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9.23.03.PDF
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WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK Fresno State outside hitter Kristen Fenton has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 22. The junior has earned Fresno States first player of the week this season. Fenton also earned the honors once last season.
The junior from Marysville, Mich., was selected to her fourth straight all-tournament team (sixth of her career) and was named MVP for the second time this season as Fresno State went 3-0 at the inaugural La Quinta Inn/Northern Arizona Invitational. She led the tournament in hitting (.371), kills (51) and kills per game (4.25). Fenton also finished second in digs (40, 3.33 dpg) as she collected three double-figure kill performances, including one 20+ kill match. She also added two double-doubles.
With nine 20-kill matches on the year, Fenton opened the tournament with a double-double against New Mexico State. Fenton eclipsed the 800-career kill plateau last weekend and is 180 kills shy of being just the ninth Bulldog to amass 1,000+ career kills as she could become the second-fastest Bulldog to reach 1,000. With 820 career kills, Fenton is averaging 3.50 kills per game (234 games/65 matches), a mark that currently ranks No. 6 all-time at Fresno State.
Other nominees included: Cameron Flunder, Boise State; Kim Willoughby, Hawaii; Cristine SantAnna, Louisiana Tech; Salaia Salave`a, Nevada; Rebeca Pazo, Rice; Jessica Mihm, SMU and Lindsay Eaves, Tulsa.
WAC PLAY BEGINS (WEEK FIVE) The 2003 WAC season begins this week as Hawaii looks to defend its title and the 10 schools fight for the eight spots in the WAC Tournament. In the first week of WAC action, San Jose State and Hawaii will face off in a intra-divisional matchup, while the remaining eight teams will be involved in inter-divisional matchups. Fresno State and Nevada host both Rice and Tulsa. Boise State and UTEP host SMU and Louisiana Tech.
LOUISIANA TECH'S MORA RECORDS TRIPLE-DOUBLE Louisiana Tech setter Lia Mora posted the first triple double of her career with 11 kills, 56 assists and 13 digs in Techs four-game win over UMKC on Sept. 20. It was also the first triple-double in the WAC this season. At the Tulane Tournament, Mora averaged 14.80 assists per game and 3.80 digs per game. Mora has now been named to the all-tournament team at eight straight regular season events including all four this season.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES Looking back at the week before WAC play a year ago, several teams have made quite an improvement. Last season, SMU was 5-8. This year, the Mustangs have turned that record around and start WAC play 8-4. Boise State won only one match all of 2002. This year, they enter WAC action with four wins.
Hawaii and Fresno State begin the WAC season with very similar records to last season. The Rainbow Wahine are 11-1 this season, while they were a perfect 10-0 last season. Fresno State is 10-3 this season and were 12-1 at this point last season.
SPREADING THE WEALTH In the WAC's main six individual statistic categories three different schools lead the way. Hawaii leads four categories, including hitting percentage (Kim Willoughby, .430), kills (Willoughby, 6.97 kpg), service aces (Willoughby, 0.64) and assists (Kamana`o Kanoe, 13.30 apg). Tulsa's Sam Rutherford leads the league in blocks, averaging 1.16 bpg. San Jose State's Jessie Shull is first in digs with 4.43 dpg. Kanoe and Shull are freshmen.
NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS So far this season, the WAC is 72-56 (.563) against non-conference opponents. The WAC is 6-7 against ranked teams. Hawaii is 6-1 with wins over Louisville, UCLA, Kansas State, Stanford, Minnesota and LMU. 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. Last week, Rice fell 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 freshman Cameron Flunder has been named to four all-tournament teams in four weeks. The middle blocker was the first Bronco to make an all-tournament team in two seasons and has now made four all-tournament teams in four weeks. Flunder made the DoubleTree Bronco Invitational after putting down 38 kills and adding four aces and 12 blocks. In the Montana Invitational, Flunder played in all 10 games and had 27 kills, four service aces and seven blocks. In the Gonzaga Invitational, she tallied 41 kills, three aces, 18 digs and seven blocks in 13 games. In the Davidson Invitational, Flunder tallied 55 kills, nine digs and 10 blocks in 14 games.
Having opened the year by playing in four tournaments,
Fresno State recorded its third tournament title when it went 3-0 at the inaugural La Quinta Inn/Northern Arizona Invitational. Fresno State had three players named to the all-tournament team with junior Kristen Fenton, who was named MVP, senior Carrie Hartt and junior Tiffany Bishop. The Bulldogs recorded a four-game victory over New Mexico State, defeated Northern Arizona in five and swept Liberty in the tournament. The Bulldogs picked up their third sweep of the year against the Lady Flames. Fresno State handed NAU only its fifth loss at home since 1995 against non-conference opponents. Northern Arizona came into its match against the Bulldogs with a 33-4 (.892) non-conference home court record.
Hawaii beat No. 25 Loyola Marymount and UNLV in a pair of non-conference matches last week. Eight of the Rainbow Wahine's first 11 opponents were ranked in last week's top 25 poll. Hawaii will head on the road next week for the first time this season, playing San Jose State before facing Santa Clara on Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. Pacific time. The match against the Broncos will be shown on College Sports Television (CSTV) nationwide. It is the first of at least two Hawaii matches that CSTV will broadcast. The Hawaii vs. Nevada match in Honolulu will be broadcast on Oct. 5.
