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10.14.03.PDF
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WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK Hawai'i left-side hitter Lily Kahumoku has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 13. This is the first player of the week honor for the senior this season and her fourth overall.
Kahumoku a native of Lubbock, Texas, led Rainbow Wahine to two road wins over Boise State and UTEP. Kahumoku stepped up in the absence of two-time WAC Player of the Year, Kim Willoughby. She averaged 4.83 kills per game, along with 3.33 digs per game and 1.33 blocks per game in the wins at Boise State and UTEP. She also hit .479.
The two-time All-American raised her season averages to 4.51 kills per game, 3.19 digs per game and a .311 hitting percentage. The senior tied career-highs in aces with three and block solos with two against UTEP. She also added her seventh double-double of the season against the Miners.
Kahumoku is currently fifth in kills in WAC games (4.40 kpg) and fifth overall (4.51 kpg). In league matches, she is also fifth in hitting percentage (.358).
Other nominees included: Carrie Hartt, Fresno State; Lia Mora, Louisiana Tech; Rebeca Pazo, Rice; Allison Dillion, San Jose State and Kelly Larkan, SMU.
DIGGING IN (WEEK EIGHT) The 2003 WAC season enters its fourth week with the two undefeated teams in WAC action, Hawaii in the West Division and SMU in the East. SMU is in the midst of a program-high nine-match winning streak. This week, the streak will be tested as the Mustangs travel to San Jose State and No. 2 Hawaii in inter-divisional action. In the West, Hawaii has won 16-straight matches and are 5-0 in league play. The Rainbow Wahine will take on the Mustangs and Louisiana Tech at home. In the West, second-place Fresno State and fourth-place Nevada will host Boise State and UTEP. In intra-divisional action in the East, Tulsa hosts second-place Rice.
LEADERS OF THE PACK In the WAC's main six individual statistical categories Hawaii leads in five categories. The Rainbow Wahine lead in hitting percentage (Kim Willoughby, .427), kills (Willoughby, 6.76 kpg), service aces (Willoughby, 0.67), blocks (Lauren Duggins, 1.21 bpg) and assists (Kamana`o Kanoe, 13.17 apg). SMU's Beth Karasek is first in digs with 4.17 dpg. In WAC matches, the Rainbow Wahine lead in three categories, while the Bulldogs lead in two categories with the Mustangs leading in one. Hawaii's Maja Gustin leads in hitting percentage (.475), while Willoughby leads in service aces (0.89 sapg) and kills (6.00 kpg). Fresno State's Tuli Peters leads in digs (4.88 dpg), while setter Robyn Keune leads in assists (14.22 apg). Rice's Tessa Kuykendall is the leader in blocks, averaging 1.58 bpg.
TULSA'S THON BREAKS CAREER ASSISTS RECORD AGAINST LOUISIANA TECH With 44 assists against the Lady Techsters, junior Vanessa Thon moved into the No. 1 spot on the Golden Hurricane's all-time career assist chart. With 637 on the year, Thon has become only the second player in TU history to record over 2,400 assists in a career. She currently stands at 2,589. Former Hurricane Mendy Marsh (1993-96) held the previous mark with 2,569.
Thon also ranks second on the career service ace list with 114 aces. She has 29 aces this season. Former Hurricane-great Kristien Van Lierop (1997-00) currently owns the top spot with 130 aces during her career at TU.
ROAD WARRIORS Last week, the road teams fared very well. In nine WAC matches last week, six visiting team conquered their hosts. Away from the island, Hawaii defeated Boise State and UTEP. San Jose State also beat the Broncos and the Miners. Fresno State moved to 4-1 in the WAC with a road win at Nevada, while Rice swept Louisiana Tech in Ruston.
SMU STREAKS SETS RECORD SMU's current winning streak of nine-matches is a Mustang record. The Mustangs have not lost since Sept. 13 when they fell to Arizona State. The previous record was six-straight matches during the 2001 season, when SMU finished with a 8-5 league record. The winning streak has placed SMU in first place in the Eastern Division with a 5-0 WAC record.
BEST OF THE BEST Hawaii is tied with defending national champion Southern California for the most wins against ranked teams this season. The Rainbow Wahine are 7-1 against top 25 teams this season, while the Women of Troy are 7-0. Pepperdine is the next team with a 5-0 mark against ranked teams this season. Hawaii is ranked second and sports a 17-1 record this season. The Rainbow Wahine have won 16-straight matches.
