October 3, 2007
Contact: Evangel University Athletics 865-2815, Ext. 7282
The Evangel volleyball team (15-8, 2-2) will travel to Avila University (11-11, 1-3) in Kansas City, Mo., for a Heart of America Athletic Conference match on Wednesday, Oct. 3. The varsity match will begin at 7 p.m. and will be preceded by the junior varsity match at 5:30.
The Lady Crusaders will then take a one-day rest before traveling to St. Charles, Mo., to play in the Lindenwood University Invitational on Oct. 5-6. On Friday, Oct. 5 EU will face Missouri Baptist at 1 p.m. and Huston-Tillotson at 5. On Saturday, Oct. 6, the EU women will meet the University of Illinois at Springfield at 11:30 a.m. and then play McKendree at 3:30 p.m.
Senior Kristina Mooney has won the Heart of America Athletic Conference libero of the week award for her play last week. Mooney, a 5-foot-8 product of Rogersville, Mo., played in 20 games during Evangel’s 2-3 week and averaged 5.9 digs. She made just six errors in 156 passes for a .962 percentage and had just three miscues in 66 serves for a .955 service percentage.
The Evangel women began their week (Sept. 23-29) with a 3-0 loss at home to Heart of America Athletic Conference opponent Benedictine. The game scores were 25-30, 14-30 and 29-31. Jessica Smythe and Julie O’Dell-Griffith led EU in the loss with seven kills and four blocks each. Kristina Mooney totaled 17 digs and Angela Rosolino had 14.
EU’s volleyball team then traveled to Oklahoma to participate in the Southern Nazarene/Oklahoma City Triangular on Sept. 28-29. The Lady Crusaders split their games in the tournament and the two losses came in a pair of closely-fought, five-game matches.
On Friday, Sept. 28, EU lost in five games to Southwestern Assemblies of God (32-34, 25-30, 30-16, 30-21, 13-15) at Southern Nazarene in Bethany. On the same day, EU defeated the host, Southern Nazarene, in four games (30-17, 30-23, 27-30, 30-21). The next day, Sept. 29, the Lady Crusaders traveled to Oklahoma City University and lost to the host in five games (26-30, 20-30, 30-22, 30-27, 17-19). Evangel then wrapped up its Oklahoma trip with a three-game victory against Tabor, tallying duplicate 30-24 scores in each game.
O’Dell-Griffith led Evangel in the four matches with 70 kills and a 37.1 kill percentage. She was also credited with a team-high 25 blocks. Rachel Rees led the servers with six aces. The EU defense averaged 22.6 digs per game. Mooney finished the four matches with 100 digs and Shannon Yates totaled 85.
Evangel leads the series with Avila, 22-16-1, and has won the last two matches. The Lady Crusaders are 5-9 against Missouri Baptist, 1-0 vs. Huston-Tillotson, 4-3 vs. Illinois at Springfield, and 5-7 vs. McKendree.
Kristina Mooney is challenging two records this season. The senior libero needs 103 digs to set a new career digs record at Evangel. The mark is currently held by Molly Hawkins-Illum (1996-99) with 1,765. Mooney has 1,663 digs. In addition, Mooney has 564 digs this season and needs just 32 more to break the record of 595 set by Lisa Wakley in 2001.
| Rank | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Lindenwood |
5-0 |
2 |
Baker |
5-1 |
3 |
Benedictine |
4-1 |
4 |
Graceland |
3-1 |
5 |
Central Methodist |
3-2 |
6 |
Evangel |
2-2 |
| William Jewell | 2-2 | |
| 8 | Avila | 1-3 |
9 |
MidAmerica Nazarene |
0-4 |
| Culver-Stockton | 0-4 | |
11 |
Missouri Valley |
0-5 |
Mary Penrod begins her 8th year as Evangel’s head volleyball coach in 2007. Her teams have won 20 or more matches the past four seasons. The 2006 Evangel team received votes for a spot on the NAIA national poll for the first time ever and the 2005 squad qualified for the program’s first visit to the NAIA Region V tournament. Penrod is currently 159-116 at Evangel.