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PLAYER OF THE WEEK Hawai'i right side hitter Tara Hittle has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 4. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor of the year for the freshman and the second for the Rainbow Wahine this season.
The Colorado Springs, Colo., native had a career-match at Fresno State, hitting .625 with 22 kills, 10 digs and seven assists, just missing a triple-double. She then followed it up with a 19-kill, .545 hitting percentage match at Nevada. For the week, the freshman hit an amazing .585, the second-highest hitting percentage in the league last week. Last week, she averaged 4.56 kills per game and 1.11 assists per game. She is now hitting .316 on the year with 3.02 kpg and 1.70 dpg.
The Rainbow Wahine extended their winning streak against unranked teams to 184. Hawai'i also extended its WAC winning streak to 80-straight matches.
Other nominees included: Cameron Flunder, Boise State; Christianna Reneau, Fresno State; Heather Anderson, Louisiana Tech; Salaia Salave`a, Nevada; Rebecca Kainz, Rice; Beth Karasek, SMU and Kari Stacy, UTEP.
WEEK THREE OF WAC ACTION The third week of WAC play has two undefeated teams and two winless teams. In the West, Hawaii is 2-0, while San Jose State is 0-2. In the East, Rice is 4-0 off to its best WAC start ever. UTEP is 0-4 looking for its first WAC win on the road this weekend.
AROUND THE COUNTRY There are only three teams ranked in the top 10 that are undefeated, Hawaii, Ohio State and newly ranked No. 1, Washington. Former No. 1, Minnesota, was beaten, 3-1 in Big Ten compeition last week by the Badgers. No. 2 and defending national champion, USC, has already lost twice this season. Hawaii is 4-0 this season against teams ranked in the top 25. despite being stretched to five games four times in four weeks of action.
BOLD BRONCOS The Broncos won all four of their matches on the road two weeks ago and then split with Rice and Tulsa this past week. Boise States victory over Tulsa was the team's first win over Tulsa in program history. Boise State is having its best season in several years and its best conference season since joining the WAC. Prior to the 2004 season, the Broncos had never won more than one match in conference play in any given WAC season. With a record of 14-3, the 2004 Bronco program is in its first season of double-digit wins since 1998.
KARASEK REACHES MILESTONE SMUs Beth Karasek recorded her 1200th career kill and 1200th career dig in the win over Louisiana Tech. Karasek is the fourth player at SMU to reach 1200 kills (1789 - Erin Pryor, 1456 - Melissa Godwin, 1311 - Kelly Klecka, 1204 - Karasek). Karasek is the third SMU player to 1200 digs and is closing in on the school record (1238 - Erin Pryor, 1224 - Kristen Peterson, 1215 - Karasek).
AGAINST THE BEST Hawaii leads the way this season against ranked teams. The Rainbow Wahine are 4-0 against teams that were ranked at the time of the match. Hawaii has wins over No. 17 Arizona, No. 17 Santa Clara, No. 3 UCLA and No. 14 California. The WAC is 4-5 (.444) against non-conference ranked teams. Three teams have losses to teams in the top 10. Rice lost in five games to No. 1 Minnesota, while Nevada also went the distance with then No. 6-Stanford. Boise State lost to then-No. 3 Washington.
ATTENDANCE Hawaii continues to pack the stands early this season. The Rainbow Wahine have already drawn over 67,659 fans in eight matches for an average 6,766. Hawaii also has the top 10 attended games, led by the season-high 8,656 that saw Hawaii defeat Pepperdine in three games. There were also 7,954 fans that saw the Rainbow Wahine upset No. 3 UCLA 3-2. There were 6,661 fans that saw Hawaii defeat Arizona on Sept. 5.
WELCOME TO THE WAC Next season, Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State will join the WAC. Both Idaho and New Mexico State advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season. The Vandals lost to Hawaii in Honolulu in the first round. New Mexico State lost to BYU in the first round. The Aggies were a perfect 15-0 in the Sun Belt in 2003.
