WAC 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 left side hitter, earned her fifth career player of the week honor knocking down 73 kills in three matches at the Aston Wahine Volleyball Challenge. The Rainbow Wahine earned their second-straight tournament title and moved to 6-0 this season. For her performance, Willoughby earned Most Outstanding Player Honors.
A junior from Napoleanville, La., Willoughby broke her own school record with 38 kills in a four-game match against Washington State. Against the Huskies, she also had 18 digs, three aces and three blocks, hitting .321. Willoughby ended the week with 39 digs and a .396 hitting percentage.
Other nominees included: Carrie Hartt, Fresno State; Lia Mora, Louisiana Tech; Michelle More, Nevada; Rebeca Pazo, Rice; Jessica Mihm, SMU; Jennifer Abbruzzese, UTEP and Dana Weddle, Tulsa.
THIS WEEK IN WAC VOLLEYBALL The 2002 volleyball enters week three with six teams playing at home. Nevada hosts Cal State Northridge and Sacramento State at the Nevada Invitational, while SMU hosts California, Tulane and UT San Antonio at the SMU Invitational. UTEP returns home for the Borderland Invitational, while No. 7 Utah, Eastern Washington and George Washington travel to Boise for the Bronco Invitational. Tulsa will face instate rival Oklahoma, Louisiana-Monroe and Grambling State at its Golden Hurricane Classic. Hawaii remains at home and faces Cal Poly on Sept. 13 and 14. Louisiana Tech remains on the road at the North Texas Tournament, while San Jose State travels to Texas for the TCU Tournament. Fresno State travels to Colorado for the Pioneer Invitational hosted by Denver University, and Rice heads to Knoxville to face the Lady Vols of Tennessee at the Tennessee Tournament.
RICE'S MORALES REACHES 150 WINS Head Coach Julio Morales recorded his 150th career win against TCU, defeating the Horned Frogs 3-0. Morales has been at the helm of the Lady Owls since 1996 and has 94 wins as Rice head coach. Morales has coached the Lady Owls to double-digit win seasons five times in six seasons. Last season, Rice finished with a 17-9 record.
TOURNAMENT TAKERS So far this season, WAC schools have captured five tournament titles. Hawaii has won two titles at home this season, while Fresno State, Tulsa and Nevada also captured titles. Tulsa title was the first tournament win for the Golden Hurricane since 2000. For the second-straight season, the Wolf Pack have won their home tournament.
The WAC also added to its all-tournament honorees. The following players have been named to all-tournament teams:
Megan Tranter, BS Montana Invitational
Carrie Hartt, FS Fresno State Invitational
Christy Burnett, FS Fresno State Invitational
Java Johnson, FS W&M Hi-IQ Tournament
Fresno State Invitational
Kristen Fenton, FS W&M Hi-IQ Tournament
Fresno State Invitational
Kim Willoughby, UH Hawaiian Airlines Classic*
Aston Imua Wahine Classic*
Lauren Duggins, UH Hawaiian Airlines Classic
Lily Kahumoku, UH Hawaiian Airlines Classic
Aston Imua Wahine Classic
Margaret Vakasausau, UH Aston Imua Wahine Classic
Cristine Sant'Anna, LT Sugar Bowl VB Classic
Lia Mora, LT Lamar Tournament
Michelle More, UN Sands Regency/SBC Invitational*
Jill Couwenhoven, UN Sands Regency Invitational
Kellie Burton, Nevada Sands Regency Invitational
Rebeca Pazo, Rice Rice Invitational
Kristina Hoban, Rice Rice Invitational
Stephanie Pascucci, SJSUCalifornia Tournament
Kimberly Noble, SJSU California Tournament
Stanford Tournament
Jessica Mihm, SMU Best Western Invitational
Spring Hill Suites
Leslie Lasiter, SMU Spring Hill Suites
Dana Weddle, Tulsa White Eagle Tournament
Vanessa Thon, Tulsa White Eagle Tournament
Jennifer Abbruzzese,UTEPLonghorn Classic
*Most Outstanding/Valuable Player
TECH'S MORA RETURNS WITH A VENGEANCE Louisiana Tech setter Lia Mora continued her strong return from a knee injury that forced her to miss last season by being named to an all-tournament team for the second-straight week . Mora averaged 11.60 assists per game and recorded 16 digs in a loss LSU. Mora has four double-doubles this season (assists-digs) which is tied for second in the WAC.