FRESNO STATE OPENS SAVE MART CENTER The Fresno State volleyball team will get a bigger stage in November when the Bulldogs host Hawai'i at the brand-new Save Mart Center (16,116) on Sun., Nov. 9, 12:00 p.m.
After turning away fans last year as nearly 1,400 packed the standing-room only North Gym last November, the Fresno State Athletics Department announced a new venue and a new date as the Bulldogs push for another postseason appearance. The Bulldog volleyball team was scheduled to play the Rainbow Wahine on Sat., Nov. 8, 7:00 p.m.
Being the first true athletic competition in the Save Mart Center, the volleyball team will follow the lead of the Bulldog Basketball Extravaganza (Nov. 5) and a concert by Andrea Bocelli ( Nov. 7) as the first week of Grand Opening activities.
HAWAII AND NEVADA INCLUDED IN 2003 CSTV VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE College Sports Television (www.cstv.com), the first 24-hour college sports network, and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is presenting a national volleyball match of the week package, Sunday Night Spike 2003, this fall that will boast 15 teams who competed in the 2002 NCAA Championships, including national semifinalists Florida, Stanford and Hawaii. The schedule began on Sunday, Sept. 7 with Florida at Stanford and will include an October 26 doubleheader featuring Santa Clara-Pepperdine and Utah-Colorado State.
The WAC will have at least two teams featured. Hawaii defeated Santa Clara on Sept. 28 in California. The Rainbow Wahine also defeated Nevada on Oct. 5 in Honolulu. Finally, the WAC Tournament Championship match will be televised on Nov. 23 in Reno, Nev.
Five teams featured within the Sunday Night Spike 2003 schedule have won volleyball national championships (Hawaii in 1982, 1983, 1987; Nebraska in 1995, 2000; Pacific in 1985, 1986; Stanford in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001; Texas in 1988) and seven won conference titles in 2002 (Florida, Hawaii, Northern Iowa, Notre Dame, Pepperdine, Sacramento St., Utah). In addition, Colorado State and Eastern Washington won regular season conference titles.
NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS So far this season, the WAC is 76-59 (.562) against non-conference opponents. The WAC is 7-7 against ranked teams. Hawaii is 7-1 with wins over Louisville, UCLA, Kansas State, Stanford, Minnesota, LMU and Santa Clara. San Jose State fell to No. 20 Santa Clara, and Nevada fell to No. 15 Long Beach State. Boise State and Louisiana Tech also have losses to ranked teams. Rice has lost to formerly ranked Ohio State, and Fresno State lost to No. 23 Long Beach State.
AROUND THE COURT News and notes from around the league:
Boise State is led in kills per game by freshman Cameron Flunder (3.42 kpg). She is followed by freshman Jessica Childress (2.26 kpg) and senior Christina Moore (2.00 kpg). Junior Kelsey Young, who averaged 2.55 kpg, has been sidelined since the end of September. She is out for six weeks with a broken hand. Freshman Christina Melvin averages 9.90 assists for the Broncos.
Fresno State has had only one All-American in school history, assistant coach Ruth Lawanson. Named to the 2002 AVCA All-West Region team, junior outside hitter Kristen Fenton is putting up exceptional numbers this season. Already tallying nearly 400 kills and currently averaging 5.26 kills per game. One of four players in the WAC averaging better than 5.00 kills per game in overall play, Fenton has been a four-time all-tournament pick this fall, including two MVP honors. As the Bulldogs' top kill leader in 17 of 18 matches, she has had 20 or more kills in 13 matches, including her first career 30-kill match with 31 against then No. 19 Long Beach State; she became the first Bulldog in four years to tally a 30-kill performance. She has already set five school rally-scoring records this season. She owns the record for most kills in three (22 vs. Tulsa) and five (31 vs. No. 19 Long Beach State) games.
Hawaii has now won 70-straight WAC matches, dating back to 1998. The Rainbow Wahine are also on a 25-game winning streak and a 16-match winning streak. Two-time WAC Player of the Year, Kim Willoughby, missed the team's road trip with strep throat. Senior All-American Lauren Duggins had a big week, averaging 2.50 kills per game and 2.33 blocks per game in the two matches.
