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| Carrie Nash - San Jose State |
PLAYER OF THE WEEK Boise State middle blocker Cameron Flunder has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 6. The sophomore has earned Boise States first player of the week honor ever.
The Kent, Wash., native, led the Broncos to four wins last week, including a sweep of the Bronco Invitational. Last season, Boise State won only six games all season. Against Albertson College, Flunder had seven kills and hit .545 in three games. Her stats included 23 kills, five blocks in four games against Gonzaga, Against Weber State, she had 15 kills, hit .565 and added three blocks. Against New Mexico State, she put down 19 kills, hit .643, and had five blocks.
Her averages for the first week were: 4.57 kills per game, 0.36 sapg, 0.86 dpg, and 1.00 bpg. Flunder led the WAC, hitting .500 with 64 kills and 11 errors on 106 attempts.
Boise State went 4-0 to open its season, with victories over Albertson College, Gonzaga, New Mexico State and Weber State. This marks the first time the Broncos have opened a season with four- straight wins since 1979.
Other nominees included: Kristen Fenton, Fresno State; Kanoe Kamana`o, Hawaii; Joy Okpa, Louisiana Tech; Salaia Salave`a, Nevada; Lindsey Carter, Rice; Carrie Nash, San Jose State; Beth Karasek, SMU and Joyce Silva, Tulsa.
TERRIFIC TOURNAMENTS The WAC had a solid first week of volleyball competition with four teams garnering tournament titles. Hawaii, Boise State, Tulsa and San Jose State won titles in the first week. All four teams remain undefeated after the first week. The Western Division ended the week 14-3. Boise State won the Bronco Invitational to start the season. The Broncos now post a 4-0 record after the first week of play, the first time the Broncos have opened a season with a 4-0 start since 1979. The following are players who made all-tournament teams.
Kristen Fenton, FS SMS Invitational
Robyn Keune, FS SMS Invitational
Kanoe Kamana`o, UH Hawaiian Airline Classic*
Salaia Salave`a, UN SBC/Sands Regency Tournament
Lindsey Carter, RU Hurricane Frances Invitational
Olaya Pazo, RU Hurricane Frances Invitational
Beth Karasek, SMU SMU Invitational
Linsday Eaves, TU Hibernia Bank Classic
Joyce Silva, TU Hibernia Bank Classic*
*Tournament MVP
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.
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.
AGING GRACEFULLY The Fresno State volleyball program is in its 40th year as a varsity sport and has posted a 497-427-12 (.537) mark since records were kept in 1971 (six years unknown, 1965-1970). Since 1965, the Bulldogs have had five coaches. Current head coach Lindy Vivas is the program's all-time winningest coach with a 13-year mark of 251-155 (.618). It was just nine years ago that Vivas put the program back at the .500 level. In addition, the program has made more postseason appearances under her (six) than the entire Bulldog volleyball history combined (two) prior to her arrival in 1991. The Bulldogs also have enjoyed more NCAA Tournament appearances (three) and 20-win seasons (eight) under Vivas as compared to one NCAA showing and two 20-win campaigns prior.
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.
WAC TOURNAMENT RECORDS Several records were broken at the 2003 WAC Tournament. Fresno State outside hitter Kristen Fenton set the record for attempts with 96 in a five-game loss against San Jose State in the quarterfinals. The previous record was 78 by San Diego State's Martina Vitkova-Engels against Wyoming in 1997. Fenton also tied the record for service aces in a match with four against San Jose State in the quarterfinal on Nov. 21. In team records, both Louisiana Tech and SMU tied the team record with five ball handling errors in their quarterfinal match on Nov. 21.
ACADEMIC AWARDS Several WAC volleyball players were honored with district academic awards.
Fresno State's Tina Brennan was named to her first Academic All-District VIII Team, as voted by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Brennan was named to the six-member first feam all-District VIII Team, which encompasses the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and the province of British Columbia. Majoring in liberal studies with a cumulative 4.0 GPA, Brennan was an integral part of the Bulldogs' defense since her arrival in 2001.
Catherine DuPont, Rebeca Pazo and Rebecca Kainz were named to Academic all-District VI teams as selected by CoSIDA. It was the second first-team honor for DuPont, as she was named to the district team in 2002, and was also named a third-team academic all-America that season. Pazo was a second-team all-district selection in 2002, and this was the first honor for Kainz. DuPont, a junior, owned a 4.00 grade point average in sports medicine and Spanish. Pazo was an economics and Spanish major with a 3.417 GPA. The junior is a two-time all-WAC selection, and was twice named to the academic all-WAC team. Kainz owned a 3.442 GPA in English and policy studies.
Nevada outside hitter Christine Harms was named to the Academic all-District VIII second team. Harms carried a 4.00 grade point average in civil engineering.
Boise State Broncos (4-0, 0-0 WAC)The Broncos had their best start to a volleyball season since 1979 ... the Broncos, currently 4-0, defeated Albertson College of Idaho Sept. 1, and then won their own Bronco DoubleTree Invitational with wins over Gonzaga, Weber State and New Mexico State ... after the first week of play, the Broncos are averaging 16.86 kills, 14.71 assists, 2.57 service aces, 13.29 digs, and 2.79 blocks per game ... the team is hitting .268 (236 kills, 96 errors, 523 attempts).
Bronco leaders include sophomore Cameron Flunder (4.57 kills, 0.86digs, 1.00 blocks per game), Jamie Claussen (4.08 kills, 2.69 digs), Telia Peterson (3.21 kills, 1.64 digs), Kim Fenneman (2.42 kills, 1.58 digs, 0.83 blocks), Heather Malaschak (1.43 kills, 1.71 blocks), and Christina Melvin (13.23 assists,1.54 digs, 0.92 blocks).