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). So far this young season, the WAC is 38-23 (.623) against non conference opponents. Last week, the WAC had a strong showing with a 20-7 record WAC schools have a strong record against ranked opponents this season. So far, the WAC is 4-2 against teams ranked in the top 25. Hawaii leads the way with a 3-0 record with wins over No. 9 Ohio State, No. 7 UCLA and No. 20 Colorado. Nevada upset then-No. 23 BYU.
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.
NATIONAL POLL WATCH Hawaii is the only WAC team to receive mention in both the USA Today/AVCA and Volleyball Magazine polls, moving up to No. 2 in the Volleyball Magazine poll and No. 3 in the USA Today/AVCA poll.
MAJOR RULE CHANGE One major rule change this season is the addition of the Libero (pronounced: LEE-bah-ro). The Libero is a designated back row player who can replace any player in the back row without counting as a substitution. 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.
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.
AROUND THE COURT News and notes from around the league:
Boise State This week the Broncos host Eastern Washington, George Washington and the No. 7 Utah Friday and Saturday in the Bronco Invitational. Boise State looks to get back on track after losing to Cal State Northridge and Oregon State in Coravallis last week.
Fresno State The Bulldogs will open tournament play with host Denver on Friday, Sept. 13 before closing out the tournament against Montana State and Southern Mississippi on Saturday. With the series tied at 1-1, Fresno State and Denver will be squaring off for the third time in tournament play since 1998. The Bulldogs captured the first meeting with a four-game decision in their season opener at the Oregon Invitational on Sept. 4, 1998 before dropping a five-game decision at the Pioneers' Invitational on Sept. 15, 2000.
Hawaii Lily Kahumoku played outstanding, earning all-tournament honors. The junior averaged 5.22 kpg and 3.78 dpg over the past week. In Friday's match against San Diego State, Kahumoku had 17 kills and no errors on just 23 attempts for a hitting percentage of .739 in just two games played. In the second game of the match, Kahumoku had 11 kills on 13 attempts for a .846 hitting percentage.
Louisiana Tech The team hit .274 as Tech went 3-1 for the week. Louisiana Tech finished second in NOKIA Sugar Bowl Volleyball Classic hosted by Tulane. Louisiana Tech went five games with LSU (who was coming off a five game loss at No. 7 Texas A&M) on Friday in the opening tournament. The Lady Techsters defeated former Sun Belt Conference rival New Orleans in three games.
Nevada Senior, setter, Jill Couwenhoven dished out her 2,000th assist last weekend in the Sands Regency/SBC Invitational. On the season, she has 279 assists giving her 2,052 for her career. She ranks fourth all-time at Nevada, 331 behind Alanna Whitnacks (1997-98) 2,383. If Couwenhoven
equals her career high of 887 assists of last season she should end her career third behind Carla Busalacchis 4,550(1990-93) and Monica Petrillis 3,467(1993-96).
Rice Rice welcomed back 2001 WAC Freshman of the Year Rebeca Pazo. Pazo played in all four matches last week after sitting out most of the opening weekend with a sprained ankle. She recorded a team-high 15 kills in just over two games of action against Sam Houston State. The sophomore assisted on two blocks and went up for two solo against the Bearkats. She notched her first double-double on the year against TCU with 12 kills and 13 digs.
San Jose State The Spartans fell to two teams ranked in the top 10 last week with a 3-1 loss to national champion Stanford and a 3-0 loss to No. 8 Utah. Stanford has been a thorn in the Spartans side, knocking San Jose State out of the second round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament, 3-0. Against Cal Poly, San Jose State came within one ace of breaking the school record, ending the match with 18 aces.
SMU The Mustangs improved to 3-3 on the season with two wins at the Tampa Tournament at the University of South Florida. SMU defeated SW Missouri State and Stetson. Freshman Jessica Mihm has made an immediate impact for the Mustangs, earning her second-straight all-tournament honor. Mihm is the sister of former Texas All-American basketball player Chris Mihm.
UTEP Jennifer Abbruzzese averaged 4.20 kills and 3.90 digs to earn all-tournament honors at the Longhorn Classic. She recorded her third and fourth
double-doubles of the season, after compiling 14 kills and 12 digs against Texas-San Antonio and 19 kills and 16 digs against Utah State. Abbruzzese also became the fastest Miner in school history to reach 800 career kills. She reached the plateau in 61 career matches and now has 824 kills. Her career 3.70 kills per game average is also the highest in UTEP history.
Tulsa Tulsa won its first tournament since 2000, capturing the Northwestern State Tournament. The Golden Hurricane defeated Texas Southern, Grambling State, Alcorn State and host school Northwestern State. Tulsa is 3-0 against SWAC schools this season. Tulsa has now won 11-straight matches against Louisiana schools.