November 2, 2007
Contact: Evangel University Athletics 865-2815, Ext. 7282
Lady Crusaders host Graceland University in a first round match of the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 3. The first game will begin at 2 p.m. in Ashcroft Center. Evangel is seeded No. 2 and Graceland is No. 7. The winner will play the winner of the William Jewell (No. 3)/Benedictine (No. 6) match at the site of the higher surviving team on Wednesday, Nov. 7.
Also on Nov. 3, No. 1 seed Lindenwood will host No. 8 Avila and No. 4 Baker will host No. 5 Central Methodist. The winners will advance to the Nov. 7 semifinal matches on higher surviving team’s court.
The championship game will be on Saturday, Nov. 10 - again at the higher seeded team. The Heart of America and American Midwest Conference tournament champions and tournament runners-up receive an automatic bid into the NAIA Region V Tournament on Nov. 13, 16 and 17 at Columbia (Mo.) College. In addition, four at-large teams that did not qualify through either tournament are selected from the final Region V ranking.
Savannah Rose, a 5-foot-9 junior outside hitter, broke her wrist during practice on Monday, Oct. 29, and had surgery on Tuesday, Oct. 30. Rose was dismissed from the hospital yesterday (Nov. 1). The Canyon, Texas, product was the Lady Crusaders’ second leading hitter. She was averaging 2.1 kills per game and had a 20.3 kill percentage. In addition, Rose had 36 blocks and six aces. She did not play versus College of the Ozarks and will miss the remainder of the season.
Twenty-Win Seasons
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 23-11.
Graceland leads the series with Evangel, 29-7, and won on the Lady Crusaders’ home floor in four games on Oct. 20 of this season. The game scores were 30-28, 23-30, 23-30, and 15-30.
Senior Kristina Mooney, a 2004 graduate of Logan-Rogersville High School, had 18 digs versus Missouri Baptist on Oct. 5 to break the season digs mark. She now has 788 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 1,887 digs.
Evangel lost its final regular season match to non-conference foe College of the Ozarks, 1-3, in Pt. Lookout, Mo. Julie O’Dell-Griffith led EU with 16 kills and Jessica Smythe added 10. At the net, O’Dell-Griffith also led EU with seven blocks. Shannon Yates was credited with 18 digs, Angelina Rosolino had 11 and Kristina Mooney tallied 10.
Skyler Warren had 15 successful serves out of 16 attempts at College of the Ozarks on Oct. 30, to set new season records for successful serves (739) and serve attempts (762). Warren broke the records set by Kristina Mooney in 2005 (730 good serves and 750 attempts).
Three Times a Winner.
Kristina Mooney won her third Heart of America Athletic Conference libero of the week award on Oct. 27 of this week. She averaged 6.3 digs in eight games last week (Oct. 22-28) and had a 93.1 passing percentage (54-58). Mooney served three aces with just one error in 38 servies for a 97.4 percentage.
Mooney also won the weekly conference libero award on Oct. 22 and Oct. 1.
Mary Penrod is in her eighth year as the EU head volleyball coach. She is currently 167-119 (.584) 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 112-66 (.629). 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.