Nov. 19, 2014 (Report #11)
Contact: Bob Guptill ([email protected])
503-305-8756 / www.gnacsports.com
Northwest Nazarene Leads Four GNAC Teams into NCAA Tournament
Second-seed Alaska Anchorage will play seventh-seed Sonoma
State at 2:30. The GNAC Seawolves were the seventh-seed in
2013 and the CCAA Seawolves were the No. 4 seed.
GNAC STANDINGS (End-of-Regular Season)
Northwest Nazarene
Alaska Anchorage
Western Washington
Central Washington
Simon Fraser
MSU Billings
Seattle Pacific
Alaska
Western Oregon
Saint Martin’s
Conf.
W
L
17
1
15
3
14
4
12
6
11
7
8 10
6 12
3 15
3 15
1 17
All
W
24
21
21
19
17
13
11
3
5
4
L
2
5
6
7
9
14
13
23
21
26
H
9-0
10-3
9-1
11-2
10-3
8-6
6-7
2-11
2-7
1-11
A
9-2
9-1
6-4
4-4
5-5
4-6
4-6
1-10
3-8
1-10
N
6-0
2-1
6-1
2-1
2-1
1-2
2-1
0-2
0-6
2-5
NCAA Regional Schedule
Thursday
#6 Cal State San Bernardino vs. #3 Western Washington, noon
#7 Sonoma State vs. #2 Alaska Anchorage, 2:30 p.m.
#5 BYU-Hawaii vs. #4 Central Washington, 5 p.m.
#8 Dixie State vs. #1 Northwest Nazarene, 7 p.m.
Friday
Semifinals at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Championship match at 7 p.m.
PORTLAND, Ore. - For the first time in 14 years, the NCAA West
Regional is being hosted by a GNAC team.
Northwest Nazarene will host the tournament beginning with four
first-round matches Thursday at the Johnson Sports Center in
Nampa. Each match will feature a GNAC team as the top seed.
Except for the site (the tournament has been held in southern
California in 12 of the last 13 years) and the participation of the
No. 1 seeded Crusaders not much else has changed from last year.
The 5 p.m. match will feature fourth-seed Central Washington
against fifth-seed BYU-Hawaii. The Wildcats were the eighth seed
in 2013 and the Seasiders were No. 2.
Completing the opening day is top-seed Northwest Nazarene
against No. 8 Dixie State at 7:30. The Red Storm came is as the
No. 6 seed last year.
Following is the complete tournament schedule. Saturday night’s
winner in the single-elimination tournament will travel to
Louisville, Kent., in December to compete in the NCAA Elite Eight.
NCAA West Regional (Nov. 20-22 at Nampa): Thursday - #3
Western Washington (21-6) vs. #3 Cal State San Bernardino (21-6),
noon; #2 Alaska Anchorage (21-5) vs. #7 Sonoma State (20-6),
2:30 p.m.; #5 BYU – Hawaii (21-5) vs. #4 Central Washington (197), 5 p.m.; #1 Northwest Nazarene (24-2) vs. #8 Dixie State (20-8),
7:03 p.m. Friday – Semifinals at 5 and 7:30. Saturday –
Championship match at 7 p.m.
BYU-Hawaii Lone Past National Champion in Regional Field
BYU-Hawaii is the lone team in the tournament that has won the
regional and gone on to win a national title. The Seasiders won
crowns in 1999 and 2002.
Western Washington claimed the GNAC’s lone regional title
defeating Cal State San Bernardino 3-0 in 2007. They went on to
reach the national title match losing to Concordia – St. Paul 3-1,
the first of a current string of seven national titles for the
Minnesota school.
CSU San Bernardino has made the most tournament appearances
posting a 38-14 record in its previous 14 tournaments (including
the Elite 8).
Seven of the qualifiers from a year ago are back. NNU is the lone
non-repeater. The team not returning from a year ago? UC San
Diego.
BYU-Hawaii has a 21-8 record in 11 tournaments.
Washington is 8-8 in eight tournaments.
The seeds, however, are drastically different. In 2013, Cal State
San Bernardino was the top seed; they’re sixth this year replaced
by NNU. They’ll open the tournament against No. 3 seed Western
Washington at noon. The Vikings were the fifth seed 12 months
ago.
Sonoma State has a 3-7 record in seven tournaments. Central
Washington is 1-5 in five tournaments. Alaska Anchorage is 1-6 in
six appearances. Dixie State (2013) and Northwest Nazarene
(2007) both lost their only match in their only previous
tournament.
Western