CWU alum re-elected county commissioner
See Page 4
Archie the dog celebrates his birthday
Did ‘Wicked’ defy gravity?
See Pages 8 & 9
See Page 12
Vol. 129 NO. 9
OPINION SECTION
December 05, 2024
By the students, for the students
VOLLEYBALL WINS FIRST GNAC CHAMPIONSHIP SINCE 2005 GNAC Championship team picture. (Photo Courtesy of Nathan Herde) Jackson Roberts & Maggie McBroom Sports Editor, Staff Reporter
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or the first time in 19 years the Wildcats volleyball team ended their regular season play as Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) champions. They were dominant all season with a conference record of 16-2 and sweeping 11 matchups 3-0. This will carry them into the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament which makes 12 straight NCAA playoff appearances for the highly touted head coach, Mario Andaya. Andaya began his coaching career at Central in 1996 and has accumulated over 450 coaching victories following his 29th season. With the last championship coming in 2005 it has been a long time coming for the seasoned head coach. “We’ve talked about how hard it is to win a GNAC title, it’s spread out through a lot of different teams, and back then I had hair,” Coach Andaya said. Fifth year libero, Hannah Stires, along with many other players on the team have been working towards this goal for years now and talked about what it took for them to finally hoist the GNAC trophy. “I think we put a really big emphasis this year, more than past years, on being there for each other,” Stires said. “I feel like this year is probably the most selfless team I’ve ever been a part of. I think this year, this was probably the most tight knit team that we’ve had so far.” Part of the success gone into this
season is the depth the team has, and it is showcased as five players were named to GNAC All-Conference teams. First team included Stires, fifth year middle blocker, Emma Daoud-Hebert, and fifth year outside hitter, Marianna Payne. Senior middle blocker, Morgan Halady, and sophomore outside hitter, Ellie Marble, both were named as honorable mentions for GNAC All-Conference. Daoud-Hebert had an incredible season, having been named first team all conference for the third season in a row. Doaud-Hebert’s hitting percentage of .446 is the second highest in the NCAA DII. She has two GNAC player of the week awards on the season, one of which was earned after averaging a staggering .621 kill percentage for the week. Payne earned all league first team honors after a breakout season. Payne set a new personal record of 292 kills this season, an average of 3.28 kills per set. On Oct. 10, Payne put up 14 kills against Alaska Fairbanks, followed by a 20 kill game against Alaska Anchorage just two days later. These two standout performances earned her GNAC offensive player of the week. The hardware does not stop at the GNAC trophy and All-Conference teams as Stires was awarded GNAC Defensive Player of the Year and Coach Andaya was recognized as GNAC Coach of the Year.
Payne and Coach Andaya hugging. (Photo Courtesy of Nevaeh Capetillo)
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