PLAYER OF THE WEEK Hawaiis Kim Willoughby has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week. Willoughby becomes the fourth player in WAC history to win the award four times in one season.
The last player to earn the honor four times in one season was San Jose States Joslynn Brown who accomplished the feat in 1999 and 2000. Willoughby has also earned National Player of the Week honors twice this season.
Willoughby, a 6-0 left side hitter from Napoleonville, La. (Assumption HS), led Hawaii to three wins over No. 22 UC Santa Barbara, San Jose State and Fresno State. Willoughby helped the Rainbow Wahine complete an undefeated WAC season, ending the regular season with a 13-0 WAC record. Hawaii won its sixth-straight WAC regular season title.
Against UC Santa Barbara, the sophomore set a WAC record for kills in a three-game match with 34. The 34 kills were the ninth most in a three-game match in NCAA history. Willoughby had double-doubles against UCSB (34 kills and 12 digs) and Fresno State (22 kills and 14 digs). She also added 19 kills against San Jose State. She ended the week with 75 kills and 35 digs, while hitting .301.
Other nominees included: Tanya Jarvis, Louisiana Tech; Shannon Stemler, Nevada; Rebecca Pazo, Rice and Jennifer Abbruzzese, UTEP.
OTHERS NOMINATED Other nominees include: Louisiana Tech's Tanya Jarvis had 13 kills and six digs in a 3-1 loss to SMU. The sophomore is tied for third place in blocks per game in a single season in Techster history with 0.99 bpg. Nevada's Shannon Stemler averaged 3.14 kills per game last week in two Wolf Pack wins. Against UNLV, Stemler, led Nevada out of a 0-2 hole to take the match 3-2. Against Boise State, she had 12 kills in the 3-1 win. Rice's Rebeca Pazo had 19 kills and 14 digs in a 3-2 win over Eastern Division rival SMU for her 11th double-double of the season. Pazo added a match-high 21 kills in another 3-2 win over UTEP. She added 13 kills against the Miners for her 12th double-double of the season. UTEP's Jennifer Abbruzzese recorded a school record 16th straight double-double and has 17 for the season. In three matches last week, she averaged 4.33 kills and 4.17 digs as the Miners went 1-2 on the week. She had double-doubles against Texas Tech (18 kills, 16 digs), Rice (18 kills, 23 digs) and Tulsa (16 kills, 11 digs).
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.
NCAA TOURNAMENT ANNOUNCEMENT The 64-team bracket for the 2001 Division I Women's Volleyball Championship will be announced during a live 30-minute show on Monday, November 26 at 1 p.m. (MT). The selection show will be televised via satellite on C-Band Telstar 5, Transponder 23.
FINAL POINT STANDINGS
The final point standings for seeding in the WAC Tournament are as follows:
Hawai`i 18
Nevada 14
San Jose State 13
Rice 12
Fresno State 11
SMU 10
UTEP 5
Tulsa 3
Boise State 2
Louisiana Tech 0
WAC PREPARES FOR FOR FIRST TOURNAMENT SINCE
1998 The WAC welcomes back its volleyball tournament for the first time since 1998. In the last tournament, current No. 1 seed Hawai`i defeated Brigham Young 3-2 for the tournament title. BYU captured the title in 1996 and 1997 with wins over Hawai`i both seasons. The 2001 tournament will feature at least one new team in the championship match. Four teams will play in its first WAC Tournament. New WAC members Boise State and Louisiana Tech join Tulsa and Nevada in their first WAC Tournament.
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.
HAWAI`I CLINCHES WAC TITLE For the seventh consecutive season, Hawai`i has claimed the WAC regular season title. The Rainbow Wahine have claimed at least a share of the WAC title every year since joining the league in 1996. Hawai`i has not lost a league match since 1998 when the Wahine finished 13-1. Nevada and San Jose State are still in the race for second place.
