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HAWAII ADVANCES TO SWEET 16 The Central Region semifinals are set for Dec. 13-14 in Lincoln, Neb. The sixth-seeded Rainbow Wahine will face 11th-seeded North Carolina in the first of two matches on Friday, Dec. 13. Host Nebraska, the tournament's third seed, will take on Miami. The Hurricanes upset 14th-seeded Wisconsin in Madison.
Last season, the Rainbow Wahine traveled to Long Beach, Calif., for the regional semifinals and fell to UCLA, 3-1. The Tar Heels are making their first Sweet 16 appearance. Hawaii holds a 1-0 series lead over North Carolina, defeating the Tar Heels, 3-0, in 1997. The Rainbow Wahine are 4-5 against Nebraska and 1-0 against Miami.
Only three of the 16 seeds fell in the first and second rounds. No. 13 Penn State lost to Temple, while fellow Big Ten squad, Michigan State, upset No. 14 Notre Dame. Yet another Big Ten team was involved in an upset when Miami defeated No. 14 Wisconsin in the second round.
SWEET 16 OPPONENTS In the Regional Semifinals, Hawaii will take on North Carolina for the first time since 1997. No. 13 North Carolina, the 11th seed in the tournament, will make its first appearance in the Sweet 16 in the 22 years of the existence of the NCAA Tournament.
The Tar Heels advanced to the Regional with a 3-0 win over Winthrop in the First Round and a 3-1 victory of South Carolina in the Second Round in Chapel Hill. The Rainbow Wahine topped First-Round opponent Western Kentucky 3-0 and Second-Round foe Washington 3-0 as well. Nebraska advanced with sweeps of Tennessee-Martin and Arizona State, while Miami swept Duke and topped Wisconsin 3-1.
Nebraska (30-1) will play host to the NCAA Central Regional, Dec. 13-14 at the NU Coliseum. Before a crowd of 4,229 on Dec. 7, the Huskers hit .333 as a team and trailed for just one point in the entire match in sweeping their ninth-straight opponent. Arizona State ended the season at 15-12. Nebraska has hosted the NCAA Regionals 11 times. The Huskers have won eight of the those (all but 1985, 1991 and 1994).
The 27-5 Miami Hurricanes upset 14th-seeded Wisconsin in Madison, Wis., 30-25, 20-30, 30-21, 30-22. The Hurricanes are a young squad with only one senior on the roster. In just their second season, the Hurricanes become the second team in the Central Region to advance to their first Sweet 16 along with the Tar Heels.
Both Hawaii and Nebraska are on the other end of the spectrum. Nebraska is one of four teams to have advanced to all 22 NCAA Tournaments. The Rainbow Wahine have been to 21 of the 22 NCAA Tournaments, missing only the 1992 tournament.
COMMON OPPONENTS Hawaii and its regional semifinal opponent, North Carolina, have not played any of the same opponents this season. Miami and Hawaii have played one common opponent. The Hurricanes are 1-1 against conference rival Notre Dame, while the Rainbow Wahine are 2-0 this season against the Irish. Hawaii and Nebraska share one common opponent this season. The Huskers are 2-0 against Colorado this season, while Hawaii is 1-0.
HAWAI`I ADVANCES IN NCAA VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT; NEVADA AND FRESNO STATE FALL The Western Athletic Conference advances one team to Regionals of the 2002 NCAA Volleyball Tournament. Hawaii, the tournament's No. 6 seed, advances to play North Carolina next week. Times and locations will be announced on Sunday. Nevada fell to Pacific, 3-2, while Fresno State lost to No. 8 UC Santa Barbara, 3-1. It is the second time that both schools had faced these opponents.
No. 2 Hawaii (32-1) defeated the Washington Huskies (22-11) 30-26, 39-37 and 30-25 in front of a crowd of 6,496, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Kim Willoughby led the way for UH with 19 kills and a season-high 21 digs. Lily Kahumoku added a double-double of her own with 22 kills and 10 digs, while Maja Gustin had 12 kills and three blocks. Lauren Duggins added five kills, six digs and seven blocks while Jennifer Carey also came up big at the net with six blocks and 21 assists.
For the second time this season, the Fresno State Bulldogs were bumped out in four games as UC Santa Barbara advanced to the NCAA Second Round after defeating the Bulldogs 30-20, 28-30, 30-21 and 30-26 in just over two hours of play at The Thunderdome before 1,341 fans.
Improving to 29-2 on the year, UCSB also handed 28th-year head coach Kathy Gregory her 700th career win. Finishing with a 23-7 record, Fresno State's 12th-year head coach Lindy Vivas will remain one win shy of picking up her 300th career victory. UCSB will face California in the second round.
Nevada was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, falling to Pacific 3-2 at Stanford University in the tournament's first round. The Wolf Pack ended the year 22-10, while the Tigers improved to 19-12 and advance to second round.
