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JWU Men’s VB Winning Streak Stopped at 10 Matches March 2, 2008 This past week, the #7 ranked Johnson & Wales’ Men’s Volleyball Team extended their winning streak to 10 matches (9 against varsity opponents and 1 exhibition against Colorado University) with two wins at Graceland University before the streak was stopped by two losses against the #1 ranked NAIA team in the country, Park University. The 10 match winning streak spanned 34 days and started back on January 26th with a 3-0 win over #5 ranked Cardinal Stritch University. In the 10 matches that they won, JWU won 30 games while only dropping 3. This past week’s stretch of four conference matches began at Graceland University in Lamoni, IA on February 26th. While the teams split the first two games, JWU gained control as the match progressed en route to a 3-1 (30-24, 31-33, 30-25, 30-23) victory. The Wildcats were led offensively by junior outside hitter Curtis Oliver (Santa Barbara, CA) who recorded 20 kills while hitting .405. Oliver was also strong defensively with 6 blocks and 8 digs. Other strong defensive performances were turned in by senior middle blocker Ty Schraufnagel (Parker, CO) who blocked 5 balls, and by juniors Hapaki Kaululaau (Laie, HI) and Brad Larsen (Costa Mesa, CA) who collected 20 digs and 11 digs respectively. Johnson & Wales led the rematch with Graceland on February 27th from start to finish as they recorded a 3-0 (30-25, 30-25, 30-25) victory. Junior outside hitter Eric Kiel (Long Beach, CA) led the offensive charge by putting away 10 kills on 16 errorless swings to record a .625 hitting percentage. Junior middle blocker Ben Davies (Worcester, MA) recorded a team leading 3 aces to go along with a team leading 4 blocks. The Wildcats were again led defensively by Larsen and Kaululaau, who this time dug 13 and 11 balls respectively. After a day off, JWU headed to Kansas City for two matches against the #1 ranked team in the NAIA, Park University. Over the past two seasons, Park has only dropped 3 matches to NAIA teams, with 1 of those losses coming at the hands of Johnson & Wales last year, and the other two coming at the hands of 5-time reigning national champion California Baptist University. There would be no upset this time against Park, as the #1 ranked team backed up their ranking with two convincing wins. In the first match on February 29th, the teams traded blows for much of game 1, but Park’s Ryan Stafford’s 18 kills and .680 hitting percentage proved too much for the Wildcats, as JWU fell 0-3 (22-30, 20-30, 24-30). Johnson & Wales was led by Kiel’s 9 kills, and by three different players who each recorded 3 blocks in Davies, Oliver, and senior setter Cody Dunston (Aurora, CO). In the weekend finale on March 1st, JWU would again compete well in game 1, before struggling down the stretch in a 0-3 (25-30, 18-30, 20-30) loss. Offensively, the Wildcats were led by Kiel’s 7 kills and .429 hitting percentage and defensively Kaululaau and Cody Dunston led the way with 12 digs and 9 digs respectively. Johnson & Wales will look to get back to their winning ways this week with a pair of matches against Boise State University. The two teams will face off on March 6th at 7pm at the Wildcat Center and then again on March 8th at 7pm at the Colorado Convention Center as a featured match during the Colorado Crossroads Tournament. February 15, 2008 Johnson & Wales Men's Volleyball Continues Winning Ways Johnson & Wales University Men’s Volleyball continued their winning ways Friday night in an exhibition match against the University of Colorado at the Wildcat Center in Denver, CO. The Wildcats were dominant throughout as they posted a 3-0 (30-22, 30-22, 30-25) win in a match in which all 14 JWU players that were suited up logged playing time. Several Wildcats hit efficiently throughout the match en route to a .404 team hitting percentage. Offensive leaders on the night were junior Eric Kiel who put away 11 kills while hitting .364, as well as seniors Ty Schraufnagel and Nathan LaHanes who each posted 8 kills, hitting .583 and .545 respectively. Junior Brad Larsen put on a stellar defensive performance recording a season-high 