WAHINE SWEEP No. 22 UCSB Fueled by a record setting performance by Kim Willoughby, No. 12 Hawai`i defeated No. 22 UC Santa Barbara, 30-26, 35-33 and 30-27 in front of 6,060 fans. Willoughby had a school record 34 kills in a three-game match, smashing Tee Williams old record of 28, which she set twice in 1988. The 34 kills were also the ninth most in a three-game match in NCAA history and were the most in WAC history. She also added 12 digs and a .311 hitting percentage for good measure. Also helping on the Wahine attack were Maja Gustin and Nohea Tano. Gustin turned in 13 kills and three blocks while Tano had seven kills, nine digs and four blocks while hitting .462. Also in double-digits in the dig column were Margaret Vakasausau (11 digs, 49 assists), Hedder Ilustre (10 digs), Lauren Duggins (12 digs, five kills) and Melissa Villaroman (12 digs).
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.
ON A ROLL The Western Division's Hawai`i may sport the longest winning streak in the WAC, but Rice of the Eastern Division has ended the WAC season with a nine-match winning streak.
Rice won nine-straight after losing four of five matches. Rice defeated Eastern Division foes SMU and UTEP to stake its claim on the fourth seed in the WAC Tournament. The Owls are the highest seeded Eastern Division team with its 10-3 league record. The league record is the team's best during head coach Julio Morales' reign.
After losing four-straight, SMU had won six in a row before falling to Rice in five games. But the Ponies bounced back to defeat Louisiana Tech to end the regular season.
THE WAC IN THE NCAA STATS Kim Willoughby (Hawai`i) remains the national leaders in kills (as of 11/5) with 6.82 kpg. The sophomore retains the top spot for the sixth-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.
Shauna McQuaid (Fresno State) and Suzanne Stonebarger (Nevada) are also among the national leaders. McQuaid is now tied for 26th in blocks with 1.44 bpg. Stonebarger moved up to 26th in digs with and average of 3.89 dpg.
As a team, the Wahine are in the national rankings in four categories. This week, Hawai`i is in the top 10 in three categories. Hawai`i moved up to a season-high fourth in assists (15.81 apg) and moved up to 8th in hitting percentage (.309). The Rainbow Wahine are also 10th in kills (17.12 kpg). Behind its 20-match winning streak, Hawai`i is tied for 22nd in win-loss percentage with a mark of .833.
Rice is tied for 17th this week in blocks (3.03 bpg) followed by Fresno State who moved up to 19th (3.00 bpg).
RICE EXTENDS WINNING STREAK TO NINE Rice played its fourth five-game match of the season, defeating UTEP 23-30, 30-23, 30-21, 28-30, 16-14 to go 8-0 against WAC Eastern Division opponents
Junior Briana Cook and Allison Broadfoot knocked down four kills apiece in the second game, while the Owls put up four blocks, including a solo from Leman. Broadfoot added two service aces in the game two win.
The Owls turned things up in game three, holding the Miners to a .097 hitting percentage, while knocking down 17 kills on 46 attempts with three errors (.304). Senior Courtney Smith hit .667 in the second period, slamming down six kills on nine attempts with no errors. Cook and Pazo combined for nine kills, while Broadfoot added two more aces. Freshman Catherine DuPont ended the game with a solo block, giving the Owls the 30-21 game three win.
For the match, Rice hit .237 to UTEPs .170. Pazo had a match-high 21 kills, adding 13 digs for her 12th double-double on the season. Brianna Cook notched a career-high 18 kills with nine block assists, bringing her career total to 351. She needs just 13 block assists to surpass the school record of 363 set by Tiffany Carrethers.
Sophomore setter Rebekah Neal notched her 10th double-double on the year, with 61 assists and a career high 20 digs. The Owls out-blocked the Miners 15-13.5, the 17th time this season they have out-blocked an opponent.