RAINBOW WAHINE STOP LADY TOPPERS IN FIRST ROUND The No. 2 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (31-1) defeated the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers (33-5) 30-18, 30-25 and 30-21, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, in front of a crowd of 6,099 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Lily Kahumoku led the team with 17 kills, eight digs and three blocks. Maja Gustin added nine kills, six blocks and a .562 hitting percentage while Kim Willoughby had 11 kills, four aces, seven digs and four blocks. Lauren Duggins also played well, hitting .571 with eight kills, five digs and six blocks. Melissa Villaroman continued her solid play in the back row, adding 13 digs.
The Lady Toppers looked primed for the upset early on, jumping out to a 6-1 lead on four UH hitting errors. Hawaii battled back behind the serving of Willoughby, as she picked up two big aces to pull them back into the game at 7-6. Hedder Ilustre then got the serve with the game tied at nine and served eight straight points to put the Rainbows up 17-9.
AGAINST THE FIELD The three teams that have participated the 2002 NCAA Tournament have a 19-13 (.594) combined record against the tournament field coming into the tournament. Hawaii leads the way with a record of 12-1 with the only loss coming against former No. 1 Stanford. The Rainbow Wahine's wins include Ohio State, Utah and a pair of wins over Fresno State, Notre Dame and Cal Poly. Nevada is 4-7, including three losses to Hawaii and losses to Fresno State, Pacific, Cincinnati and Washington State. The Wolf Pack's wins were against Colorado State, Fresno State and Sacramento State. Fresno State was 3-5 with losses to Nevada, Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara. The Bulldogs captured wins over Nevada, Sacramento State and San Diego.
THE WAC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT WAC teams are a combined 110-86 (.561) in the NCAA Tournament since 1981. Current WAC teams are a combined 58-35 (.624) in tournament play. Four of the current league teams have competed in the tournament, including Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada and San Jose State. Since the WAC began the sponsorship of women's athletics in 1990, WAC teams are 18-13 (.581) in the NCAA's. Since 1990, the WAC has had at least two teams compete in the NCAA Tournament every year except 1999. The last two seasons three teams have advanced to postseason. This is the most since six teams advanced in 1998.
HAWAII IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT Hawaii is one of the nation's most successful NCAA Tournament teams. The Rainbow Wahine are playing in their 21st tournament, missing only in 1992, and have compiled a 48-17 (.738) overall record. This is their seventh appearance as a WAC member, compiling a 17-6 (.739) mark. Hawaii has won the NCAA title three times: 1982, 1983 and 1987. The Rainbow Wahine finished second in 2000, 1998 and 1996. In 2001, Hawaii lost to UCLA in the Region Semifinals in Long Beach, Calif. The Rainbow Wahine defeated Washington State in the first round and Eastern Washington in the second round in Pullman, Wash.
HAWAII TAKES WAC TOURNAMENT TITLE The No. 2 University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine (28-1) defeated the Nevada Wolf Pack (21-8) 30-19, 30-32, 30-13 and 30-23 in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship match in front of a crowd of 1,023 at the Virginia Street Gym, winning their third straight WAC Tournament title. The win gives the Wahine the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Lauren Duggins had an outstanding match with 15 kills and seven blocks while hitting a tournament-record .789. Kim Willoughby earned the tournament's MVP with a match-high 26 kills, while Lily Kahumoku had 19 kills and 13 digs. Nevada opened up their first lead of the match early in the second game, going up 4-2.
Nevada got another point on a Michelle More block before UH responded with a 5-1 run to tie the game at 9. Nevada pushed the lead back up to 13-9 and 17-13 before a Duggins kill and two aces by Kahumoku cut the Wolf Pack lead to 17-16. UN continued to lead until two Willoughby kills tied the game again at 19. It continued to be tight before a couple of aces by Maja Gustin put the Rainbow Wahine up 24-21, forcing another timeout by Scruggs. The Wolf Pack came back as kills by Laura Wooley and Cristine Harms tied the game again at 25 before the teams traded small runs to give Nevada game point at 29-28. Willoughby responded with two kills to give Hawai`i game point at 30-29, but a block and a UH hitting error ended game two 32-30.
2002 WAC All-Tournament TeamWhitney Arena, Fresno State
Lily Kahumoku, Hawaii
Jennifer Carey, Hawaii
Rebeca Pazo, Rice
*Jill Couwenhoven, Nevada
Lindsey Rule, San Jose State
*Lauren Duggins, Hawai'i
Salaia Salavea, Nevada
Kristen Fenton, Fresno State
*Kim Willoughby, Hawaii
Carrie Hartt, Fresno State
Laura Wooley, Nevada
MVP: *Kim Willoughby, Hawaii
*2001 Tournament Team
SINGLE-SEASON LEADERS This season, several single season records have been broken. Hawaii junior Kim Willoughby continues her record setting ways. She broke the record for aces per game with 0.75. The previous record was 0.71 held by San Diego State's Gracie Schutt (1990). Last year, she set the records for kills per game (7.20) and total kills 850.
