Hawai`i Sweeps Tulsa in WAC Volleyball Tournament Quarterfinals
The No. 11 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine defeated the WAC tournaments No. 8 seed, Tulsa 30-18, 30-14 and 30-17 at the Event Center Friday afternoon.
Kim Willoughby led the Wahine with 23 kills and nine digs, while hitting .487. Maja Gustin also added 14 kills and four aces while hitting .458. Wahine setters Margaret Vakasausau (31 assists and 11 digs) and Jen Carey (18 assists and 10 digs) added double-doubles while Lauren Duggins had seven kills, four digs and hit .429.
For Tulsa, freshman Kristin Bailey led the Hurricane with eight kills and eight digs.
Hawai`i improves to 24-4 and will face the winner of the Rice/Fresno State match at 6:00 tomorrow. Tulsa falls to 9-15.
Fresno State Comes From Behind To Defeat Rice, 3-2
San Jose, Calif. The fourth-seeded Rice Owls took an early 2-0 lead, but couldn't hold off a rally from fifth-seeded Fresno State, falling in five games, Friday, at the Event Center.
WAC Freshman of the Year, Rices Rebeca Pazo finished the match with 17 kills and 12 digs, her 13th double-double of the year, tallying 17 points. Leigh Leman knocked down 15 kills and hit the court for 21 digs for her 12th double-double this season, adding 17 points for Rice. Cook hit .324 behind 15 kills on 37 attempts with three errors. Rice's defense was strong, with six Owls recording double digit digs.
The Owls hit .174 to the Bulldogs .259. Fresno State had a slight edge in blocking, 10.5-10, and out-dug the Owls 94-82.
Led by Shauna McQuaid, Fresno State stops the Owls nine-match winning streak, and advances to the semifinals where they will face top-seeded Hawaii, who shut out Tulsa earlier today. McQuaid hit .304 behind 20 kills on 46 attempts with six errors, and shut down Rice with seven block assists. The Bulldogs also served up nine aces to top the Owls.
Fresno State head coach Lindy Vivas
About coming from two down to win the match:
This team is competitive and has a great attitude. I like walking into the gym and working with them, win or lose.
We knew wed have to slow down their outside hitters and we did. Leman and Pazo did not play up to what they have been.
On playing Hawai`i tomorrow:
The last time we played them we played really well, and thats the important thing, that the team knows it can play at the top of its game against them.
San Jose State Stops SMU, 3-2
San Jose, Calif. Host school and third-seeded San Jose State won its quarterfinal match against sixth-seeded SMU, 3-0.
The Spartans won by game scores of 30-28, 30-22 and 30-15. With the win San Jose State moves to 21-6 and will face the winner of the Nevada/UTEP match on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 7:00 p.m. (PT).
The Spartans were led by senior outside hitter Brianna Blair who recorded her eighth double-double of the season on a match-high 18 kills and 15 digs. SJSU had four players in double-digits in digs.
The Mustangs were led by junior outside hitter Kristen Peterson who hadded her fifth double-double of the season. Peterson ended the match with 14 kills and 16 digs. But the Spartans out-hit the Mustangs .270 to .111.
Nevada Defeats UTEP, 3-0
Second-seeded Nevada advanced to the semifinals of the 2001 WAC Volleyball Tournament with a 3-0 win over seventh-seeded UTEP, 30-23, 30-20 and 30-28.
Nevada was led by junior middle blocker Michelle More who hit .636 a new WAC Tournament record. The previous record was Wyomings Jessica Zehr who hit .484 against TCU in 1996. More also added a match-high 23 kills.
UTEP was once again led by sophomore outside hitter Jennifer Abbruzzese who had her team-leading 18th double-double of the season. Abbruzzese had 11 kills and 11 digs to lead the Miners.
Nevada will take on third-seeded San Jose State on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m.