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WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK Nevada's Michelle More has been named the first Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week of the 2002 season.
More, a 6-2 middle blocker, earned her second career player of the week honor knocking down 75 kills in three matches at the Washington State Tournament. More also earned all-Tournament honors. A senior from Torrance, Calif., More posted back-to-back career-highs in kills with 26 against Washington State and 31 in a win against BYU.
She rounded out the weekend with 18 kills against Gonzaga. With the 75 kills, More became the fifth Wolf Pack player to reach the 1,000-kill plateau. She currently has 1,017 career kills. The 2001 first-team all-WAC honoree ended the week hitting .373 with 10 digs and nine total blocks.
OTHERS NOMINATED Christy Burnett, Fresno State; Kim Willoughby, Hawaii; Stephanie Pascucci, San Jose State, Leslie Lasiter, SMU and Dana Weddle, Tulsa.
Fresno State's Burnett hit .341 as the Bulldogs ended the week 4-0. The senior outside hitter had 37 kills and 24 digs in four matches, including eight kills and 16 digs in a wins against Furman. She added 12 kills against East Carolina.
Hawaii's Willoughby helped guide the Rainbow Wahine to three wins over ranked teams with 49 kills in three matches. She ended the week with 4.90 kpg and 32 digs.
San Jose State's Pascucci made the all-tournament team by hitting .274 in three matches for the Spartans. The senior middle blocker had 43 kills and 14 total blocks as San Jose State started the season 2-1.
SMU's Lasiter tied an NCAA record, hitting 1.000 (10-for-10) against East Tennessee State, leading the Mustangs to their first win of the season. Lasiter is only the 14th player to achieve this feat. For the week, she hit .298 with 21 kills and five digs.
Tulsa's Weddle hit .365 in four matches for the Golden Hurricane. She helped lead Tulsa to a 3-1 start at the White Eagle Invitational. She ended the week with 42 kills and 10 block assists in four matches.
THIS WEEK IN WAC VOLLEYBALL The 2002 volleyball enters week two with all 10 teams remaining in tournament play this weekend. Hawaii will play host again at the Ashton Imua Volleyball Challenge. San Jose State travels to Palo Alto where defending NCAA National Champion Stanford will host the Spartans along with Cal Poly, Utah.
Fresno State looks to remain undefeated, hosting the Fresno State Invitational. The Bulldogs will face Air Force on Friday, Sept. 6 and Nicholls State and No. 19 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Sept. 7.
Louisiana Tech travels to New Orleans for the Tulane Tournament, while Boise State travels west for the Oregon State Invitational. SMU travels to the Southeast for the South Florida Invitational along with Stetson and SW Missouri State. UTEP travels to the Texas Invitational and Tulsa will play at the Northwestern State Tournament
Nevada will be the only other team playing at home this week, as the Wolf Pack host the Sands/SBC Tournament. Denver, Portland and UC Riverside will travel to Reno.
TOURNAMENT TAKERS WAC teams finished last week's tournament schedule with an 18-16 (.529) record. Fresno State and Hawaii led the way both capturing tournament titles. The Bulldogs did not lose a game en route to taking home the William & Mary Hi-IQ Tournament title. Fresno State defeated Furman, East Carolina, Radford and host school William & Mary. Senior outside hitter Christy Burnett earned MVP honors for her efforts.
With wins over No. 9 Ohio State, No. 21 Colorado and No. 7 UCLA, No. 4 Hawaii won the Hawaiin Airlines Wahine Classic. Junior left side hitter Kim Willoughby earned Most Outstanding Player honors.
Hawaii's Lauren Duggins and Lily Kahumoku also earned all-tournament honors. Fresno State's Java Johnson and Kristen Fenton were also William & Mary Hi-IQ Tournament all-tournament honorees.
Boise State junior Megan Tranter was named to the Montana Invitational all-Tournament Team. At the California Tournament, San Jose State's Stephanie Pascucci and Kimberly Noble earned honors. Lia Mora was named to the Lamar Tournament team for her efforts.
WELCOME BACK Hawaii welcomes back 2001 All-American Lily Kahumoku. The junior left side hitter made a strong return to play with 46 kills in three matches, third-best in the league. Kahumoku ended the week with 4.60 kpg and 2.60 dpg, while hitting .342.
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 18-16 against non conference opponents.
WAC schools have a stellar record against ranked opponents this season. So far, the WAC is 4-1 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.
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.
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.
AROUND THE COURT News and notes from around the league:
Boise State Bronco junior Megan Tranter was named to the Montana Invitational all-Tournament Team. For the weekend, Tranter tallied 35 kills and 24 digs over the weekend Up next, Boise State will be playing in Corvallis Sept. 6-7, against Oregon State and Cal State Northridge.
Fresno State Bulldog head coach Lindy Vivas won her 280th career victory against William & Mary on August 31. Vivas is now 7-5 in season openers as the Bulldogs opened up to a 4-0 start. The 4-0 start marks the 11th time overall and sixth-time under Vivas that Fresno State has won its first four matches.
Hawaii Hawaii started the season strong with three wins over top 25 teams. The No. 4 Rainbow Wahine captured wins over No. 9 Ohio State and No. 20 Colorado. Perhaps the sweetest win was the 3-1 victory over No. 7 UCLA. The Bruins knocked Hawaii out of the NCAA Tournament last season with a 3-1 win in the regional semifinals.
Louisiana Tech The Lady Techsters pick up their first win of the season against instate rival Centenary on Aug. 31. Louisiana Tech swept Centenary in three games. Before the win against Centenary, the Lady Techsters had dropped three-straight to open the season.
Nevada Nevada rebounded from a tough four-game loss to host Washington State with two wins to round out the Washington State Tournament. The Wolf Pack captured a tough five-game match against No. 23 BYU and swept Gonzaga in three games. The Wolf Pack was led by senior Michelle More who earned her 1,000th career kill after recording 75 kills in the three matches.
Rice The Owls opened the season 0-4, their worst start since the 1997 season, when Rice went 0-7 to open the season. Despite the 0-4 record, several Owls had strong opening weekends. Sophomore Lindsey Carter posted two double-doubles this weekend, including a 20-kill, 22-dig performance against Villanova, both personal bests. All four Rice freshmen saw significant time on the court, making an impact for the Owls. Kristina Hoban led the Owls in kills against George Mason, slamming down 14.
San Jose State The Spartans started the season strong with a 2-1 record last week. San Jose State knocked off Northern Arizona and Tennessee-Martin before losing to host school California in three games. With the strong effort both Stephanie Pascucci and Kimberly Noble earned all-tournament honors.
SMU After losing its first two matches to Northwestern and Charlotte, SMU rebounded with a win against East Tennessee State in three games. In the East Tennessee State match, senior Leslie Lasiter tied an NCAA record hitting 1.000 (10-for-10). She is only the 14th player in NCAA history to achieve the feat.
UTEP The Miners ended the week with a 1-2 record, earning their first win against Louisiana-Monroe to end the Portland Invitational. UTEP suffered losses against Portland State and Portland.
Tulsa Tulsa started the season 3-0 for only the third time in program history; the previous times were in 1982 and 2000. Through the first four matches of the season, TU has already improved in five offensive categories. In one less game than at this point in 2001, the Hurricane have one less kill in 2002 than in 2001 (207-208). TU is averaging just over one kill per game in 2002 (15.92-14.86). Tulsa's hitting percentage is up to .264, as compared to .212 at this point in 2001.