UTEP's Sarah Davis took advantage of the new Libero position setting the record for digs per game (5.34) and total digs (267) in WAC matches. The previous digs per game record was 4.65 dpg held by Wyoming's Jai Bruno (1991). SMU's Kristen Peterson, also a Libero, broke the record for digs per game in all matches. Peterson ended the season averaging 4.38 dpg, breaking the old record of 4.29 held by Fresno State Diana Nalbandian (1997).
TOURNAMENT RECORDS TOPPLE Several tournament records fell at the WAC Tournament. Tournament champion Hawaii was involved in all of the records. Junior Maja Gustin set the record for hitting percentage in a match, hitting .625 in a three-game win over San Jose State on Nov. 23. The previous record was .484 by Jessica Zehr of Wyoming in 1996.
In the Rainbow Wahine's match with Louisiana Tech, six records were broken. Hawaii set the record for team hitting percentage (.495) against the Lady Techsters on Nov. 22. Louisiana Tech had the fewest kills (27), attempts (92), digs (25) and blocks (2). The Hawaii defense also held Louisiana Tech to a .065 hitting percentage.
NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS WAC teams faced at least 21 teams that participated in last years NCAA Tournament. Hawaii so far this season has played the most (6), including San Diego State, UCLA, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Colorado and defending national champion Stanford. San Jose State faced four teams, including Stanford. Fresno State was next (3) along with Nevada (5), Rice (2), SMU (1) and UTEP (1). So far this season, the WAC is 95-56 (.629) against non conference opponents. So far this season, the WAC is 6-4 against teams ranked in the top 25. Hawaii leads the way with a 4-1 record with wins over No. 9 Ohio State, No. 7 UCLA and No. 20 Colorado. Hawaii still has No. 6 Stanford on the schedule at home on Nov. 10. Hawaii fell to No. 4 Stanford at home on Nov. 10. Nevada upset then-No. 23 BYU and then No. 25 Colorado State. On. Nov. 27, Hawaii defeated No. 24 Utah.
HAWAII PASSES 100,000 IN ATTENDANCE Hawaii ended the season strong averaging over 7,000 fans a match. The Rainbow Wahine ended the regular season drawing 146,001 in 20 home matches this season. Last season, Hawaii ended the season drawing 104,222.
Hawaii drew the two biggest crowds for the NCAA first and second round matches. Hawaii drew 6,496 for its match against Washington on Dec. 7 in the second round. There were 6,099 for the Western Kentucky match on Dec. 6. The Rainbow Wahine are now averaging 7,309, which is the school's best average since the 1996 season when Hawaii averaged 8,378. For the year, Hawaii drew 156,596 fans.
Top 10 National Attendance
(including NCAA matches)
School Avg. MP Total
1. Hawai'i 7,209 22 158,596
2. Nebraska 4,395 16 70,326
3. Wisconsin 3,527 17 59,958
4. Florida 2,355 17 40,028
5. Minnesota 2,333 20 46,668
6. Penn State 2,122 18 38,193
7. Arizona 2,178 13 26,142
8. Illinois St. 2,069 15 31,036
9. LBSU 1,963 17 33,363
10. No. Iowa 1,932 12 23,179
AROUND THE COURT News and notes from around the league: Fresno State had one of its most successful seasons in school history. Posting its ninth 20-win season and tying for the third-most wins in the programs history, head coach Lindy Vivas directed the Bulldogs to their sixth postseason appearance under her tutelage. She was also named WAC Coach of the Year for the third time overall ... Hawaii takes to the road for the NCAA Regional semifinals. The Rainbow Wahine are undefeated on the road this season with a 9-0 record away from the Stan Sheriff Center. Hawaii had the best two attended matches of the first and second round, drawing over 6,000 for both matches ... Nevada made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament for the first time and its third appearance in five years. Head coach Devin Scruggs has led the Wolf Pack to all three of their NCAA Tournament appearances, 1998, 2001 and 2002. The 2002 team tied the school record for wins with its 22nd Nov. 30 over Southwest Missouri State. The 1998 team was the first to win 22 games going 22-8 following a first round loss in the NCAA Tournament. The 1998 team was the first Nevada womens team to post 20 or more wins in a season and the 2002 squad is the second ... Despite losing their final three matches of the 2002 season, Rice secured its 13th winning season in school history, finishing with an 18-16 overall record. Sophomore Rebeca Pazo rewrote the record books this season, finishing the year with 562 kills, the second-best single-season in Rice history. Her two-year career total now stands at 970, the 10th best mark in school history. In her final match of the year, the 2002 first team all-WAC selection hit .397, behind a career-best 35 kills and 73 swings. Her 35 kills is the second-best single-match ever at Rice. Her 1,373 attempts in 2002 is the third-most in a single season, while her 382 digs this year is the fourth-best single season mark.