The Western Christian Varsity Volleyball team defeated the Calvary Chapel Downey Grizzlies in 4 sets on Friday night but at the outset of the match it was clear the Lancers had their work cut out for them. After winning the first point of the match the Lady Lancers never led again in the first set, losing 21-25 on a Grizzly kill.
In the second set, the Lancers fell behind 0-2 but then won the next five points, bookended by kills by Junior Outside Hitter Taylor Perrini and Senior Opposite Hitter Chelsea Cramer. The Lancers worked their way to a 17-8 lead before eventually winning the set 25-19. After gaining an advantage at 2-1 in the third set, the Grizzlies, never led again although they kept it close until a 13-13 tie. After that, the Lancers pulled away to win the set 25-18 on a kill by Junior Opposite Hitter Alexa Cordero.
Calvary Downey maintained control of much of the fourth set, not allowing Western to take a lead. With Western trailing 15-20, and facing the possibility of having to play a 15 point tie breaker in front of a hostile crowd (well, the Downey folk were trying to keep up with Western cheer captain Jose Arguelles!), the Lancers stormed ahead to outscore the Grizzlies 10-2 and take the set 25-22 on a Chelsea Cramer kill. In fact, three of the final five points were won on attacks by Chelsea. Way to go Cramer!
| Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Final | |
| Western Christian | 21 | 25 | 25 | 25 | | 3 |
| Calvary Chapel Downey | 25 | 19 | 18 | 22 | | 1 |
The Lancers have posted a 5-2 record in non-league matches, winning the last 4 in a row, with one still to be played – against Webb on Friday, October 9. But, up next is their league opener against Pomona Catholic at Damien High School on Tuesday, October 6 at 6:00pm. We’ll discuss this match and preview the league season in about a week.
LADY LANCER PROFILE
Chelsea Cramer
Chelsea is a Senior at Western Christian and plays the positions of Setter, Right Side Hitter and Middle Blocker on the varsity volleyball squad. She has played volleyball at her schools for 6 years. She also plays softball at Western. Born in Redlands, CA, Chelsea attends church at Water of Life. Her parents, Barry and Jan Cramer are private fire investigators and, of course, Jan has educated many of us in the sport of volleyball by teaching us how to record statistics. After high school Chelsea plans to… play softball! Her favorite subject is history with her least favorite being math. When asked “What’s good about Western?” she replies, “How everyone is so close.” She would like us to know that her favorite color is PURPLE and that she is NOT addicted to Farmville! We’re glad your with us Chelsea! (but we think you are in denial about Farmville).
SCHEDULE / RESULTS
| Date | Day | Opponent | Site | Time | Results | Record |
| 8-Sep | Tuesday | Walnut | Walnut | 3:15pm | L, 0-3 | scrimmage |
| 10-Sep | Thursday | University Prep | cancelled | |||
| 12-Sep | Saturday | Pasadena Poly Tournament | ||||
| 15-Sep | Tuesday | Calvary Murrieta | Club West | 6:00pm | L, 1-3 | 0 - 1 |
| 17-Sep | Thursday | Bell-Jeff | Club West | 6:00om | W, 3-0 | 1 - 1 |
| 19-Sep | Saturday | Arcadia Tournament | ||||
| 19-Sep | Saturday | Arcadia | Arcadia | | L, 0-2 | 1 - 2 |
| 19-Sep | Saturday | Hemet | Arcadia | | W, 2-0 | 2 - 2 |
| 19-Sep | Saturday | South Pasadena | Arcadia | | W, 2-0 | 3 - 2 |
| 22-Sep | Tuesday | Acad for Aca Excel | Club West | | W, 3-0 | 4 - 2 |
| 25-Sep | Friday | Calvary Downey | Downey | 5:00pm | W, 3-1 | 5 - 2 |
| 6-Oct | Tuesday | Pomona Catholic | Damien | 6:00pm | | |
| 8-Oct | Thursday | Arrowhead Christian | Upland | 6:00pm | | |
| 9-Oct | Friday | Webb | Webb | 5:30pm | | |
| 13-Oct | Tuesday | Aquinas | Upland | 6:00pm | | |
| 15-Oct | Thursday | Loma Linda Academy | Loma Linda | 6:00pm | | |
| 20-Oct | Tuesday | Ontario Christian | Upland | 6:00pm | | |
| 22-Oct | Thursday | Pomona Catholic | Upland | 6:00pm | | |
| 27-Oct | Tuesday | Arrowhead Christian | Arrowhead | 6:00pm | | |
| 29-Oct | Thursday | Aquinas | Aquinas | 6:00pm | | |
| 3-Nov | Tuesday | Loma Linda Academy | Upland | 6:00pm | | |
| 5-Nov | Thursday | Ontario Christian | Ontario | 6:00pm | | |
USC VS. UCLA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 7:00PM
Since we don’t have any matches to talk about next week let’s get updated on college volleyball action and start getting ready for our upcoming trip to the Galen Center.
PAC-10 conference play opened this weekend matching USC and UCLA against highly the ranked Arizona schools. The Trojans and Bruins mirrored each others performances by losing their opening match on Friday night and coming back on Saturday to get a victory. USC lost to Arizona 3-1 on Friday night while defeating Arizona State 3-1 on Saturday night. The Bruins, meanwhile lost to ASU on Friday night 0-3 but defeated U of A on Saturday 3-1.
Here are the PAC-10 standings to date:
| PAC-10 WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL STANDINGS | ||||||
| | Conference | Overall | ||||
| Team | W | L | Pct | W | L | Pct |
| Washington | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 12 | 0 | 1.000 |
| California | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 8 | 3 | 0.727 |
| Arizona | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 12 | 1 | 0.923 |
| Washington State | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 12 | 1 | 0.923 |
| Oregon | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 11 | 1 | 0.917 |
| USC | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 12 | 2 | 0.857 |
| Arizona State | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 11 | 3 | 0.786 |
| UCLA | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 11 | 4 | 0.733 |
| Stanford | 0 | 1 | - | 8 | 4 | 0.667 |
| Oregon State | 0 | 2 | - | 9 | 5 | 0.643 |
Take note of the overall winning percentage of Pac-10 teams. Only one team has not won 2/3 of their matches and that team is only one win away from doing it. The PAC-10 has 7 teams ranked in the top 18.
| NCAA Women's Volleyball | |
| AVCA Coaches Poll | |
| 1 | Penn St. |
| 2 | Texas |
| 3 | Washington |
| 4 | Hawaii |
| 5 | Florida |
| 6 | Michigan |
| 7 | Oregon |
| 8 | Minnesota |
| 9 | California |
| 10 | Nebraska |
| 11 | Stanford |
| 12 | Illinois |
| 13 | USC |
| 14 | Iowa St. |
| 15 | Kentucky |
| 16 | UCLA |
| 17 | Florida St. |
| 18 | Arizona |
| 19 | Baylor |
| 20 | San Diego |
| 21 | St. Louis |
| 22 | Long Beach St. |
| 23 | Michigan St. |
| 24 | UC Irvine |
| 25 | Wichita St. |
Do we have any Hawaii fans here? J They’re not doing too bad either.
Photos by Alex Cordero.
David Doolittle reporting.
