WAC ACTION HEATS UP The WAC enters its sixth week of conference play. Last week, Nevada and Hawai`i in the West and Tulsa and Rice in the East had solid weeks. Rice takes control in the East with SMU following. Hawai`i retains the top spot in the Western Division with wins against division foes San Jose State and Fresno State.
This week divisional foes will once again meet when Hawai`i takes on Nevada, the second place team in the Western Division on Sat., Oct. 27. The Wolf Pack broke a two-match losing streak last week with wins against Fresno State and Boise State to give them a 7-2 league record. In other key matchups, San Jose State and Fresno State battle in Fresno on Sat.
In the Eastern Division, two teams on two-match winning streaks will lock horns in Houston when Rice and Tulsa meet. Second place SMU will take on Tulsa on Wednesday, Oct. 24 and face UTEP on Fri., Oct. 26.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK Hawaiis Kim Willoughby has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the second-straight week.
She is the only player this season to earn the honor three times. The sophomore is the sixth player to earn Player of the Week honors at least three times in one season. Last season, San Jose States Joslynn Gallop earned the honor four times, including back to back.
Willoughby, a 6-0 left side hitter from Napoleonville, La. (Assumption HS), led Hawaii to two WAC victories over San Jose State and Fresno State as well as a non-conference win over San Diego State. Willoughby and the Rainbow Wahine have now won 12-straight and currently hold the top spot in the Western Division.
Against San Jose State, she set a new WAC record with 43 kills in a five-game match. She added 25 digs against San Diego State and 16 against Fresno State. She scored all five points that gave UH the 15-13 fifth game win, as the Wahine were down 12-10. Willoughby ended the week with 99 kills and 49 digs.
She leads the nation in kills with 6.91 kills per game. Hawaii is also currently on a 46 match WAC regular season winning streak that dates back to 1998.
Other nominees included: Shauna McQuaid, Fresno State; Brianna Sibley, Louisiana Tech; Michelle More, Nevada; Rebecca Pazo, Rice and Liz Hudson, San Jose State.
OTHERS NOMINATED Other nominees include: Fresno State's Shauna McQuaid who had 26 kills despite the Bulldogs two losses. Against Nevada, she had a team-high 16 kills and a match-high six blocks. Against No. 12 Hawai`i, McQuaid had a team high 10 kills and a match-high 12 digs for her third double-double of the season. The senior extended her streak to 14-straight matches with 10 or more kills, including four 20-kill matches. Louisiana Tech's Brianna Sibley posted two double figure kill matches in losses to SMU and Tulsa. The junior outside hitter had 22 kills and 14 digs on the week. Nevada's Michelle More had a solid win leading the Wolf Pack to wins over Fresno State and Boise State. More, a junior middle blocker, had 29 kills and seven digs on the week. She also ended the week with nine total blocks. More led the Wolf Pack to two home wins and improved Nevada's home winning streak to nine. She averaged 4.14 kills per game and had an attack percentage of .436 in the two matches. Rice's Rebeca Pazo led all Owl hitters at SMU with 19 kills and 28 digs in wins over SMU on the road and UTEP at home. Pazo averaged 4.14 kpg and 4.0 dpg. Her 18 digs against SMU were two shy of her career high. Recorded her seventh and eighth double-double of the season. San Jose State's Liz Hudson had 29 kills as the Spartans defeated California and fell to Hawai`i in a five-game battle. The sophomore led the team in kills against California with 18, while hitting .395.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION Kim Willoughby, an outside hitter for 11th-ranked Hawaii, has been chosen the AVCA/Sports Imports Division I National Player of the Week for the second time this year (also Sept. 24). Willoughby averaged 8.25 kills, 4.08 digs and 0.33 blocks while hitting a .451 percentage on 173 attacks as Hawaii went undefeated. Willoughby produced a Western Athletic Conference record 43 kills in a 3-2 win over San Jose State, to go with 16 digs and a .386 attack percentage. Willoughby tallied 24 kills and a .550 attack percentage in a three-game win over Fresno State. Its the WACs second award since Nov. 15, 1999 when San Jose States Joslynn Gallop was honored.
HAWAI`I DEFEATS SPARTANS IN A THRILLER The No. 12 Wahine volleyball team (14-4, 6-0) won a thriller at San Jose State (16-4, 6-2) 30-19, 26-30, 30-20, 27-30 and 15-1.
Sophomore Kim Willoughby set a WAC record with 43 kills 16 digs while hitting .386 The record was held by Tulsas Kristien Van Lierop last season.
