PLAYER OF THE WEEK Due to the cancellation of all but one match last week, there will be no player of the week chosen for Sept. 17.
MATCHES CANCELLED All Western Athletic Conference matches were cancelled this past week as a result of the terrorist attacks on the United State. All WAC matches will resume this week.
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC There's plenty of action this week as all 10 WAC teams play matches. In the ranked matches of the week, No. 7 Pacific is at Nevada on Tuesday, Sept. 18. No. 20 Santa Clara is at Hawai`i on Friday, Sept. 21 and Saturday, Sept. 22.
WAC PLAY BEGINS The 2001 WAC season gets underway as four of the 10 teams will be in action this week. Nevada plays host to Tulsa on Thursday, Sept. 20. On Friday, Sept. 21, Boise State travels to San Jose State and then heads to Fresno State on Saturday, Sept. 22. This is the first season that Boise State is a member of the WAC.
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.
NATIONAL POLL WATCH Hawai`i is the only WAC team to receive mention in both the USA Today/AVCA and Volleyball Magazine polls. Hawai`i is ranked 12th in the USA Today/AVCA top 25 poll and 16th in the Volleyball Magazine poll. San Jose State also received votes in this week's Volleyball Magazine poll.
SAN JOSE STATE DEFEATS TENNESSEE Sophomore outside hitter Kimberly Noble had 22 kills to lead San Jose State to a non-conference victory over Tennessee, 30-19, 30-27, 18-30, 30-28, on Sept. 10 to wins its fourth-straight match. Senior outside hitter Brianna Blair added 15 kills and 14 digs for San Jose State, while sophomore middle blocker Liz Hudson led the Spartans in blocks with four and added 11 kills and eight assists. Senior setter Savannah Smith tallied 51 assists to go along with five kills, four service aces, seven digs and one block assist.
FRESNO STATE ATHLETICS CARRY TORCH FOR AMERICAN RED CROSS Fresno State student-athletes and coaches helped raise at least $100,000 in a fund drive effort for the American Red Cross on Sept. 14 to help the victims of last weeks terrorist tragedy.
"This is an opportunity for the Valley to come out and meet the immediate need for monetary help," said Interim Athletics Director Scott Johnson. "We're very proud of the Red Wave, our student-athletes and coaches. With all the support shown to us, we want to do everything we can to help out our fellow American citizens."
QUICK STARTS Nevada is off to a 5-1 start, its best since the 1998 season when the Wolf Pack began the season 9-0. It's Nevada's second best start under head coach Devin Scruggs. San Jose State is off to a 7-2 start, the WAC's second-best overall record. Last season the Spartans began the season with a 9-2 mark.
ONE OF BOISE STATE'S TOP PLAYERS RETURNS THIS WEEK Boise State has been without junior middle blocker Tameisha Hastings this season, who has a foot injury. Sophomore Christina Moore, who sprained her ankle in the opening weekend in Pullman, Wash., has also been out since that opening match. Moore should be ready for the Broncos' opening weekend of WAC play. Hastings is still listed as day-to-day.
RECORD WATCH Senior outside hitter Leigh Leman needs only 82 digs to take over the all-time spot at Rice. The record is currently held by Karolina Zelinka, who finished her career last season with 1,217 digs. Junior middle blocker Briana Cook has 303 career block assists in just a little over two seasons. She needs three more block assists to move into third place.
TOURNAMENT TALK WAC schools finished with a 19-14 (.576) combined record during the week of Sept. 3. All 10 schools competed in tournaments and brought home two titles. Fresno State won the Fresno State Invitational, compiling a 4-0 mark, while Nevada won its own Sands Regency Volleyball Invitational with a 3-0 record. Hawai`i, San Jose State and SMU finished in second place in their respective tournaments.
FRESNO STATE WINS THE FRESNO STATE INVITATIONAL Fresno State defeated Arkansas-Little Rock, 26-30, 34-32, 30-23, 30-27, to claim the Fresno State Invitational. It marked the Bulldogs' fifth Fresno State Invitational title in the past eight years. Fresno State, which hit a then season-best .304 against UMKC, topped its performance with a .314 hitting efficiency against Arkansas-Little Rock. The Bulldogs were led by senior middle blocker Shauna McQuaid who put together her second-straight 20-kill match with a match-high 20 kills and .792 hitting performance (20-1-24) against Arkansas-Little Rock. McQuaid collected double figures in blocks with three block solos and seven block assists. Sophomore outside hitter Kara Verwey (18 kills, 16 digs) and freshman outside hitter Kristen Fenton (10 kills, 12 digs) each collected a double-double. As the Most Valuable Player in the invitational, freshman setter Whitney Arena dished out a season-high 60 assists and had five blocks in the tourney finale.
