Top-seeded Hawai'i has won the last five WAC Tournament titles after fallings to BYU in the championship match in 1996 and 1997. The Rainbow Wahine have a 19-2 record (.905) in the tournament overall. Since the revival of the tournament in 2001 after a two-year hiatus, Hawai'i has recorded 10 sweeps in WAC tournament play, only giving up a game twice (to Nevada in 2002 and 2004).
2005 WAC Tournament Bracket
Click here for a PDF of the WAC Tournament Volleyball Notes
XBOX LIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Idaho's Haley Larsen has been named the Xbox Live Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 21. She is the third Vandal to earn WAC Player of the Week honors this season.
The Santa Clarita, Calif., native, broke the Idaho match record against San Jose State with 36 kills, while hitting .321. Larsen also had six digs and three blocks in a win that secured the No. 5 spot in the upcoming WAC Tournament. In two wins last week, the freshman phenom averaged 6.00 kpg. Larsen also added one block solo and three block assists. She averages 3.77 kpg and 0.66 dpg for the season.
Other nominees included: Jamie Houston of Hawai'i had 33 kills and hit. 328 in two Rainbow Wahine wins ... Salaia Salave`a of Nevada averaged 5.00 kills per game and 5.58 points per game as the Wolf Pack defeated UC Davis and lost to Utah State in Logan ... Alice Borden of New Mexico State had 21 kills and three blocks assists as the Aggies lost in five games to No. 6 Hawai'i last week ... Dominique Arsenault of Utah State had 73 assists and 24 digs in wins over Louisiana Tech and Nevada.
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. The championship match announcers will be Tim Neverett (play-by-play) and Mike Dodd (color commentary).
In Hawai'i, KFVE (Channel 5) will televise the quarterfinal and semifinal matches live. Jim Leahey (play-by-play) and Chris McLachlin (color commentary) will cover both matches if Hawai'i is playing.
NCAA SELECTION SHOW 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 2:30-3:00 p.m. ET.
2005 WAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
November 24 (Quarterfinals)s
Match 1 - No. 8 Boise State vs. No. 9 Louisiana Tech 9:30 a.m. Match 2 - No. 3 New Mexico State vs. No. 6 San Jose State 12:00 p.m.
Match 3 - No. 2 Utah State vs. No. 7 Fresno State 2:30 p.m.
Match 4 - No. 4 Nevada vs. No. 5 Idaho 5:00 p.m.
Match 5 - Winner Match 1 vs. No. 1 Hawai'i 7:30 p.m.
November 25 (Semifinals)
Match 6 - Winner Match 2 vs. Winner Match 3 4:00 p.m.
Match 7 - Winner Match 4 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)
HAWAI'I CLINCHES 10TH-STRAIGHT WAC REGULAR SEASON TITLE 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. 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.
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.
REWIND: 2004 WAC TOURNAMENT No. 2 Hawai'i won its fifth-straight WAC Tournament title with a 30-21, 28-30, 30-22 and 30-27s win over Nevada in Virginia Street Gym in Reno, Nev.
Victoria Prince continued her amazing tournament with 16 kills, seven digs, two aces and a .577 hitting percentage. Prince finished the tournament hitting .657, earning the WAC Tournament's MVP. Susie Boogaard added 19 kills and 10 digs while Alicia Arnott had 17 kills, 11 digs and six blocks. Tara Hittle added 14 kills and a .310 hitting percentage while Ashley Watanabe broke the WAC Tournament record with five aces and 11 digs.
BACK IN THE TOP 10 On the heels of an 16-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 are No. 7 in the RichKern.com poll. The Rainbow Wahine moved up to No. 8 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 are undefeated and the Huskies have one loss.
New Mexico State made history on Nov. 21 when they received votes in the CSTV/AVCA top-25 poll as announced by the AVCA. The Aggies, who received three votes in the poll, will enter the WAC Tournament this week as the No. 3 seed.
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.
Kamana'o moved past Cheri Boyer and Robyn Ah Mow to second on the list. Kamana'o now has 4,593 assists, just 44 behind Martina Cincerova for first. She continues to hold the No. 1 spot for career assists per game (13.67).
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 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.
Hawai'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.
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 (7-17, 3-13 WAC)
Boise State women (7-17 overall, 3-13 WAC) travels to Reno, Nevada, for the WAC Tournament ... all nines teams will play in the tournament with the eighth-seeded Boise State playing ninth- seeded Louisiana Tech for the right to play top-seeded Hawai'i ...s after 24 matches, the Broncos?? top three hitters are junior Cameron Flunder (3.80 kpg), senior Telia Peterson (2.60 kills, 2.74 digs) and freshman (Jeanette Jenkins (2.82 kpg) ... Flunder averages 0.95 digs, 0.95 blocks and 0.35 aces. Sophomore Tiffany Starring backs up the others with 1.88 kills and 0.88.
