WAC play enters its final week with Hawai'i having clinched its 10th-straight regular season title. With two more wins, the Rainbow Wahine (14-0) will have their seventh-straight perfect WAC season. Hawai'i has secured the top spot in the WAC Tournament. No other seeds are determined yet. Utah State hass a vital match with Nevada to end the season.s The Aggies could end up as high as the No. 2 seed and as low as the No. 4 seed. New Mexico State hass one more match left against No. 7 Hawai'i.
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XBOX LIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK ?“s Hawai'i?™s Juliana Sanders has been named the Xbox Live Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 14. This is the second WAC Player of the Week honor for the sophomore.
The Kaneohe, Oahu, native, hit .476 with 12 kills and seven blocks in the five-game win at Utah State to clinch the WAC regular season title. It was the Rainbow Wahine?™s 10th-straight WAC title. She then hit a career-high .800 with 12 kills and no errors on 15 attempts with six blocks at San Jose State. Last week, the sophomore averaged 3.00 kills per game and 1.62 blocks per game while hitting an amazing .611. The middle is now averaging 2.70 kpg and 1.26 bpg, while hitting .383.
Other nominees included: Alison Pitton of Fresno State had 31 kills and 25 digs as the Bulldogs split matches last week … Salaia Salave`a of Nevada averaged 4.00 kills per game and 4.88 points per game as the Wolf Pack defeated Idaho and Fresno State … Sarah Silagy of New Mexico State had 38 kills and 10 block assists as the Aggies won three matches last week … Carolyn Forbush of Utah State had 26 kills and 25 digs in two Aggies losses.
CSTV TO TELEVISE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH ?“ The match time for the WAC Championship match has been changed from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. PT on Nov. 26. The change is due to the fact that College Sports Television (CSTV) will be televising the match live. CSTV televised last year?™s championship match live also.
NCAA SELECTION SHOW ?“s ESPNEWS will present exclusive live national announcement of the 2005 NCAA Volleyball Championship. The network?™s NCAA Fall Sports Championship Selection series will be presented within the one-hour programming windows listed and will feature video highlights, interviews with select coaches and analysis by insiders in each sport. The volleyball selection show will be aired Sunday, Nov. 27 at 2:30-3:30 p.m. ET.
DOUBLE DIGITS WINNERS ?“ Four teams have now reached the double-digit win mark in league play. Hawai'i nears its seventh undefeated WAC season. But the New Mexico State Aggies stand in the way. The two teams will face off to on Thursday, Nov. 17.s New Mexico State now stands in second with a 11-4 record. Both Utah State and Nevada reached double-digit wins with 10-5 WAC records.
TICKETS FOR WAC VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT AVAILABLEs ?“ Tickets for the 2005 Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament to be held at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nev., from Nov. 24-26 are now on sale. All-session ticket prices are $34 for adults and $19 for senior citizens, children and students. Single-session tickets are also available for $10 for adults and $6 for senior citizens, children and students. Tickets may be purchased by calling 800-225-2277 or on-line at www.tickets.com. WAC fans can also obtain a discounted room rate for the tournament at Circus Circus Hotel by calling 800-894-3588.
BACK IN THE TOP 10 ?“ On the heels of an 14-match winning streak, Hawai'i is back in the top 10 in the AVCA/CSTV top 25. With a brutal non-conference schedule and several injuries in the past, the Rainbow Wahine are back on track. This week, the Rainbow Wahine jumped to No. 6 in the RichKern.com poll.s The Rainbow Wahine are still No. 9 in the AVCA/CSTV Coaches poll. The current top three teams, Nebraska (No. 1), Washington (No. 2) and Penn State (No. 3) were three of the four teams to hand Hawai'i losses this season. Both the Huskers and Huskies are still undefeated this season.
KAMANA`O MOVES UP TO SECOND IN CAREER ASSISTS ?“ In just her third season at Hawai'i, Kanoe Kamana'o is already climbing the Rainbow Wahine career assists list in the record book, and could possibly move all the way up to No. 1 in career assists this season.
sKamana'o moved past Cheri Boyer and Robyn Ah Mow to second on the list. With Kamana'o?™s 113 assists this past week, the junior now has 4,500 in her career, just 137 assists short of breaking the school record.
