PLAYER OF THE WEEK Hawai`i's Kim Willoughby has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week.
Willoughby, a 6-0 sophomore left side hitter from Napoleonville, La. (Assumption HS), led Hawai`i to two victories over 20th-ranked Santa Clara.
For the week, she tallied 51 kills (6.12 kpg) on 120 attempts and 15 errors for a .300 hitting percentage. Willoughby also added four service aces, 24 digs (3.47 dpg) and five total blocks. Against Santa Clara on Sept. 21, she recorded a school record for kills in a four-game match, with 35. Willoughby also added 16 digs, two service aces and three block assists. Against the Broncos on Sept. 22, Willoughby tallied a team-high 16 kills, to go along with eight digs, two service aces and two block assists.
Willoughby currently leads the WAC in kills (6.12 kpg), ranks fourth in digs (3.47 dpg) and 10th in hitting percentage (.278)
Other nominees included: Christy Burnett, Fresno State; Cristine Sant'Anna, Louisiana Tech; Michelle More, Nevada; Leigh Leman, Rice; Brianna Blair, San Jose State; Leslie Lasiter, SMU; and Jacqui Nosan, UTEP.
OTEHRS NOMINATED Following are statistics and notes of others nominated for Player of the Week: Fresno State's Christy Burnett, a junior outside hitter, tallied 57 kills (3.57 kpg) on 57 attempts and seven errors for a .310 hitting percentage. She added two assists, 26 digs (3.71 dpg) and seven total blocks (1.00 bpg). Against San Francisco, Burnett had 13 kills and 14 digs. Against Boise State, she had 12 kills and 12 digs. She also tied her career-high with four blocks against the Broncos. Louisiana Tech's Cristine Sant'Anna, a sophomore rightside hitter, hit .256 (38-15-90) in 11 games. She added two assists, four service aces, 32 digs (2.91 dpg) and six total blocks. Against Stephen F. Austin Sant'Anna recorded 17 kills and 13 digs. Against Texas Southern she tallied 12 kills and 11 digs. Nevada's Michelle More, a junior middle blocker, recorded 28 kills (4.67 kpg) on 63 attempts and 10 errors for a .286 hitting percentage. She added two service aces, six digs and four total blocks in two matches. Against then No. 7 Pacific, More had a match-high 15 kills. In the Wolf Pack's win over Tulsa, she tallied 13 kills, three digs and two total blocks. Rice's Leigh Leman, a senior outside hitter, hit .306 (16-5-36) in a win over Southwest Texas State. She added two service aces, 17 digs and one block assist. San Jose State's Brianna Blair, a senior outside hitter, totaled 43 kills (6.14 kpg) on 100 attempts and only eight errors for a .350 hitting percentage. She added four service aces, 16 digs (2.29 dpg) and three block assists in two matches. Against San Francisco, Blair had a season-high 27 kills, including 11 digs. Against Boise State, she had a team-high 16 kills and hit .400 to go along with five digs. SMU's Leslie Lasiter, a junior middle blocker, hit .364 (23-7-44) in two matches. She added two assists, four service aces, 20 digs (2.86 dpg) and four block assists. Against Oral Roberts, Lasiter posted a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs. UTEP's Jacqui Nosan, a senior middle blocker, notched 12 kills and six blocks, while hitting .333 (12-4-24) to lead the Miners over New Mexico State.
NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK Hawai`i's Kim Willoughby was also named the AVCA/Sports Imports Division I Player of the Week for her performance against Santa Clara. It's the WAC's first award since Nov. 15, 1999 when San Jose State's Joslynn Gallop was honored.
WAC ACTION The WAC enters its second week of conference play. Hawai`i opens WAC play on the road against Louisiana Tech on Saturday, Sept. 29. It marks the Rainbow Wahine's first match on the road since Aug. 25, when they played in the NACWAA-State Farm Classic. Nevada, San Jose State and Fresno State are all 1-0 in WAC action and are at home this week. Nevada plays host to SMU and Rice, while Tulsa and UTEP are at Fresno State and San Jose State.
NEVADA DEFEATS NO. 7 PACIFIC Nevada upset then seventh-ranked Pacific on Sept. 18. The win over the Tigers was the first for Wolf Pack head coach Devin Scruggs over her alma mater in five attempts. Prior to Tuesday, Nevada had not won a game versus Pacific under Scruggs losing 3-0 each of the past four seasons, and it was also her first victory over a nationally-ranked team.
Junior Michelle More had a match-high 15 kills to lead the Wolf Pack, while senior, Kellie LaBossiere was the only other player in the match to have multiple kills finishing with 10. Junior Emily Baracco and senior Suzanne Stonebarger had 17 and 11 digs respectively, while junior, setter Jill Couwenhoven had a match high 41 assists.