Maja Gustin came in and added a solid match with 22 kills and nine digs while Nohea Tano had her first career double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs. Also adding double-digit dig nights were Lauren Duggins (17), Hedder Ilustre (12) and Margaret Vakasausau (10), who also had 73 kills.
UH jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the deciding fifth game but allowed San Jose State to come back and cut the lead to 6-5. The teams then traded points before the Spartans went on a 4-0 run to take a 10-8 lead. San Jose State kept their lead at 12-10 before Willoughby took over with four straight kills and the match winning block in the 5-1 Wahine run to win the game 15-13.
Nevada Defeats Fresno State in Four-Nevada defeated Fresno State University, 3-0. Less than a week ago FSU snapped the Packs nine-match win streak 3-1 in Fresno, Calif.
With the win Nevada improved to a perfect 8-0 at home.Three Pack players finished with double figures in kills led by Michelle Mores match high 19. More also led the team with five blocks, two solo and three assisted. Kellie LaBossiere and Shannon Stemler had 14 and 12 kills respectively. LaBossiere had 15 digs to go along with her 14 kills giving her a double-double on the night. Suzanne Stonebarger tied for team high honors with 15 digs. Setter, Jill Couwenhoven had match high 51 assists.
FSU put five players in double figures in kills led by senior, Shauna McQuaids 16, nine less the her 25 kills in the first meeting. McQuaid, the WACs leading blocker finished the match with six, two solo and four assisted. Kristen
Fenton (12), Christy Burnett( 11), Java Johnson (10), and Kara Verwey (10) also posted double figures in kills. Burnett and Fenton each had 21 and 16 digs respectively as they both finished with a double-double.
WAC TOURNAMENT CREDENTIAL DEADLINE Request forms for credentials to the 2001 WAC Volleyball Tournament in San Jose are now available through the league office. Media requesting hotel rooms must have their credential forms in by Friday, Oct. 26. If no room is requested, the deadline is Wednesday, Nov. 7. The Volleyball Tournament is slated for Nov. 15-18 at the Event Center.
VOLLEYBALL FORMAT There are two divisions for 2001: Western and Eastern. The teams in the West consist of Boise State, Fresno State, Hawai`i, Nevada and San Jose State. The teams in the East consist of Louisiana Tech, Rice, SMU, UTEP and Tulsa. Each team plays each other twice, home and home within each division and plays each team from the other division once.
WEST LEADS EAST In the first year that the WAC has had divisional play for volleyball, the Western Division carries a much stronger record against Eastern Division foes. The West, led by Hawai`i and Nevada, has won 19 of 25 matches this season. Both the Wahine and the Wolf Pack have won all five matches against Eastern Division foes. Both Rice and SMU have two wins over Western Division teams. SMU has defeated Boise State and San Jose State, while Rice has stopped Fresno State and Boise State.
THE WAC IN THE NCAA STATS Kim Willoughby (Hawai`i) remains the national leaders in kills (as of 10/14). Willoughby with 6.60 kpg through 53 games. The sophomore retains the top spot for the third-straight week. The highest any WAC player has finished nationally in kills is third when Brigham Young's Tea Nieminen averaged 5.22 kpg during the 1990 season. San Jose State's Brianna Blair is 18th in kills with 4.77 kpg.
Jacqueline Heler (Boise State) and Suzanne Stonebarger (Nevada) are also among the national leaders. Heler and Stonebarger are tied for 24th in the country in digs with 3.86 dpg. Fresno State's Shauna McQuaid is 21st in blocks with a 1.49 bpg average.
As a team, the Wahine are in the national ranks in four categories: assists (t-10th), kills (t-18th), hitting percentage (t-15th) and blocks (t-27th). Rice is 14th in blocks and Fresno State is tied for 19th.
NATIONAL POLL WATCH Hawai`i is the only WAC team to be ranked in both the USA Today/AVCA and Volleyball Magazine polls. This week, Hawai`i moved up in both polls. Hawai`i climbed to 11th in both the USA Today/AVCA top 25 poll and the Volleyball Magazine poll. Nevada also received 14 votes in the USA Today/AVCA poll, and San Jose State had seven votes, while both San Jose State and Nevada received votes in this week's Volleyball Magazine poll.
HAWAI`I CONTINUES TO LEAD THE NATION IN ATTENDANCE Hawai`i is averaging 6,513 fans after its first 10 home matches. The next closest school is Nebraska with an average of 4,613. The Rainbow Wahine own the nation's top nine attendance figures this season and drew 7,723 fans against UCLA on Sept. 2, the second highest this season. Most recently, the Wahine drew 6,002 fans for a match with SMU. The Rainbow Wahine drew 153,688 fans in 2000 and is the only program in the country to draw more than 100,000 for six-consecutive years. Hawai`i is well on its way to make that seven seasons with over 65,000 total fans so far this season.