GRAYBILL BREAKS RECORD ?“ Senior middle blocker Erin Graybill has 150 total blocks this year and is tied with Lisa Grandmaison (1984) for the single-season record in that category. Graybill also has 131 block assists which ranks second in school history and is just five block assists shy of tying Denae Mohlman (2000) for that record with 136. On the year, Graybill is averaging 1.33 blocks per game, which ranks third in the Western Athletic Conference.
RAINBOW WAHINE KEEP WINNING STREAK ALIVE ?“ Hawai'i has a lengthy conference winning streak. The Rainbow extended their WAC winning streak to 105-straight matches, becoming just the second team in NCAA history to record 100 consecutive conference wins. It is the longest streak in the nation. The Rainbow Wahine?™s streak became the longest after Florida?™s NCAA-record conference winning streak of 145 was broken last season. The Gators streak ran from Sept. 20, 1995 to Nov. 12, 2004.
IDAHO?™S BROWN BREAKS ANOTHER RECORD ?“ Idaho senior Meghan Brown added one more record to her resume on Nov. 5 when she passed Mandy Becker for the UI career double-figure dig match record. Brown recorded her 68th career double-figure dig match with 14 digs against Hawai?™i, beating the record of 67 set by Becker in 2004. Brown also owns the UI career dig record with 1,325 digs and counting and has the top marks for single season digs (519) and single season digs per game (4.68).
ACADEMIC HONORS ?“ University of Nevada senior libero Christine Harms has been named to the ESPN The Magazine District VIII Academic Volleyball Team as selected by the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America. Harms?™ name will now appear on the national ballot to determine the Academic All-America team. Hawai'i junior setter Kanoe Kamana`o was named to the All-District third team in district eight.
Harms, from Placerville, Calif., carries a 4.00 grade point average in engineering. She was named to the first-team District VIII squad last year, and was a second-team selection as a sophomore. Three times she has been named to the Western Athletic Conference Academic team.
Kamana`o is averaging 13.84 assists per game, 2.81 digs per game and 1.02 blocks per game thus far this season, giving her more blocks and digs than any other setter in the top 10 of the country in assists. The junior was named a second-team academic all-district in 2004 and is a two-time all-WAC honoree. She?™s also a two-time AVCA All-American and was named the 2004 WAC Player of the Year.
The players named to the district eight first team were Christine Harms of Nevada, Candace Lee and Courtney Thompson of Washington, Kim McGiven of Santa Clara, Kayla Mulder of Cal Poly and Alexis Crimes of Long Beach State. The second team consisted of Sarah Watkins (Arizona State), Kym Murphy (UC Riverside), Sanja Tomasevic (Washington), Taylor Peyton (Long Beach State), Courtney Schultz (Stanford), Kristen Castillo (San Diego State) and Lindsy Hartsock (Brigham Young). Joining Kamana`o on the third team were Lizzy Mellor and Andrea Verdoljak (Eastern Washington), Valerie Bueno (UC Riverside), Anna Cmaylo and Cassie Perret (Santa Clara), Ellie Butterford (Northern Arizona) and Murphy McClenahan (Portland).
RAINBOW WAHINE TOPS 100,000 ?“s For the 11th-straight season, Hawai'i leads the nation in attendance. The WAC has another team in the top 15 with New Mexico State taking the 11th spot. New Mexico State set a school record in attendance on Oct. 1 against Hawai'i when 7,115 packed the stands. It more than doubled their previous school record. There were 3,183 fans in the Pan American Center to see the Aggies season opener on Aug. 29. The Aggies have drawn 22,377 in 10 matches.
sHawai'i continues to pack the stands with 115,753 fans packing the Stan Sheriff Center this season for an average of 7,235. The 8,499 that saw Hawai'i?™s match against No. 10 UCLA on Sept. 10 was the seventh-highest attended match in the nation this season.