Louisiana Tech had played just one home match before going 2-1 last week. The win over ULM on Oct. 7 gave head coach Heather Mazeitis her 200th career victory (JC and NCAA). Tanya Jarvis moved into third place on the career block list at Louisiana Tech with 314. Senior Cristine SantAnna posted 20 or more kills for the sixth time this season with 20 against Tulsa on Oct. 11. Mora now has 35 career double-doubles and SantAnna 34. Louisiana Tech came up with 87 digs on Oct. 11, the most in a four game match this season and second only to the 97 the Techsters came up with in a five-game win at UTEP. The Lady Techsters are now 10-1 when out-digging its opponent.
Nevada will look to snap a four-match losing streak on Oct. 16 when UTEP comes to Reno. One team will snap a losing skid as the Miners have dropped their last nine matches. The Wolf Pack has lost four matches in a row for the second time this year with the first coming within the first six matches of the season. The Wolf Packs opponent on Oct. 18, Boise State, has lost its last five matches. Freshman Carly Sorensen, who had been starting, has missed the last six matches with a foot injury and her status for this weeks matches is unknown at this time. Sorensen has been cleared to do some limited practicing.
Rice notched its first road WAC win of the season with a 3-0 sweep of Louisiana Tech. Several Owls moved their way up the all-time lists. Libero Rebekah Neal had 31 digs, bringing her career total to 1,042, fifth all-time. Rebeca Pazo now ranks fifth all-time in kills with 1,338 and needs just 20 to move into fourth. She also ranks fifth all-time in hitting percentage at .277. Setter Kristina Hoban notched her fifth and sixth double-doubles of the season with 42 assists and 12 digs against Louisiana Tech and 59 assists and 11 digs against SMU. The Owls out-blocked both the Lady Techsters and Mustangs this weekend, marking the 12th and 13th times this season they have out-blocked their opponent.
San Jose State defeated UTEP and Boise State last week. With the win, the Spartans have a two-match winning streak for the first time this season. The team has also won three of its last four WAC matches. The Spartans are third in the Western Division behind Hawaii and Fresno State. San Jose State improves to 5-11 overall and 3-2 in the WAC. This week, San Jose State hosts SMU on Oct. 15, and Louisiana Tech on Oct. 18 at home. Preseason all-WAC pick Kimberly Noble is leading the Spartans charge. In WAC matches, Noble is fourth in kills per game (5.42 kpg) and fifth in service aces (0.63 sapg).
SMU is one WAC win away from tying last season's total league win total. Last season, the Mustangs were 6-7 in WAC matches and 12-17 overall. SMU has already won 14 matches this season to top last season's win total. The resurgence of the Mustangs is due in part to their young team. Three sophomores are among the leaders in the WAC stats. Setter Jessica Mihm has experienced no sophomore slump this season. She is fourth in the WAC in assists, averaging 12.23 assists per game. Fellow second-year player Ashley Zener is fourth in the league in blocks (1.00 bpg). Sophomore Kelly Larkan is second in WAC matches in blocks (1.39 bpg). Juniors Beth Karasek and Jacky Niederstadt are also having strong seasons for the Mustangs.
UTEP continued to struggle last week as the team has now dropped nine consecutive matches after being swept by San Jose State and No. 2 Hawaii last week. In being swept in both matches, UTEP has now lost 10 straight games dating back to the final game against Tulsa on Oct. 2. UTEP got more bad news last week as freshman middle blocker Ashley Ripple will be sidelined the remainder of the season with a torn labrum. Senior Megan Brock was not been in the lineup since the Tulsa match with a sore back. Against the Spartans on Oct. 9, Nina Reeves recorded her ninth career double-double with a match-high in kills and digs with 19 and 15, respectively. Senior Jennifer Abbruzzese failed to record a double-double last week for the first time in WAC play this season. The six-straight losses to open conference play is the most since the 1995 season when UTEP finished 1-13 in WAC play.
Tulsa is among the top-five teams of the WAC in four categories. Topping the charts is Tulsa's No. 2 ranking in service aces per game with a 2.03 average. The Golden Hurricane is third in the WAC in digs per game with a 17.30 average. Tulsa ranks fourth in kills per game with a 15.87 per game average, fifth in assists with a 14.23 per game average and sixth in hitting percentage with a .227 hitting percentage. For the first time in school history, Tulsa won its first two home conference matches with victories over UTEP (25-30, 30-17, 30-20, 24-30, 15-9) and Boise State (35-33, 30-20, 30-27). Tulsa has won its conference home opener three times since joining a conference in 1992, only to lose its next home match the previous two attempts.