Fresno State Bulldogs (3-1, 0-0 WAC)Opening the year by playing nine of its first 13 matches on the road, Fresno State's 26-match regular-season schedule features 15 road contests and 11 home matches ... with the majority of travel happening this month, the Bulldogs will play six at home and six on the road in the final two months ... since 2000, Fresno State will have played 76 road matches to just 62 home dates ... the Bulldogs have fared well the last three years combined by going 27-11 away from home.
Hawaii Rainbow Wahine (3-0, 0-0 WAC)Hawaii captured the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic ... setter Kanoe Kamana`o was named the tournaments Most Outstanding Player for her efforts in the Rainbow Wahines three wins. She had 142 assists and 33 digs in three matches ... the Rainbow Wahine extended their winning streak against unranked opponents to 78 with wins over unranked San Diego and Eastern Washington ... Hawaii captured its first win against a ranked opponent with a win over No. 17 Arizona in five games ... the wins over San Diego and Arizona marked the first time Hawaii won consecutive matches in five games since 1984.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (2-3, 0-0 WAC)A change in the starting lineup led to a much improved Lady Techsters team in the final two matches of the week in wins over Austin Peay and Jackson State ... Louisiana Tech started two true freshmen in the final two matches of the week, setter Rhyann Enny and middle blocker Shannon Phillips ... Tech 39-37 loss in game two of thew in over Austin Peay is the highest scoring game in Tech volleyball history ... Ambra Hayes had her first career double-double against Austin Peay with 19 kills (career high) and 11 digs ... Louisiana Tech has 36 aces and 43 blocks in their first five contests ... Natalie Shipp and Megan Rush are off to solid starts with 44 and 63 kills, respectively ... after starting slowly with three defeats, Tech hit .313 in their final two matches of the week both victories.
Nevada Wolf Pack (1-2, 0-0 WAC)After a nine-kill performance in the season opener Salaia Salave`a posted back-to-back 20-plus kill outings with 24 versus Utah State and then equaled her career high with 27 kills against sixth-ranked Stanford ... in the three tournament matches she averaged 5.45 kills, 2.27 digs, and 1.45 blocks with a .385 attack percentage ... for her efforts she was named to the SBC/Sands Regency All-Tournament team ... in the Stanford match she posted a doubledouble as she added 11 digs to her 27 kills and just missed a triple-double finishing with nine blocks ... she also served up five aces versus the Cardinal.
Rice Owls (2-1, 0-0 WAC)Lindsey Carter and Olaya Pazo were named to the Hurricane Frances Invitational all-tournament team ... the Owls traveled to Baton Rouge, La., instead of heading to rain-soaked Miami, Fla. The tournament was re-routed to Baton Rouge where the Owls took on Louisiana State and Central Florida ... Carter averaged 4.12 kpg and 2.88 dpg and matched her career high of 25 kills against LSU, while Pazo averaged 2.12 kpg and 3.50 dpg, notching 22 digs against the Tigers ... in their season opener, the Owls set a school record with a .495 hitting percentage (54-9-91). the previous high of .484 was set in 1991 ... Rice has added a second match with LSU, hosting the Tigers on Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. at Autry Court.
San Jose State Spartans (3-0, 0-0 WAC)The Spartans are starting the season 3-0 for the first time since the 2001 season. That team finished 25-8 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The last teams to start 4-0 was the 1999 team that went 25-6. The 1995 team started the year 5-0. The 1990 team started 6-0, while the 1988 team started the season 11-0 ... freshman middle blocker Jennifer Senftleben has made an immediate impact on the Spartan squad. She leads San Jose State in kills with 55, hitting .296 with 12 blocks.
SMU Mustangs (2-1, 0-0 WAC)Beth Karasaek was named to SMU Invitational all-Tournament Team ... she became fourth player in SMU history to reach 1,000 career kills ... the senior led all players in the SMU invitational with 52 kills and a 5.78 average ... the Mustangs went 2-1 at the SMU Invitational, finishing second ... this week, SMU travels to Northridge, Calif., for the Cal State Northridge Invitational ... the Mustangs will take on the likes of Cornell and Cal State Northridge.
UTEP Miners (0-0, 0-0 WAC)The UTEP volleyball team took first place in an exhibition tournament hosted by the University of Chihuahua over the weekend in Mexico ... the Miners open the regular season on Sept. 8 against South Dakota State at Memorial Gym ... the Jackrabbits (1-2) will be traveling to El Paso after a weekend trip to Hawaii ... South Dakota State is led by sophomore outside hitter Minette Ridenour and senior middle blocker Kim Bostrom ... Ridenour is averaging 3.92 kills per game with 51 kills and 16 errors on 144 attempts ... Bostrom leads the team in blocks with 12 and a .920 block percentage.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane (5-0, 0-0 WAC)Senior Vanessa Thon entered the 2004 season ranked No. 1 on the Golden Hurricane's all-time career assist chart. With 923 assists last year, Thon became the first player in TU history to record over 2,800 assists in a career. She currently stands at 2,884 ... former Hurricane Mendy Marsh (1993-96) held the previous mark with 2,569. With three aces against Northwestern State, Thon also ranks first on the career service ace list with 132 aces. She had 38 aces in 2003 ... former Hurricane-great Kristien Van Lierop (1997-00) owned the previous top spot with 130 aces during her career at TU.