NEVADA WINS OWN TOURNAMENT Hosting the Sands Regency/Nevada Bell Invitational, the University of Nevada Volleyball team captured the title going 3-0. Nevada defeated CS Fullerton 30-20, 30-15, and 30-14 to claim the title. The Wolf Pack did not drop a game in the tournament winning all nine games played. Tournament MVP Michelle More had a match-high 14 kills, while Suzanne Stonebarger who was also named to the all-tournament squad, had 13 kills and 12 digs. Nevada finished the match with a .468 attack percentage compared to CSF's .183.
ALL-STARS Several WAC players were named to all-tournament teams. Fresno State - Whitney Arena (MVP), Java Johnson, Shauna McQuaid and Kara Verwey (Fresno State Invitational); Hawai`i - Kim Willoughby (Aston's Imua Wahine Challenge); Nevada - Kellie LaBossiere, Jill Couwenhoven, Michelle More (MVP) and Suzanne Stonebarger (Sands Regency/Nevada Bell Invitational); Rice - Rebeca Pazo (California Tournament); San Jose State - Brianna Blair and Kimberly Noble (San Diego Invitational); SMU - Allison Holder (Tulane Invitational); UTEP - Jennifer Abbruzzese (Texas Tech Classic).
TOP SCHEDULE Hawai`i is off to a 4-4 start, but the Rainbow Wahine have already faced No. 1 Nebraska, No. 5 USC, No. 8 UCLA, No. 9 Wisconsin and No. 22 Kansas State. Hawai`i is 1-4 against ranked opponents, and has also defeated Big Ten foe Michigan. The Rainbow Wahine still will face No. 20 Santa Clara this weekend.
QUICK HITS Boise State's Megan Tranter, a sophomore outside hitter, led the Broncos in kills in three out of four matches last weekend ... she recorded 17 against both New Mexico State and Oregon ... Fresno State freshman setter Whitney Arena averaged 12.06 assists and 1.81 digs at the Fresno State Invitational ... San Jose State middle blocker Stephanie Pascucci hit .387 for the week ... she had 55 kills on 111 attempts with only 12 errors ... she also added 12 blocks and averaged 3.44 kills per outing.
NEVADA'S STONEBARGER BREAKS SCHOOL RECORD FOR DIGS Nevada senior outside hitter Suzanne Stonebarger broke the all-time school record for digs against Saint Mary's. She now has 1,332 career digs, breaking the previous record of 1,243 held by Tiffany Neumeier.
NOBLE BREAKS SJSU SINGLE-MATCH RECORD FOR SERVICE ACES -San Jose State's Kimberly Noble, a sophomore outside hitter, set a new school record for service aces in a match with nine against Minnesota on Sept. 7. The previous record was eight set by Shane Donnellon on Nov. 8, 1994. The mark also tied the WAC record for assists in a match, also held by UTEP's Catherine Porter (1997) and Fresno State's Andrea Radmilovich (1992). Noble is currently averaging 0.89 service aces per game to lead the WAC. She has 25 service aces to date compared to a total of 21 during the 2000 campaign.
UNDERCLASSMEN MAKING THEIR MARK Several underclassmen are making their mark in the WAC statistics. In the kills department, five of the top 10 leaders are freshmen or sophomores. Hawai`i's Kim Willoughby leads the WAC, averaging 5.81 kills per game. Also ranked are San Jose State sophomore Kimberly Noble (4.25 kpg - 2nd), Rice freshman Rebeca Pazo (4.00 kpg - 5th), Fresno State sophomore Kara Verwey (3.81 kpg - 6th) and Louisiana Tech sophomore Cristine Sant'Anna (3.76 kpg - 7th). In the service ace department, six of the top 10 leaders are underclassmen, including Noble (0.81 sapg - 1st), Tulsa freshman Vanessa Thon (0.64 sapg - 2nd), San Jose State sophomore Liz Hudson (0.56 sapg - 3rd), Tulsa freshman Dana Weddle (0.45 sapg - 4th), Tulsa freshman Kristin Bailey (0.36 sapg - T9th) and Fresno State freshman Kristen Fenton (0.36 sapg - T9th). In the digs category, Boise State sophomore Jacqueline Heler leads the WAC, averaging 4.30 dpg, followed by Willoughby (3.48 dpg - 4th), Thon (3.41 dpg - 5th); Pazo (3.15 dpg - 8th) and Weddle (3.09 dpg - 9th).
SHOJI MOVING UP NCAA LISTS Since taking over the coaching duties at Hawai`i in 1975, head coach Dave Shoji has won 743 matches and boasts an .838 winning percentage, both which rank among the all-time leaders in NCAA coaching history. His overall record stands at 745-143-1, placing him third all-time in winning percentage and fourth in wins among active coaches.
HAWAI`I LEADS THE NATION IN ATTENDANCE Hawai`i is averaging 6,189 fans after its first six home matches. The Rainbow Wahine own the nation's top six attendance figures this season and drew a nation-high 7,723 fans against UCLA on Sept. 2. 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.
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.