii Pacific on Saturday. Unbeaten Point Loma takes on the Sharks on Thursday before heading to Hilo for a Saturday match-up. Unfortunely, because of the unbalanced schedule, the Silverswords and Sea Lions will not square off on this trip. To see the complete schedule, click here.