17 digs. After some time off for 2nd Trimester Finals, Johnson & Wales (ranked 7th in the NAIA) heads to Lamoni, IA and Kansas City, MO over spring break for matches against Graceland University on 2-26 and 2-27 and against #2 ranked Park University on 2-29 and 3-1. February 12, 2008 Cody Dunston and Hapaki Kaululaau Honored After a successful 4-0 road trip to the Boston area this past weekend, Johnson & Wales’ players received two out of the three national player of the week awards. While JWU players have received conference player of the week awards in the past, this marks the first time that any Wildcat has received a national player of the week award. After putting forth a very well rounded effort through all four matches, senior setter Cody Dunston (Aurora, CO) was named the NAIA national player of the week. On the weekend, Dunston recorded 2.36 kills per game while hitting .419 and blocking .93 balls per game. His 7.21 assists per game and 2.79 digs per game led all Wildcats’ players this past weekend. For his passing and defensive efforts this past weekend, junior libero Hapaki Kaululaau (Laie, HI) was named the NAIA national libero of the week. On the weekend, Kaululaau led the Wildcats with a stellar 2.8 passer rating and a .976 passing efficiency. He also was second on the team with 2.71 digs per game. The road trip to the New England area started off on Friday night, February 8th at Lasell College. Johnson & Wales controlled the net all night recording 10 team blocks, as all 13 players logged playing time en route to a 3-0 (30-22, 30-27, 30-18) victory. JWU was led offensively by junior middle blocker Ben Davies’ (Worcester, MA) 7 kills on 8 swings with no errors. Davies also carried the blocking load by collecting a team high 7 blocks. Cody Dunston led the team defensively with 10 digs. On Saturday, the venue shifted to Endicott College where the Wildcats faced a double header against the Johnson & Wales’ Providence, RI campus and Endicott College. Johnson & Wales-Denver opened the double header against Johnson & Wales-Providence in the first ever meeting between the two campuses. JWU-Denver recorded their most lopsided victory of the year as they won 3-0 (30-17, 30-21, 30-20) extending their win streak to 5 matches and their consecutive games won streak to 15. JWU-Denver had a balanced offensive attack with 6 different players hitting .300 or better. Junior outside hitter Curtis Oliver (Santa Barbara, CA) led the way with 11 kills, while Cody Dunston and junior outside hitter Eric Kiel (Long Beach, CA) each contributed 7 kills. Junior libero Brad Larsen (Costa Mesa, CA) led the way defensively with 10 digs. In the second match of the double header, Johnson & Wales faced Endicott College. While their consecutive games won streak was stopped at 16, the Wildcats were still victorious 3-2 (30-22, 27-30, 30-24, 28-30, 15-11). As a team, JWU hit for a stellar .342 hitting percentage. They were led by Oliver’s 28 kills (a season high for the team) and .370 hitting percentage, and also by Kiel’s 16 kills, Cody Dunston’s 13 kills and senior middle blocker Ty Schraufnagel’s (Parker, CO) 10 kills. Dunston also had 30 assists and 14 digs to complete a triple-double. In the trip finale on Sunday, Johnson & Wales traveled to Newbury College. In their most well played match of the trip, Johnson & Wales came away with the 3-0 (30-28, 30-22, 30-25) win to extend their winning streak to 7 matches. The Wildcats came up big at the net with 12.5 blocks and defensively with 51 digs. Offensively, Eric Kiel led the way with 16 kills while hitting .444, while Cody Dunston put away 10 balls and hit .563. Ty Schraufnagel led the blocking charge with 7 blocks and Hapaki Kaululaau capped off his award winning weekend with a team high 13 digs. Next up for the Wildcats is a home match against Colorado University on Friday, February 15th at 7pm at the Wildcat Center. January 28, 2008 Johnson and Wales Men’s Volleyball Climbs the National Rankings The Johnson and Wales University-Denver Men’s Volleyball Team was the 9th ranked NAIA team in the country according to the pre-season rankings. After four tough matches at this past weekend’s tournament at Lindenwood