TERRIFIC TOURNAMENTS The WAC performed very strong in tournaments this season. Fresno State traveled to the Northern Arizona Invitational and went 3-0 en route to the tournament win. SMU capture another title, winning the Loyola-Chicago Invitational. Last week, the WAC had a very good week at tournaments, Hawaii and Tulsa both won tournaments that they hosted. Louisiana Tech won its second tournament title of the season, capturing the Drake Tournament. The following players have also been named to all-tournament teams:
Cameron Flunder, BS Montana Invitational
Boise State Invitational
Gonzaga Invitational
Davidson Invitational
Tiffany Bishop, FS Northern Arizona Invitational
Kristen Fenton, FS Fresno State Invitational
Sac. State Invitational*
San Diego Invitational
Northern Arizona Invitational*
Carrie Hartt, FS Northern Arizona Invitational
Robyn Keune, FS Sacramento State Invitational
Lily Kahumoku, UH State Farm Women's Volleyball Classic
Hawaiian Airlines Volleyball Classic
Aston Imua Volleyball Challenge
Sprint Invitational
Kanoe Kamana`o, UH Hawaiian Airlines Volleyball Classic
Lauren Duggins, UH Aston Imua Volleyball Challenge
Sprint Invitational
Kim Willoughby, UH State Farm Women's Volleyball Classic
Hawaiian Airlines Volleyball Classic*
Aston Imua Volleyball Challenge*
Sprint Invitational*
Lia Mora, LT UL-Lafayette Tournament
Texas State Tournament
Drake Tournament*
Tulane Tournament
Joy Okpa, LT Drake Tournament*
Cristine Sant'Anna, LT UL-Lafayette Tournament*
Drake Tournament*
Tulane Tournament
Tristin Adams , UN CS-Fullerton Tournament
SBC/Sand Regency Tournament
Lauren Galler, UN SBC/Sand Regency Tournament
Christine Harms, UN Cal Golden Bear Tournament
Salaia Salave`a, UN CS-Fullerton Tournament
Lindsey Carter, RU Crowne Plaza/Rice Invitational
Rebeca Pazo, RU Crowne Plaza/Rice Invitational*
BYU Mizuno Classic
Kimberly Noble, SJSU Cowgirl Classic
SJSU Invitational
Jessie Shull, SJSU SJSU Invitational
Beth Karasek, SMU SMU Invitational
Loyola-Chicago Invitational
Kelly Larkan, SMU SMU Invitational
Jessica Mihm, SMU Loyola-Chicago Invitational*
Jennifer Abbruzzese, UTEPFiesta Bowl Tournament
Nina Reeves, UTEP Borderland Invitational
Fiesta Bowl Tournament
UMKC Kangaroo Classic
Ashley Ripple, UTEP Mean Green Classic
Kari Stacy, UTEP Borderland Invitational
UMKC Kangaroo Classic
Natalia Araujo, TU Dayton Flyer Classic
Kristin Bailey, TU Stephen F. Austin Tournament*
Lindsay Eaves, TU Stephen F. Austin Tournament Ewing-Grover Olds/GMC Truck Invite*
Sam Rutherford, TU Ewing-Grover Olds/GMC Truck Invite
Brie Penaluna, TU Stephen F. Austin Tournament
Vanessa Thon, TU Ewing-Grover Olds/GMC Truck Invite
*Most Outstanding/Valuable Player
PACKING THE STANDS Once again, Hawaii is leading the nation in attendance. The Rainbow Wahine have drawn 101,015 in 14 home matches so far this season for an average of 7,165. The Rainbow Wahine have led the nation in attendance the last eight years. Hawaii also holds 14 of the top 15 single-match highs this season, including the nation-leading 9,345 fans that saw No. 1 USC defeat No. 2 Hawaii. The attendance for UH's win over Stanford was 8,740 on Sept. 13. On Oct. 4, 8,529 fans saw the Rainbow Wahine sweep Nevada.
2003 Division I Volleyball Attendance
School Avg. Total Matches
1. Hawaii 7,215 101,015 14
2. Nebraska 4,112 28,782 7
3. Wisconsin 4,068 36,615 9
4. Florida 2,749 21,991 8
5. Penn State 2,732 13,660 5
6. Minnesota 2,205 17,641 8
7. Northern Iowa 1,715 10,288 6
8. Pacific 1,702 13,615 8
9. Stanford 1,679 8,397 5
10. Illinois State 1,661 9,965 6