AGAINST THE BEST ?“ The WAC is 4-13 against non-conference ranked teams this season. Hawai'i captured the league?™s first win against a top 25 opponent when it swept then No. 7 USC. Hawai'is also has a win against No. 10 UCLA, 3-1. The Rainbow Wahine have two losses to Penn State and a loss to top-ranked Nebraska. Hawai'i also lost twice to No. 2 Washington. Nevada is 1-2 with losses to then-No. 18 San Diego and then-No. 13 UCLA. San Jose State fell to then-No. 10 Wisconsin and then-No. 15 Santa Clara. At the Circus Circus/Molten Invitational, the Wolf Pack defeated then-No. 21 California in five games. Fresno State lost twice to ranked teams at the Santa Clara Tournament to No. 18 UC Santa Barbara and No. 15 Arizona.
VOLLEYBALL FORMAT ?“ For the first time since 2001 the WAC will not compete in divisions. The teams competing in the WAC this season are: Boise State, Fresno State, Hawai'i, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State. This season?™s format will be a double-round robin. Each team will face the other eight at home and on the road.
2005 WAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
November 24 (Quarterfinals)s
Match 1 - No. 8 vs. No. 9 ?” 9:30 a.m.ss
Match 2 - No. 4 vs. No. 5 ?” 12:00 p.m.
Match 3 - No. 3 vs. No. 6 ?” 2:30 p.m.
Match 4 - No. 2 vs. No. 7 ?” 5:00 p.m.
Match 5 - Winner Match 1 vs. No. 1 ?” 7:30 p.m.
November 25 (Semifinals)
Match 6 - Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4 ?” 4:00 p.m.
Match 7 - Winner Match 2 vs. Winner Match 5 ?” 6:30 p.m.
November 26 (Championship)
Match 8 - Winner Match 6 vs. Winner Match 7 ?” 5:00 p.m. (CSTV)
REGIONAL SITES SET ?“ The 2005 NCAA Volleyball Championship will be the 25th. The NCAA Division I Women?™s Volleyball Committee has announced the following sites for regional competition of the 2005 NCAA Division I Women?™s Volleyball Championships. The first sight is the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., along with thes Recreation Building in University Park, Pa.; the Maples Pavillion in Stanford, Calif., and the G. Rollie White Coliseum in College Station, Texas. The University ofs Nebraska, Penn State University, Stanford University and Texas A&M University are the hosts for the regionals, which will be held December 8-11. The first and second rounds will be held December 1-4 in sites yet to be determined. The Final Four will be held December 15-17 in San Antonio, Texas.
Boise State Broncos (6-16, 2-12 WAC)
In WAC action, Cameron Flunder leads the team with 3.96 kills, 1.00 digs and 0.90 blocks ... Jeanette Jenkins then follows with 2.53 kills and 0.90 digs ... as a team in conference action, the Broncos average 13.04 kills, 11.82 assists, 1.40 aces, 14.16 digs and 2.26 blocks per game. In conference, the Broncos are hitting .153 ...s in the WAC Top 10 lists Flunder is ranked sixth in hitting percentage (.312), fifth in kills (3.74), and third in service aces (0.36) ... in WAC only matches, Flunder is fourth in hitting percentage, fifth in kills and seventh in service aces. Klein is 10th in assists and Stroud is eighth in digs.
Fresno State Bulldogs (7-18, 4-10 WAC)
Fresno State played one of its most complete matches of the year to pick up their first road win of the season against San Jose State ... setter Robyn Keune made 78 assists, as the Bulldogs made 86 kills in a five-game win over the Spartans ...s Yuko Mori contributed a school-record 33 assists for the Bulldogs, who made 99 digs as a team, including four players in double digits ... Alison Pitton had another double-double, leading the team with 23 kills while making 16 digs on the night, as Fresno State grabbed a tough win on the road ... the Bulldogs were limited to just 27 kills in the loss to Nevada, while Nevada out-dug the Bulldogs by 20 and hit .352 over the entire match.