Fresno State Bulldogs (7-20, 4-12 WAC)
Fresno State will face Utah State in the first round as
the No. 2 seed, a team that the Bulldogs split with in the regular season ... the Bulldogs took a five-game win against the Aggies on Oct. 5 in Fresno, as Alison Pitton made 26 kills and Cassie Gilford contributed 32 digs, the second highest total for the Bulldogs on the season ... Fresno State was unable to repeat the win in Logan, however, losing in three games on Oct. 24 ... the tournament starts on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, and the Fresno State-Utah State game begins at 2:30 p.m.
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (22-6, 16-0 WAC)
The Rainbow Wahine won their 10th consecutive WAC regular season championship .... it's also their 11th-straight conference title overall, as UH won their last year in the Big West ... Hawai'i is currently riding a 107-match winning streak in WAC play and have a 141-1 record (.993) overall ... UH??s last lost in conference play came to Brigham Young on Oct. 10, 1998 ... since then, the Rainbow Wahine have also won all five WAC tournaments that have been played (1998, 2001-04), running their overall streak against teams in the WAC to 122 matches won.
Idaho Vandals (16-13, 8-8 WAC)
This season's WAC tournament will be the first time the Vandals have competed in a conference tournament since the 1997 season, the last year that the Big West held a tournament ... in that season the Vandals were defeated by Cal Poly, 3-0, in the first round ... the last time Idaho won a conference tournament was the 1995 season when they won the Big Sky Conference and advanced to the NCAA Tournament ... UI senior Kati Tikker entered the Idaho top 10 in two statistical categories this season ... she ranks 10th all-time in career double-figure kill matches (57) and holds the No. 10 spot in career kills (1,156).
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (15-17, 2-14 WAC)
Louisiana Tech is playing in its first WAC Tournament since 2003 ... the Lady Techsters are looking for their first WAC Tournament win ... they have also competed in the 2001 and 2002 tournament ... in Louisiana Tech's first match it will take on No. 8 Boise State ... the winner will have to face top-seeded Hawai'i at 7:30 on Nov. 24.
Nevada Wolf Pack (17-11, 10-6 WAC)
Nevada has been seeded in the top four in all five WAC Tournaments in which they have competed ... they were seeded second in 2001, third in 2002, fourth in 2003 and third in 2004 ... Nevada recently played three-straight five-game matches and five in seven outings going 3-2 ...s according to RichKern.com the Pack are ranked ninth in the West Region, down one spot from last week ... the Pack's 3-2 victory over No. 21 Cal (9/17) was the first win by the Nevada volleyball team over a ranked team since it won 3-0 at No. 25 Colorado State (9/20/2002), the same year it defeated No. 23 BYU( 8/31/2002).
New Mexico State Aggies (19-6, 11-5 WAC)
Freshman Amber Simpson was named WAC Freshman of the Year ... in WAC matches this season, the Aggies are currently second in hitting percentage (.247), third in assists (13.73/game), third in kills (15.70/game), third in blocks (2.84/game) and first in service aces (1.62/game) ... individually, Kim Oguh is third in hitting percentage (.360), while Jackie Choi is third in assists per game (12.05) ...s Amber Simpson is third in blocks per game (1.32) and Bostic is tied for first in digs per game (4.82) ...s the Aggies first round opponent, San Jose State is 1-1 in their last two matches, defeating Boise State in four and falling to Idaho in a hard fought five-game match.
San Jose State Spartans (12-16, 7-9 WAC)
San Jose State will be the sixth seed in the WAC Tournament after falling to Idaho in Moscow, 3-2 ... sophomore Jennifer Senftleben led the team with a career high 28 kills.s She had a double-double on the night ... Niki Clement also had a double-double on the evening with career-high totals of 25 kills and 17 digs ...s historically, the Spartans have had success in the WAC Tournament ... in 2003, the Spartans reached the finals, losing to Hawai'i in three games ... in 2001 when San Jose State hosted the tournament, the Spartans reached the semifinals before losing to Hawai'i.
Utah State Aggies (19-11, 11-5 WAC)
The Aggies enter the tournament with a 19-11 record, their most wins since recording 20 in 2001 ... USU went 11-5 in league play to tie New Mexico State for second place, but won the tiebreaker against the southern Aggies ... Utah State's second-place league finish was its best since placing first in the Eastern Division of the Big West Conference in 1999 ... USU will be looking to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001 ... Utah State split its two regular season meetings with Fresno State, losing a five-game match at Fresno on Oct. 5 and then sweeping the Bulldogs 3-0 at Logan on Oct. 24.