Louisiana Tech senior Cristine SantAnna earned her third all-tournament team selection of the season at the Tulane Tournament. She tied a career high with 24 kills against UMKC. SantAnna also posted two double-doubles in the weekend tournament in New Orleans and now has 32 career double-doubles.
Setter Lia Mora and SantAnna both were named to the all-tournament team at Tulane. It is Moras eighth-straight honor. Megan Rush had another strong weekend but was overlooked on the all-tournament team. She tied a career high with 18 kills against UMKC and is hitting .421 in Techs last eight matches (6-2). Louisiana Tech plays its first home match of the season on Sept. 23 against North Texas after playing its first 14 matches on the road.
Nevada is 2-1 in WAC openers since joining the conference prior to the 2000 season. In 2000 the Wolf Pack lost 3-2 at Fresno State in Nevadas first WAC match. The 2001 conference schedule opened with a 3-0 home win versus Tulsa and in 2002 the Pack downed Fresno State 3-1 to begin league play. In three seasons in the conference, Nevada has posted a 27-15 mark. Sophomore Christine Harms had her streak of four double-doubles in a row and five consecutive matches of double figure kills come to an end at BYU last Saturday. Against the Cougars she had five kills and seven digs. On the year she tops the team with five double-doubles. Harms had posted double-doubles in kills and digs vs. Cal Poly (10K,19D), at Cal (14K,13D), vs. New Hampshire (11K,10D), and at Utah (14K,12D) before the streak ended. Her other double-double came vs. Fordham (13K,10D).
Rice improved to a perfect 6-0 at home with 3-0 victories over crosstown rival Houston and Mississippi. The Owls win over Houston is the second-straight, and the first at home since the 1995 season. Rice out-blocked Mississippi nine to five, marking the eighth time this season the Owls have out-blocked their opponent. Freshman Tessa Kuykendall recorded three solo blocks against Houston, marking the second time this season she has done so. Kuykendall also hit .714 against the Lady Rebels (6-1-7), and assisted on three blocks. The Owls averaged 3.17 bpg this week behind three solos and 32 assists. Libero Rebekah Neal averaged 4.83 dpg this week, including 20 against Mississippi.
San Jose State looks to break a two-match losing streak this week with two matches. The Spartans will take on Saint Mary's on Sept. 23 before begininng WAC action. In WAC play, the Spartans have the tough task of taking on WAC Champion, Hawaii, at home. The Spartans last faced the Rainbow Wahine in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament, where San Jose State lost, 3-0.
SMU setter Jessica Mihm, a sophomore from Austin, Texas was named MVP at the Loyola-Chicago Invitational. SMU took the title, defeating Xavier, Maryland, and Loyola-Chicago. Mihm had 153 assists and 36 digs this tournament. The Mustangs enter WAC play with an 8-4 record. SMU will begin conference play on Sept. 25 when they travel to UTEP. SMU will also face Boise State on Sept. 27.
UTEP went 0-3 at the Mean Green Classic last week, failing to win a match in a regular-season tournament for the first time since the 1999 season. Freshman Ashley Ripple was the lone Miner selected to the all-tournament team, as she hit a team-leading .327 with 22 kills and eight total blocks. Senior Brittney Bennett turned in the best performance of her career in the final match of the tournament for the Miners. Against Oral Roberts the Mesa, Ariz., native just missed a triple-double. Bennett recorded 11 kills as she hit .450, had seven digs and totaled nine blocks. The nine blocks tied Bennett for the fifth-best performance for a four-game match in UTEP history. With 35 digs over the weekend, senior Jennifer Abbruzzese is just eight digs shy of breaking Christy Crank's (1993-96) career total of 1,166. This week, UTEP will open WAC play at home against SMU and Louisiana Tech. The Miners are a perfect 1-0 in home conference openers under head coach Scott Swanson and have won three of the last four.
Tulsa finishes the Kathy Trosclair Memorial Tournament with a 2-1 record. The Golden Hurricane has three players with 50 or more attacks in three matches, three players with 20 or more kills. Tulsa has won nine of its last 11 matches, after starting 0-2. The Golden Hurricane enter WAC play with a solid 9-4 record. Tulsa looks to sustain its first place mark in the Eastern Division when WAC play begins this week. The Golden Hurricane will open WAC action on the road against Nevada on Sept. 25 and Fresno State on Sept. 27. Both the Wolf Pack and the Bulldogs earned bids to the NCAA Tournament last season.
PACKING THE STANDS Once again Hawaii is leading the nation in attendance. The Rainbow Wahine have drawn 85,9793 in 12 home matches so far this season for an average of 7,165. Hawaii also holds the top 10 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. Last week, 7,419 fans saw the Rainbow Wahine sweep the UNLV Rebels.
2003 Division I Volleyball Attendance
School Avg. Total Matches
1. Hawaii 7,165 85,979 12
2. Nebraska 4,144 16,577 4
3. Wisconsin 3,583 17,916 5
4. Florida 2,939 14,697 5
5. Penn St. 2,481 7,444 3
6. UCLA 2,003 2,003 1
7. Minnesota 1,981 11,884 6
8. Stanford 1,880 3,761 2
9. Texas A&M 1,767 5,302 3
10. No. Iowa 1,721 5,162 3