HAWAI`IREMAINS IN THE Top 10 Hawai`i is the only WAC team to be ranked in both the USA Today/AVCA and Volleyball Magazine polls. This week, despite a win over No. 22 UCSB, Hawai`i fell to No. 10 in the Volleyball Magazine. Hawai`i moved up a spot to the No. 11 position in the USA Today/AVCA top 25 poll. San Jose State also received five votes in the USA Today/AVCA poll, the most this season. San Jose State also received votes in this week's Volleyball Magazine poll, and Nevada also reappeared in the poll this week.
HAWAI`I BREAKS 100,000 MARK For the seventh-straight season Hawai`i has passed the 100,000 mark in attendance. With three remaining home matches the Rainbow Wahine needed to draw 10,145 to reach 10,000. Hawai`i exceeded that mark ending the regular season drawing 104,222. The Wahine are the only team in the nation this season to surpass 100,000.
Hawai`i is averaging 6,514 fans in 16 home matches. The next closest school is Nebraska with an average of 4,528. The Rainbow Wahine own eight of the nation's top 10 attendance figures this season. Hawai`i set the WAC high for attendance in its last home match of the season when 7,836 fans watched the Wahine defeat Fresno State. The Hawai`i match with the Bulldogs was the 30th best in WAC history and third highest in the nation this season. The Rainbow Wahine drew 153,688 fans in 2000 and is the only program in the country to draw more than 100,000 for seven-consecutive years.
WINNING WAYS After starting the season 3-4, Hawai`i has rebounded to win 20-straight matches. The Rainbow Wahine started the season facing No. 1 Nebraska, No. 5 USC, No. 8 UCLA, No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 20 Santa Clara and No. 22 Kansas State. Hawai`i is now 4-4 against ranked opponents with a 3-0 win over No. 22 UCSB at home. The Wahine has also defeated Big Ten foe Michigan. Hawai`i is in the midst of a 52-match WAC regular season winning streak that dates back to 1998.
QUICK HITS Louisiana Tech finished the regular season with a program-high home attendance average of 262 ... Hawai`i's Maja Gustin averaged 5.00 kpg and 1.44 dpg last week in three Wahine wins. She had 17 kills in the WAC regular season finale against Fresno State ... Rice ends the WAC season undefeated against the Eastern Division and enters the tournament on a nine-match winning streak ... Fresno State's Christy Burnett has had 13 aces in her last five matches and is hitting .296 in that same period. Burnett averages 3.72 kill per game and 3.75 digs per game. Rice senior Leigh Leman had her 11th double-double of the season with a match-high 23 kills in a win over SMU ... UTEP's Jennifer Abbruzzese now has 328 kill and 304 digs for the season. She is the fourth Miner in the 300-300 club, and she also ranks No. 1 in career kills per game.
UNDERCLASSMEN LEADING THE WAC This season, underclassmen have made their mark in the WAC. Led by Hawai`i sophomore Kim Willoughby the WAC's freshmen and sophomores have had an impact.
Willoughby not only leads the WAC in kills, but she has also led the nation for the past six weeks. This week, she averages 6.95 kpg and 7.20 kpg in WAC matches to lead the league. The sophomore also leads the conference in hitting percentage with a .349 mark. The Wahine have three sophomores among the leaders in hitting percentage. Besides Willoughby, Maja Gustin is fifth with a .293 hitting percentage and Lauren Duggins is ninth, hitting .284.
SMU newcomer Beth Karasek along with Rice's Rebeca Pazo are the only freshmen among the leaders in kills in WAC matches. Pazo is third in kills in league and overall matches, while Karasek is eighth in league matches with 3.63 kpg. Karasek is among the leaders in most of SMU's statistical categories.
San Jose State sophomore Kimberly Noble leads the WAC in services aces (0.47 sapg). She is one of five underclassmen in the top 5 in the category. Three of the first four leaders in services aces are underclassmen. Following Noble are UTEP sophomore Jennifer Abbruzzese (2nd, 0.43 sapg) and Tulsa freshman Vanessa Thon (3rd, 0.42 sapg). San Jose State's Liz Hudson is also among the leaders (t-4thth, 0.42 sapg).