YVCC brings No. 1 ranking back home
By ROGER UNDERWOOD
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Opinions vary on the value of being ranked in polls, from the belief that a lofty position heightens collective confidence to the conviction that such status makes the affected team a target and, thus, is a detriment. Yakima Valley coach Cody Butler's view, meanwhile, lies somewhere between.

"With winning the league last year, we were already a target," he said, "so I sort of take the position that this is recognition for our girls' work ethic."

And this much is clear about the Yaks, who were ranked No. 1 in the season's first NWAACC coaches poll: They earned it.

En route to a 16-1 season record and 2-0 Eastern Region mark, YVCC has beaten four other members of the top eight once, and owns a pair of victories over two more.

No. 2 Bellevue's lone loss came to the Yaks while No. 3 Lane, the defending NWAACC champion, has also been beaten by Yakima Valley. No. 4 Columbia Basin and No. 8 Spokane have each lost twice to YVCC.

Walla Walla, which received votes, is due in Sherar Gym for Yakima Valley's league home-openers tonight — women tipping off at 6 o'clock with the men to follow at 8.

Central Washington's men, meanwhile, are set for their home opener 13 games into their season. Having split their GNAC openers in Alaska last week, the Wildcats (6-7 overall) will host Saint Martin's on Thursday night and Western Oregon on Saturday night.

The CWU women (9-3), who had a nine-game winning streak snapped while dropping conference openers last week at Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin's, will visit Western Oregon on Thursday night before stepping out of GNAC play for a Saturday night home game with Walla Walla College.

"We feel like we've established ourselves as one of the better programs in the NWAACC," said Butler, who has guided the Yaks to the NWAACC tournament semifinals in each of the last two seasons. "So we take it as positive recognition for the girls and their work ethic.

"This is not the most talented team. But they work extremely hard. And the key ingredient to having a championship team is to keep improving daily."

The No. ranking is the first of Butler's four-season tenure.

If the Yaks have become something of a bull's eye, they will at least have some added incentive against Walla Walla.

In last year's NWAACC semifinal against the Warriors, a team Yakima Valley had beaten twice previously, Butler's squad fell victim to an early 29-0 run and went on to a 73-52 defeat.

The motivation for coach Ray Funk's YVCC men is clear, given their 0-2 start in regional play last week. After being torched at Big Bend 114-92 in their opener, the Yaks fell 80-79 at Spokane.

Central Washington's men, the preseason pick to win the GNAC title, stumbled to a 20-point loss at Alaska Anchorage after a conference-opening win at Alaska Fairbanks.

The good news for the Wildcats is that five of the other nine GNAC teams, including Western Washington and Seattle Pacific, also started 1-1.

CWU's women, meanwhile, hope to hit the conference win column at Western Oregon (0-2, 1-12). After a 9-1 preseason, the Wildcats lost their GNAC openers to teams with a combined record of 10-12.