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (20-6, 14-0 WAC)
The Rainbow Wahine went the entire match without getting blocked at San Jose State (11/12), the first time that has happened since Oct. 16, 2000 against Tulsa ...sssss it was also only the third time since the advent of rallys scoring that the team had a hitting percentage of over .500 (.505 vs. Tulsa, 10/6/01; .573 vs. Cal St. Northridge, 9/9/05), as they hit .516 vs. SJSU (11/12) ... Jamie Houston also came up big in the absence of Sarah Mason (who went down with an ankle sprain in the first game vs. Utah State), averaging 3.62 kpg with a .417 hitting percentage and 1.12 bpg ... that included a 21-kill match at Utah State (11/9).
Idaho Vandals (14-13, 6-8 WAC)
Idaho senior Kati Tikker entered the top 10 in two career categories last weekend ... she recorded her 1,139th career kill which ties for 10th all-time at UI with Mindy Rice ... Tikker also recorded her 56th double figure kill match which ties for 10th all-time with Nancy Wicks ... the Vandals are currently tied for fifth place in the WAC with San Jose State and two wins this weekend will ensure the Vandals of a fifth place seed in the WAC tournament ... a win over SJSU would ensure Idaho of at least a fifth place tie.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (15-16, 2-13 WAC)
In its last home match of the season, Louisiana Tech lost to Utah States in the Thomas Assembly Centers ... it was senior night for the Lady Techsters, as the lone senior Stacey Clark was honored for her career ... Clark has played four years for the Lady Techsters, recording 175 kills, 35 service aces, 201 digs and 25 total blocks in 192 games - most of which came this year in her senior season.
Nevada Wolf Pack (16-10, 10-5 WAC)
Nevada has played five five-game matches in its last eight contests ... the Wolf Pack have a 3-2 record in those matches ... the Wolf Pack have welcomed back Salaia Salave`a to full strength ... the senior middle blocker has had two triple-doubles, the only triple-doubles in the league this season ... last week in two Nevada wins, she had 32 kills, while hitting .348 ... she also added 20 digs and seven total blocks... this week, Nevada looks to secure either the third or fourth seeds in the WAC Volleyball Tournament ... the Wolf Pack have one more key match on the road against Utah State in Logan, Utah.
New Mexico State Aggies (19-5, 11-4 WAC)
Having won 12 of its last 13 matches, New Mexico State will wrap-up their regular season conference play this week as it heads to Hawai?™i to face the No. 9 Rainbow Wahine ...s NMSU and Hawai?™i last met on Oct. 1 as the Aggies fell 3-2 when Hawai?™i was ranked No. 11 nationally ... Alice Borden led the Aggies in the match with 16 kills while Kim Oguh dropped in 15 and Amber Simpson added 10 ... NMSU also out-dug Hawai?™i 62-60, but were out-blocked by the Wahine 30-20 ... Thursday will mark the 18th meeting between the two teams with NMSU never defeating the Rainbow Wahine.
San Jose State Spartans (11-15, 6-8 WAC)
The Spartans look tos break a three-match losing streak and end the regular season on a high note ...s the Spartans can enter the WAC Tournament as either the fifth or sixth seed ... this week, the Spartans will face Boise State and Idaho on the road ... the match against the Vandals is key as both teams are vying for the fifth seed ... Jessie Shull is first in the league in total digs with 471 ... Shull is the WAC record holder for digs in a season with 561 ... Shull is second in digs per game average (4.71) behind New Mexico State?™s Jordan Bostic.
Utah State Aggies (18-11, 10-5 WAC)
Utah State went 0-2 last week as it lost to ninth-ranked Hawai?™i (3-2) and at New Mexico State (3-1) ... against the Rainbow Wahine, Zuzana Cernianska led USU with 20 kills, while Erin Graybill added 18 kills ... the Aggies hit .201 in the match as compared to a .240 hitting percentage for Hawai?™i ... against New Mexico State, Cernianska once again paced USU as she had a team-high 17 kills to go along with 12 digs, while Carolyn Forbush added season-highs with 13 kills and 15 digs. USU hit just .149 in the match, while NMSU hit .281.
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