This season, New Mexico State is 12-2, 4-0 in the Sun Belt Conference. The other Aggies, Utah State, have started the season 3-9, 0-5 in the Big West. The Idaho Vandals are 8-5 so far this season, 2-3 in the Big West Conference.
REGIONAL SITES SET The NCAA Division I Womens Volleyball Committee has announced the following sites for regional competition of the 2004 NCAA Division I Womens Volleyball Championships. The first sight is the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Ky., along with the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis, Minn.; Bank America Arena in Seattle, Wash., and the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wis. Louisville, Minnesota, Washington and Wisconsin-Green Bay are the hosts for regionals, which will be held December 9-12.
RICE NAMES NEW HEAD COACH The WAC welcomes one new coach this season. Genny Volpe, formerly an assistant coach at Texas A&M University, has been named Rices new head volleyball coach. Volpe spent the past three seasons at Texas A&M, where the Aggies were 70-26 and appeared in the NCAA tournament each season. Texas A&M finished the 2003 season ranked 16th in the final AVCA poll and advanced to the NCAA regional semifinals where it lost to eventual national champion Southern California.
This is not Volpes first stint at Rice. She spent the 1995 season as an assistant coach for the Owls under former head coach Henry Chen. She helped direct Rice to its first postseason bid as the Owls were selected to play in the NIVC tournament.
Boise State Broncos (13-2, 2-0 WAC)The Boise State volleyball team (14-3) travels for two WAC matches this week ... the Broncos travel to play at Hawaii Friday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. ... Hawaii last week traveled to Fresno and Reno, defeating Fresno State 3-1, and then defeating Nevada 3-2 ... Boise State then flies back to California to play San Jose State Sunday, Oct. 10 at 1 p.m. ... San Jose State this past week traveled to Reno and Fresno, losing to Nevada (0-3) and Fresno State (0-3).
Fresno State Bulldogs (9-6, 2-2 WAC)Fresno State is 53-20 overall the last three years combined ... Fresno State is 34-8 in its last four years at home (North Gym & Save Mart Center) ... Fresno State is 17-3 in non-conference play in its last four years at home ... with 1,353 career kills and 984 career digs, senior outside hitter Kristen Fenton is looking to become just the fifth Bulldog to record 1,000 career kills and digs ... she is 16 digs shy of becoming the fifth Bulldog to join the elite 1,000/1,000 club ... ranked No. 3 all-time in the career kill list at Fresno State, Fenton has her eye next on the No. 2 spot held by outside hitter Diana Nalbandian, who totaled 1,495 kills (1994-97).
Hawaii Rainbow Wahine (12-0, 2-0 WAC)The Rainbow Wahine extended their winning streak against unranked teams to 184 ... Hawaii extended its WAC winning streak to 80 matches ... Hawaii made a move in the latest CSTV/USA Today top 25 coaches poll, taking the No. 4 spot in this weeks poll ... this is Hawaiis highest ranking this sesaon ... transfer Victoria Prince went for 16 kills, six blocks and a .484 hitting percentage at Fresno State ... she then had 15 kills and a school rally-scoring record 13 blocks while hitting .419 at Nevada ... last week, she averaged 3.44 kpg and 2.11 bpg ... for the season, the middle is hitting .372 with 3.24 kpg and 1.41 bpg ... the five-game match against Nevada was Hawaiis first five-game WAC match since Nov. 15 against Fresno State.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (5-11, 1-2 WAC)Louisiana Tech posted its first road win of the season on Sept. 28 at Lamar, however the Lady Techsters have tallied three neutral court victories so far there were three career highs in digs posted against SMU, Heather Anderson with 27, Megan Rush with 21 and Joy Okpa with 22 against the Mustangs as the Lady Techsters came up with 106 digs as a team in the four game loss Okpa had her sixth double double of the season on Saturday with 18 kills and 22 digs against SMU and is hitting .297 in WAC play as well as averaging 4.50 digs per game in three WAC contests Tech had the 3rd and 4th largest crowds in Tech volleyball history over the weekend as 564 attended the Oral Roberts match followed by 432 against SMU in WAC action on Oct. 2.
