LET THE GAMES BEGIN The 2002 volleyball season begins with a bang with all 10 teams beginning the season this weekend. Two teams may face ranked opponents. Hawaii, who earned a preseason No. 2 ranking, will take on No. 9 Ohio State and No. 20 Colorado at home at the Hawaii Airlines Wahine Classic. Rice travels to Fairfax, Va. for the the George Mason Tournament and may play No. 14 Northern Iowa.
The rest of the teams are also in tournament action. Fresno State will also travel to Virginia for the William and Mary Tournament where they could face East Coast teams, William & Mary, Furman, Radford and East Carolina. Louisiana Tech travels to the Lamar Tournament, while Boise State will open with the Montana Tournament.
San Jose State remains in California at the California Tournament, while Nevada travels to the Washington State Tournament. UTEP will also travel northwest for the Portland Invitational where they will play Portland and Portland State. Like Rice and Fresno State, SMU will also travel southeast for the Charlotte Invitational. Tulsa rounds out the nine schools beginning the season on the road, traveling to the Colgate Tournament.
RETURNING ALL-WAC PLAYERS Of the 12 first-team all-WAC players in 2001, seven will return in 2002, including Hawaiis Kim Willoughby, the WACs Player of the Year, along with teammates Maja Gustin, Heder Ilustre and Margaret Vakasausau. San Jose States Liz Hudson, Nevadas Michelle More and Rices Rebeca Pazo also return from the 2001 first team. Seven of the second-team all-WAC performers will return, including Hawaiis Lauren Duggins, UTEPs Jennifer Abbruzzese and Nevadas Jill Couwenhoven. SMU and Fresno State each have a pair of second-team honorees returning. The Mustangs return Beth Karasek and Leslie Lasiter, while the Bulldogs bring back Whitney Arena and Christy Burnett.
SHOJI MOVING UP NCAA LISTS Since taking over the coaching duties at Hawaii in 1975, Dave Shoji has won 770 matches and boasts an .841 winning percentage, both of which rank among the all-time leaders in NCAA coaching history. Shoji's record is now at 770-145-1, which leaves him fourth all-time in victories, just nine short of third, and second in all-time winning percentage.
PERSONNEL CAPSULE Every team returns at least three starters. Hawaii returns the most letterwinners with 11 along with six starters, losing only one. Fresno State also brings back a double-digit number of letterwinners with 10, including five starters. Nevada and Louisiana Tech bring back the smallest number of letterwinners with four and five, respectively. The following is a breakdown of each teams letterwinners returning and lost and starters returning and lost.
Team LR LL SR SL
Boise State 9 2 7 1
Fresno State 10 3 5 1
Hawaii 11 1 6 1
Louisiana Tech 5 4 3 2
Nevada 4 4 3 3
Rice 8 4 3 3
San Jose State 7 4 4 2
SMU 8 3 4 2
UTEP 7 3 5 1
Tulsa 6 5 5 1
NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS WAC teams will face at least 19 teams that participated in last years NCAA Tournament. Hawaii will play the most (6), including San Diego State, UCLA, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Colorado and defending national champion Stanford. San Jose State will face four teams, including Stanford. Fresno State is next (3) along with Nevada (3), Rice (2), SMU (1) and UTEP (1).
WELCOME WAGON The WAC welcomes UTEPs Scott Swanson who begins his first season as the Miners head coach. Swanson comes to UTEP after spending six seasons at Arizona State. Boise States Scott Sandel also begins his first season as the Broncos head coach. Sandel comes to Boise State after two season as head coach at Northern Michigan.
MAJOR RULE CHANGE One major rule change this season is the addition of the Libero (pronounced: LEE-bah-ro). The Libero is a desingated back row player who can replace any player in the back row without counting as a subsitution. The Libero will wear a different uniform and has limitations. She cannot serve or attack a ball if contact is made while the ball is above the height of the net. The libero also cannot block or attempt a block.
VOLLEYBALL FORMAT There are two divisions for the 2002 season: West and East. 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 Hawaii is the only WAC team to receive mention in both the USA Today/AVCA and Volleyball Magazine polls, coming in at the second spot in the Volleyball Magazine poll and fourth in the USA Today/AVCA poll. San Jose State also received votes in both polls.