University in St. Louis, JWU managed to climb two spots to #7 in the most recent rankings released earlier today. The Wildcats drew a tough schedule at the Lindenwood Tournament as they faced the #4, 5, 6, and 7 ranked NAIA teams in the country over the span of the two day tournament. They opened Friday afternoon January 25th against then ranked #7 Hope International University (now #6). Showing rust and opening match jitters, JWU was unable to contain 6’10” Opposite Alexandre Figueriedo and 6’6” Middle Blocker Rich Camerlengo as they lost 3-1 (30-24, 30-21, 27-30, 30-24) to start off their season. Among the few bright spots for the Wildcats were Senior Cody Dunston’s triple double as he recorded a team leading 12 kills while hitting .364, 22 assists, and 12 digs. Other key contributions were made by junior Curtis Oliver who put away 11 kills and came up with 9 digs, and junior Hapaki Kaululaau who recorded 11 digs. Johnson and Wales’ second opponent on Friday night was #4 ranked Missouri Baptist and their 6’10” Opposite Matt Mahoney. While the Wildcats played better volleyball in this match, they still came up short, this time 3-0 (32-30, 30-25, 30-25). In this match JWU was led by Senior Middle Blocker Ty Schraufnagel (named to the all-tournament team) who put away 11 balls while hitting .409. Curtis Oliver put together another solid match with 12 kills, 2 aces, and 6 digs. The schedule didn’t get much easier for the Wildcats on Saturday as they faced off against then 6th ranked St. Ambrose University (now #5) in the first match of the morning. Playing against the only team of the weekend that didn’t put JWU at a height disadvantage, the Wildcats recorded 12.5 blocks as a team, but made too many errors down the stretch and fell 3-1 (25-30, 30-22, 30-23, 30-24). Johnson and Wales was led by Junior Eric Kiel’s 15 kills and .303 hitting percentage and a pair of double doubles from Seniors Cody Dunston (27 assists and 10 digs) and Chance Dunston (16 assists and 13 digs). In their tournament finale, Johnson and Wales came up against then 5th ranked Cardinal Stritch University (now 8th). Finally the Wildcats were able to put together a complete match, and they were firing on all cylinders, as they won convincingly, 3-0 (30-27, 30-19, 30-25). Getting strong contributions from 11 different players in the match, JWU was led offensively by Ty Schraufnagel’s 12 kills and .800 hitting percentage as well as by Curtis Oliver’s 13 kills. Cody Dunston put together another well rounded performance with 26 assists and 11 digs. Based on their strong showing against Cardinal Stritch and the caliber of the opponents in their losses, Johnson and Wales made the biggest climb in this week’s poll as they moved from 9th to 7th in the country. Next up for the Wildcats are two home matches against #10 ranked Missouri Valley College on February 1st at 7pm and on February 2nd at 2pm.
JWU-Providence def. (11-8) JWU-Denver (1-11) 3-0 (30-24, 30-20,
30-24) Saturday, September 29 JWU-Denver (2-12) def. Framingham State (11-8) 3-1 (9-30, 30-24,
30-27, 30-19) Tournament Standings All Tournament Team The team will play games in Mexico City against Mexican University
teams, American University teams currently in Mexico, and against
two Mexican sport clubs. One of the universities the team will compete
against in the National Autonomous University of Mexico, which has
almost 300,000 students and is one of the largest universities in
the world. The squad will also compete against the highly-regarded
Puma club team. Information about AIA and the Bleem’s competition can be
found on the teams website at www.aia.com/basketball. Ashely Scott (Las Vegas, NV) – 5’9”, Forward Tyshel McPherson (Denver, CO) – 5’9”, Forward Head coach Cliff Durant is in his first year at the helm of the women’s basketball program. His networking and recruiting abilities are expected to help turn the program around quickly. “We are really excited about our 2007 class” says Durant. “They have a great deal of talent and experience, both of which should help affect our program right away.” For more information about the team or recruits please contact
Cliff Durant at
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