TOP SCHEDULE Hawai`i is off to a 15-4 start, but the Rainbow Wahine have already faced No. 1 Nebraska, No. 5 USC, No. 8 UCLA, No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 20 Santa Clara and No. 22 Kansas State. Hawai`i is 3-4 against ranked opponents, and has also defeated Big Ten foe Michigan.
QUICK HITS Nevada extended its home winning streak to nine last week with wins over divisional foes Fresno State and Boise State. The Wolf Pack have won five-straight WAC matches at home ... The Bulldogs of Fresno State are also having a strong home season this year. The Bulldogs are 9-1 at home. Fresno State will play its final home matches of the season this week against Cal State Northridge and San Jose State. ... Rice's Leigh Leman increased her career dig total to 1,251 last week with 25 digs. Leman holds the Owl career dig total, breaking the record last week ... San Jose State's Liz Hudson led the Spartans in a tough 3-2 loss to Hawai`i. The Spartans stretched the Wahine to five games behind Hudson's team leading five blocks ... San Jose State has taken part in the most five-game WAC matches this season. The Spartans have played in three five-game league matches this season, winning one against UTEP on Sept. 27... Rice holds three of the top five spots in blocks this season. Briana Cook (1.38 bpg) is second, followed by senior Courtney Smith (1.28 bpg). Junior Elizabeth Davenport Pollock (1.26) is third
UNDERCLASSMEN MAKING THEIR MARK Several underclassmen are making their mark in the WAC statistics. In kills, Hawai`i's Kim Willoughby leads the WAC, averaging 6.91 kills per game. Willoughby was first in the nation the last three weeks in kills. Also ranked are San Jose State sophomore Kimberly Noble (3.68 kpg - 7th). Also ranked in the WAC statistics are Rice freshman Rebeca Pazo (4.13 kpg - 4th) and Hawai`i sophomore Maja Gustin (3.60 kpg - 8th). In service aces, five of the top 10 leaders are underclassmen, including Noble (0.57 sapg - 1st), Tulsa freshman Vanessa Thon (0.46 sapg - 2nd), San Jose State sophomore Liz Hudson (0.45 sapg - 4th), and Louisiana Tech sophomore Tanya Jarvis (0.36 sapg - 10th). In digs, Boise State sophomore Jacqueline Heler is second in the WAC, averaging 3.71 dpg with
SHOJI MOVING UP NCAA LISTS Since taking over the coaching duties at Hawai`i in 1975, head coach Dave Shoji has won 756 matches and boasts an .841 winning percentage, both which rank among the all-time leaders in NCAA coaching history. His overall record stands at 756-143-1, placing him third all-time in winning percentage and fourth in wins among active coaches.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE PLAYED IN SAN JOSE The 2001 WAC Volleyball will be played at the Event Center on the campus of San Jose State University on Nov. 15-18. The tournament will feature all 10 WAC teams in a single-elimination format. The first-round matches will be played on Nov. 15 with seed No. 7 vs. No. 10 at 6:00 p.m. and seed No. 8 vs. No. 9 at 8:00 p.m. The quarterfinals are slated for Nov. 16 and feature the winner of No. 7/No. 10 vs. seed No. 2 at 1:00 p.m., seed No. 3 vs. No. 6, 3:00 p.m., seed No. 4 vs. No. 5, 6:30 p.m. and the winner of No. 8/No. 9 vs. seed No. 1 at 8:30 p.m. The semifinals are on Nov. 17 with match times set for 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., and the championship match slated for Nov. 18 at 1:00 p.m. (All times are Pacific).
WAC TOURNAMENT TICKETS ON SALE Tickets for the 2001 WAC Volleyball Tournament are on sale. Ticket prices are $30 for adults and $15 for children and students for an all-session pass (nine matches). Tickets can be purchased at the San Jose State Ticket Office or by calling (408) 924-SJTX. Fans can obtain a room rate at the San Jose Hilton & Towers by calling 408-287-2100 and request the "WAC Volleyball Tournament" group rate.
WAC EXPANDS TO TEN After just one year as a nine-team league, the WAC expanded to 10 for the 2001-02 season. The Boise State Broncos and Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters joined the conference July 1, 2001, while TCU left for Conference USA.
WAC VOLLEYBALL ON THE WEB The WAC site on the world wide web (www.wacsports.com) includes extensive volleyball information. It includes the latest notes, statistics, standings and Players of the Week.