HAWAI`I DEFEATS NO. 20 SANTA CLARA TWICE No. 12 Hawaii defeated No. 20 Santa Clara, 30-25, 28-30, 30-19 and 30-25 on Sept. 21. The Wahine were led by last year's Co-WAC Freshmen of the Year Kim Willoughby and Maja Gustin. Willoughby broke a school record for kills in a four-game match, recording a career-high 35 kills while hitting .316 and digging up 16 balls. The old record for kills in a four game-match was 30, held by Diana Jessie almost 15 years ago to the day (September 16, 1986 against UCLA). Gustin had a career-high 23 kills with only three errors, hitting for a .444 percentage. Lauren Duggins also recorded a career-high in digs with 22.
On Sept. 22, Hawai`i defeated Santa Clara for the second time in as many nights, 30-20, 30-19, 30-16. Willoughby led the Wahine with 16 kills and eight digs, while Gustin added 13 kills. Nohea Tano had her best match of her young career, recording a career-high nine kills and five blocks, while hitting .444.
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.
ON A ROLL Several WAC teams have been on a roll. After beginning the season 0-3, Fresno State has won six-straight. San Jose State has also won six-straight matches, the longest winning streaks in the WAC. Nevada has currently won five-straight matches, all 3-0 sweeps. Hawai`i and Louisiana Tech have won three-straight.
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. Nevada also received 38 votes in the USA Today/AVCA poll to rank 28th, while San Jose State also received votes in this week's Volleyball Magazine poll.
QUICK STARTS Nevada is off to a 7-1 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 9-2 start, the WAC's second-best overall record. Last season the Spartans also began the season with a 9-2 mark.
RECORD WATCH Senior outside hitter Leigh Leman needs only 65 digs to take over the all-time spot at Rice. She currently has 1,153 digs. The record is currently held by Karolina Zelinka, who finished her career last season with 1,217 digs. Junior middle blocker Briana Cook has 309 career block assists. She needs three more block assists to move into second place and 54 more to become the school's all-time leader.
TOP SCHEDULE Hawai`i is off to a 6-4 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.
HOME SWEET HOME WAC schools are a combined 26-6 (.813) at home this season. Four teams are undefeated, including Fresno State (6-0), followed by Nevada (5-0) and Louisiana Tech (3-0).
QUICK HITS Boise State hit a season-high .203 against San Jose State ... Fresno State had season-highs of 15 blocks vs. Boise State and 26 total blocks against San Francisco ... Fresno State's Shauna McQuaid became just the eighth Bulldogs to collect 200 or more career block assists (204) ... Hawai`i's Nohea Tano had her best week of her collegiate career, notching career-high's in kills (9), blocks (5) and digs (7) ... Rice's victory over Southwest Texas State was its first in the last four tries ... the Owls held the Bobcats to just .047 hitting, while recording 55 kills and a .220 hitting percentage ... Louisiana Tech claimed its first road victory since the 1999 season when it defeated Grambling State on Sept. 19 ... freshman Megan Rush made her first appearance this past week after missing the first seven matches with an illness .. the middle blocker recorded 20 kills and 11 blocks in nine games ... San Jose State junior middle blocker Katherine Powers started her first two matches of the year this past weekend ... she led the team with a career-high seven blocks vs. San Francisco and added eight kills.
UNDERCLASSMEN MAKING THEIR MARK Several underclassmen are making their mark in the WAC statistics. In kills, six of the top 10 leaders are freshmen or sophomores. Hawai`i's Kim Willoughby leads the WAC, averaging 6.12 kills per game. Also ranked are San Jose State sophomore Kimberly Noble (4.26 kpg - 3rd), Rice freshman Rebeca Pazo (3.97 kpg - 5th), Hawai`i sophomore Maja Gustin (3.68 kpg - 7th), and Louisiana Tech sophomore Cristine Sant'Anna (3.66 kpg - 8th) and Fresno State sophomore Kara Verwey (3.59 kpg - 9th). In service aces, five of the top 10 leaders are underclassmen, including Noble (0.77 sapg - 1st), Tulsa freshman Vanessa Thon (0.56 sapg - 2nd), San Jose State sophomore Liz Hudson (0.49 sapg - 3rd), SMU sophomore Jackie Erazmus (0.46 sapg - T-4th) and Tulsa freshman Dana Weddle (0.40 sapg - 8th). In digs, Boise State sophomore Jacqueline Heler leads the WAC, averaging 4.17 dpg, followed by Willoughby (3.47 dpg - 4th), Thon (3.36 dpg - 5th); Pazo (3.20 dpg - 6th) and Boise State sophomore Megan Tranter (2.97 dpg - 10th). Weddle is the top underclassman in hitting percentage (.303 - 7th), while Fresno State freshman setter Whitney Arena ranks seventh in assists (10.52 apg). Hawai`i freshman Melody Eckmier is the leading underclassman in blocks, averaging 1.28 to rank fourth.
SHOJI MOVING UP NCAA LISTS Since taking over the coaching duties at Hawai`i in 1975, head coach Dave Shoji has won 747 matches and boasts an .837 winning percentage, both which rank among the all-time leaders in NCAA coaching history. His overall record stands at 747-143-1, 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 6,580 fans after its first eight home matches. The Rainbow Wahine own the nation's top eight 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 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 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.