October 29, 2007
Contact: Evangel University Athletics 865-2815, Ext. 7282
The Lady Crusaders will travel to Pt. Lookout to face College of the Ozarks on Tuesday, Oct. 30. The first game will begin at 7 p.m. in Keeter Gymnasium. The match is the final regular season match of the year for Evangel.
The Lady Crusaders then play in the conference tournament on Saturday, Nov. 3. If the EU ladies finish in the top four on the final standings list, they will host a first round (quarterfinal) match on Nov. 3. If they drop below No. 4 and stay above No. 9 (top eight advance), the EU women will be on the road that night.
The Lady Crusaders’ win over Missouri Valley on Oct. 9 was the 20th victory of the 2007 season. The 20-win season is head coach Mary Penrod’s fifth in a row and the Evangel volleyball program’s 11th overall. EU is currently 23-10.
College of the Ozarks leads the series 51-25-1, however, Evangel won this season’s first match 3-0 in Springfield (30-26, 30-24, 30-28) on Aug. 28.
Senior Kristina Mooney had 18 digs versus Missouri Baptist on Oct. 5 to break the season digs mark. She now has 778 digs. The previous mark was 595 by Lisa Wakley in 2001.
Mooney is also the owner of the career digs record at Evangel. She broke the previous mark during the final match of the Lindenwood Invitational on Oct. 6 vs. McKendree. Mooney tallied 30 digs in the five-game match against McKendree to move past Molly Hawkins-Illum, who had 1,765 digs (1996-99). Currently, Mooney has 1,877 digs.
The Lady Crusaders’ most recent match resulted in a Heart of America Athletic Conference victory at home versus MidAmerica Nazarene. Evangel won in four games, 27-30, 30-22, 30-22, 30-21.
Julie O’Dell-Griffith led the Evangel offense with 24 kills and added eight blocks on defense. Lacey Gaines tallied 11 kills and had two blocks. Jennifer Brocker contributed four blocks and Jessica Smythe had three stops at the net. Kristina Mooney and Savannah Rose each served two aces. Mooney led EU’s defense with 27 digs and Shannon Yates had 20. Sklyer Warren (26 assists) and Rachel Rees (20) led the team in EU’s two-setter offense.
Evangel is 23-10 overall 7-3 versus Heart of America Athletic Conference opponents. The Lady Crusaders are 3-2 at home, 6-4 on the road, and 13-4 on a neutral court. Evangel has won seven of its last eight matches (five straight wins, then loss to Graceland, then win at Baker and a home vs. MidAmerica Nazarene.
College of the Ozarks is 25-8 and the Lady Bobcats have now won eight matches in a row.
Skyler Warren needs seven successful serves to break the season record of 730 by teammate Kristina Mooney in 2005. Warren has 724. In addition, Warren needs five serve attempts to break Mooney’s 2005 school record of 750. Warren has served 746 times this season.
Julie O’Dell-Griffith is the 18th Lady Crusader to record at least 2,000 attack attempts in a career. She now has 2,120. Griffith is also positioned to tally 1,000 kills in her career. She currently has 902 and needs 98 to become the seventh EU player to reach the career 1000-kills plateau.
Skyler Warren has attempted 7,174 sets to rank No. 4 in the career record book. She is one of only five EU volleyball players to set over 7,000 balls and one of only four EU players to total more than 2,000 assists. She has 2,147 assists to rank No. 3.
Shannon Yates upped her career digs total to over 1,500 against Graceland on Oct. 20. She now has 1,534 digs and ranks No. 4. Only four players have achieved 1,500 digs or more in a career. Yates also has 1,994 successful serves to rank No. 4. She needs six more to become just the fourth EU player ever to achieve 2,000 successful serves in a season.
Kristina Mooney continues to build on her career digs and season school digs records. She now has 1,877 career digs and 778 digs this season. Mooney also ranks No. 2 in both successful career serves (2,348) and career serve attempts (2,409).
Skyler Warren is the third Lady Crusader ever to successfully serve more than 2,000 times. She has 2,062 successful serves. Stacy Maruszak-Capel holds the record with 2,733 (2001-04) and teammate Kristina Mooney is No. 2 with 2,348.
Julie O’Dell-Griffith is the fourth EU player ever to achieve 500 kills in a season. She currently has 530 and ranks No. 4.
Kristina Mooney (778) and Shannon Yates (636) hold the Nos. 1 and 2 season digs spots and are the only two Lady Crusaders ever to go over the 600-digs mark in a season. Lisa Wakley (2001) is the previous record holder with 595 digs.
| Rank | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Lindenwood |
9-0 |
2 |
Baker |
6-3 |
|
Benedictine |
6-3 |
|
Evangel |
6-3 |
| 5 | William Jewell | 5-3 |
| 6 | Central Methodist | 5-4 |
| Graceland | 5-4 | |
| 8 | Avila | 4-5 |
9 |
MidAmerica Nazarene |
1-6 |
| 10 | Culver-Stockton | 0-7 |
|
Missouri Valley |
0-9 |
Mary Penrod is in her eighth year as the EU head volleyball coach. She is currently 167-118 (.586) and her last five squads, including this season’s team, have won 20 or more matches. The Lady Crusaders’ record over the last five seasons is 112-65 (.633). The 2006 Evangel squad 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 under Penrod.