HAWAI'I FALLS TO UCLA IN NCAA REGIONAL SEMIFINAL Ninth-seeded Hawaii fell to eighth-seeded UCLA, 30-25, 30-28, 22-30, 30-22 in Long Beach, Calif., in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Volleyball Championship. Sophomore middle blocker Kim Willoughby led the Wahine with 35 kills and 13 digs. She ended the year with 850 kills and a 7.20 kpg average. Both of those marks rank fourth in single-season NCAA history. Maja Gustin added 16 kills for the Wahine, while Margaret Vakasausau had 46 assists and 13 digs. Defensively, Lauren Duggins had 16 digs, while Melissa Villaroman added 12 digs to give Hawaii 80 digs overall. Hawaii ended the season 29-6 after advancing to the NCAA regionals for the fourth-straight season.
HAWAII STOPS WASHINGTON STATE AND EASTERN WASHINGTON IN EARLY ROUNDS The No. 9 seeded University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine defeated the Washington State Cougars (17-12) 34-32, 30-26 and 30-23 in the first round of the 2001 NCAA tournament.
Kim Willoughby led the way for the Wahine with 22 kills and 10 digs. Nohea Tano played great in her return to Wazzu, posting eight kills on just 11 attempts for a .727 hitting percentage. Tano also added 13 digs and a team-high three blocks, while fellow middle Lauren Duggins had her first double-double of the year with 10 kills, 12 digs and a .389 hitting percentage. Maja Gustin added 16 kills, while Margaret Vakasausau had 53 assists and 15 digs. Hawaii moved to 4-0 against Washington State.
With the win, Hawaii moved on to face Eastern Washington in the second round. The Wahine held a 1-0 record against the Eagles. Hawaii defeated Eastern Washington, 3-0, in 1989.
In this meeting, Hawaii defeated Eastern Washington 30-22, 28-30, 30-20, 30-28 in front of 625 fans on the campus of Washington State. Kim Willoughby ended the match with 35 kills. Along with that, Willoughby added 17 digs and a .352 hitting percentage on the match.
Lauren Duggins added another great performance, earning her second straight double-double with 13 kills and 17 digs, while hitting .579 and blocking six balls. Maja Gustin added 17 kills while Margaret Vakasausau had 67 assists and 17 digs.
AGAINST THE FIELD Hawaii, Nevada and San Jose State were 17-16 (.515) against last years tournament field during the regular season. Hawaii was 11-5, and all of its losses were to teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament, including second-seeded Nebraska and fourth-seeded USC. The Wahine posted wins over Utah, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Santa Clara (twice), San Diego State, San Jose State (three times) and Nevada (twice).
San Jose State and Nevada Fall in Palo Alto The third-seeded and eventual national champion Stanford Cardinal eliminated two of the three WAC teams from postseason play. In Palo Alto, Calif., the Cardinal defeated Nevada in the first round and stopped San Jose State in the second round.
The Spartans advanced to the second round after a 3-2 win over No. 22 Santa Clara. San Jose State had not advanced past the first round since 1987. The Spartans avenged a 3-0 early season loss to the Broncos.
Sophomore Liz Hudson set a San Jose State school record for block assists in a season on match point against Santa Clara. Hudson ended the season with 134 block assists, breaking the old record of 128 set by Kim Hicks during the 1988 season. Hudson led the Spartans in total blocks with 147, the third highest total in school history. Senior Brianna Blair also added her 10th double-double of the season with 15 kills and 13 digs.
In the Wolf Pack's 3-0 loss to Stanford, Nevada was led by senior Suzanne Stonebarger who had seven kills and nine digs. The Cardinal held the Wolf Pack to a hitting percentage of .127.
THE WAC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT WAC teams are a combined 108-83 (.565) in the NCAA Tournament since 1981. Current WAC teams are a combined 56-35 (.615) 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 40-33 (.533) in the NCAA Tournament. Current WAC teams are 16-11 (.593) in the NCAAs. Since 1990, the WAC has had at least two teams compete in the NCAA Tournament every year except 1999. The three teams advancing to the postseason last year are the most since six teams advanced in 1998.
WILLOUGHBY NAMED TO ALL-AMERICA TEAMS Hawaii outside hitter Kim Willoughby earned both ASICS/Volleyball Magazine and AVCA first team All-American honors. The sophomore was the lone representative for the WAC.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS Hawaii sophomore Kim Willoughby broke the WAC single-season record for kills against Fresno State with her 654th kill of the season in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament. She ended 2001 with 850 total kills. Willoughby also averaged 7.20 kpg. Willoughby finished fourth in NCAA history in kills and kills per game in a single season.
With her 35 kills against UCLA in NCAA Regionals, Willoughby recorded her eighth match with at least 30 kills. The sophomore set the record for kills in match with 43 in a five-game match against San Jose State.
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.