Nevada Wolf Pack (8-6, 2-2 WAC)Freshman Teal Ericson posted a career-high 20 kills against sixth-ranked Hawaii on Oct. 2 ... this was the first time that the Wolf Pack had extended the Rainbow Wahine to five games ... junior Salaia Salave`a is fourth in the WAC in hitting percentage, hitting .347 ... Salave`a has moved to first in the WAC in kills per game, averaging 4.84 ... she has a total of 237 kills in 49 games this season ... the versatile Salave`a is also fourth in the league in digs, averaging 1,45 dpg.
Rice Owls (14-2, 4-0 WAC)With their 4-0 start in WAC action, the Owls are off to their best league start ever ... their 14-2 overall record matches the start of the 1987 season and is the best opening since Rice went 15-2 to start the 1989 season ... the Owls have now won seven-straight matches ... senior Rebeca Pazo is among the leaders in several categories, including third in kills per game (4.56 kpg) ... Pazo is also second in the league in service aces (0.53 sapg) ... Pazo is also 10th in digs per game (3.44 dpg) ... for the first time this season, all 11 Owls in uniform played in a match, with the entire squad playing at least two games in Rice's 3-1 win at UTEP... after playing 10 of their first 16 matches on the road, the Owls are set to enjoy two consecutive weeks at home ... Rice hosts four matches at Autry Court before hitting the road again.
San Jose State Spartans (9-6, 0-2 WAC)The Spartans are looking for their first WAC win this week hosting UTEP on Oct. 7 and Boise State on Oct. 10 ... last week, the Spartans were swept by both Fresno State and Nevada ... Spartan sophomore Jessie Shull is first in the league in digs, averaging 5.15 dpg ... Shull has 278 digs in 54 games this season ... fellow sophomore Kristina Conrad is ninth in assists, averaging 11.28 apg.
SMU Mustangs (6-5, 1-1 WAC)All-WAC honoree Jessica Mihm continues her stellar play this season, showing no signs of a sophomore slump ... Mihm leads in the WAC in assists per game, averaging 13.85 apg ... Mihm has a total of 637 assists this season ... Mihm had 62 assists and 18 digs ... her 62 assists was the second-most for her this season. She had a school record 88 in a 3-2 loss at Cal State Northridge September 11 ... SMU has won 3 of its last 4 matches ... with a 1-1 record the Mustangs are second in the Eastern Division behind Rice.
UTEP Miners (6-7, 0-4 WAC)Kari Stacy recorded her eighth double-double performance this season against Rice on Oct. 2 ... this season, she has posted 208 kills, nearly 100 more than any player on the UTEP squad ... Stacy also leads the team in digs (132) and digs per game (2.81), pounding four 20-kill perfromances compared with one in 2003 and only recorded five double-doubles last year ... against Tulsa, Stacy led the Miners with 16 kills while adding 19 digs ... she recorded a team-high 13 kills and 12 digs against Rice ... for the first time since Nov. 21, 2001, UTEP dominated the court, taking the first of two meetings with the Aggies, 3-1.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane (12-4, 1-3 WAC)The Golden Hurricane won their first WAC match last week with a 3-1 win over UTEP on the road ... Tulsa came close to evening out its WAC record, falling to Boise State 3-2 ... Tulsa has two individual leaders ... junior Sam Rutherford leads the league in hitting percentage, hitting .433 ... stellar freshman Kassiana Urnau leads the league in service aces per game, averaging 0.76 sapg ... the next highest player, Rices Rebeca Pazo, averages 0.53 sapg.