WEEK TWO OF LEAGUE PLAY ?“ WAC play enters week two with four teams still looking for their first league win. Louisiana Tech (0-2) and New Mexico State (0-2) both will be at home this week and look to get their first WAC wins. New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech will host Fresno State and Hawai'i. Boise State (0-2) hosts undefeated Utah State and Nevada this week. Fresno State (0-1)s looks to break an eight-match losing streak against New Mexico State and Hawai'i. Nevada has been on a hot streak winning six-straight matches and taking a 2-0 start in the WAC.
Click here for a PDF of the Week Five Volleyball Notes
XBOX LIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK ?“s Utah State?™s Zuzana Cernianska has been named the Xbox Live Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 26. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior.
sThe Prague, Czech Republic (Nad Rokoskou) native, led Utah State to a 3-0 record this past week as the Aggies defeated Idaho State (3-1), New Mexico State (3-0), and Louisiana Tech (3-0).s Against Idaho State, she recorded 20 kills in a match for the 10th time this year with 20 kills.s She also had 13 digs and two service aces in the match and hit a blistering .514 (20-2-35).s Against New Mexico State, she recorded 11 kills and five digs, while hitting .286. Against Louisiana Tech, she recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 13 kills and 10 digs, while hitting .360.s For the week, Cernianska hit a robust .407 and averaged 4.40 kills, 2.80 digs, and 0.50 service aces per game. Overall, Cernianska is hitting .252 this season.
sOther nominees included: Ashley Watanabe from Hawai'i had a huge week as the starting libero, averaging 6.27 dpg and 0.55 sapg ... Meghan Brown of Idaho broke the Idaho career dig record with 1,188 … Salaia Salave`a of Nevada averaged 5.20 kills per game and 1.70 digs per game in two WAC wins … Tanya Allen of New Mexico State had 30 kills in two losses last week … Jennifer Senftleben of San Jose State hit .357 in two WAC wins with 44 kills and 19 digs.
GOING STREAKINGs ?“ Hawai'i has a lengthy conference winning streaks. Hawai'i has won 92-straight conference matches, 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.
RECORD SMASHINGs ?“ Senior outside hitter Meghan Brown broke the Idaho career dig record on Sept. 24 in the Vandals?™ four-game win over Fresno State. She overtook the top spot of 1,184 set lastseason by Mandy Becker. Brown currently has 1,188 career digs.
sUtah State?™s Zuzana Cernianska has already set a new school record for career killss this season against Saint Mary?™s earlier this year as she posted a season-high 29 kills in the match to give her 1,469 career kills. The old record was 1,463 kills set by Amy Crosbie (1997-2000).
THERE?™S NO PLACE LIKE HOME ?“s Last week, WAC teams proved this theory with four teams winning league matches at home. Idaho?™s win over Fresno State was the only time a home team lost a WAC match last week. There are three teams that are undefeated at home this season. Utah State and Louisiana Tech are 3-0 on their own courts this season, while San Jose State is 2-0.
sIdaho will play its first home match this week hosting Nevada and Utah State. The Vandals are 3-2 in their home openers at Memorial Gym under head coach Debbie Buchanan. Last season, Idaho opened its home season with a four-game victory over Pacific. In conference home openers the Vandals are 4-1 under Buchanan.
SAN JOSE TO FACE SANTA CLARA ?“ San Jose State will take on Santa Clara on Sept. 27. The volleyball match marks the first of many head-to-head competitions between San Jose State and Santa Clara in the annual Rivalry Series in which 13 sports will compete for points. The team that accumulates the most points at the end of the competition year will receive a rotating trophy and will retain possession for the next school year.
sSan Jose State enters Tuesday night?™s competition with a two-match winning streak after winning its first two home matches of the year last week. The Spartans started league play strong with wins over Idaho and Boise State.
PACKING THE STANDS ?“ New Mexico State set a school record in attendance in its sweep of rival New Mexico. There were 3,183 fans in the Pan American Center to see the Aggies season opener on Aug. 29.
sHawai'i continues to pack the stands with almost 80,000s fans packing the Stan Sheriff Center this season. The 8,499 that saw Hawai'i?™s match against No. 10 UCLA on Sept. 10 was the fifth-highest attended match in the nation this season. Hawai'i is first in the nation in attendance with an average of 7,385. New Mexico State is 10th in attendance, averaging 1,848.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK ?“ The three new WAC teams have had early success this season. With its three-game win against Louisiana Tech in its last match, Utah State improved to 9-6 on the season and those nine wins are the total number of victories USU had during the 2004 season. In its first year in the WAC, Utah State is off to a 2-0 start in league play for the first time since the 2000 season when that Aggie club won its first four league matches in the Big West Conference. New Mexico State started strong with a 5-0 start. The Aggies lost their first two WAC matches against fellow-newcomer Utah State and Nevada. Idaho is 1-1 in league matches with a win against Fresno State and a loss to San Jose State in five.sss
AGAINST THE BEST ?“ The WAC is 4-12 against 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. 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. This week, several teams will take on ranked opponents. Utah State faced three ranked teams at the Stanford Invitational coming away with a win against then-No. 24 UCSB and losses to Stanford and Saint Mary?™s.
WELCOME TO THEs WAC ?“ This season, Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State join the WAC.
sLast year, New Mexico State was 30-3, 15-0 in the Sun Belt and won the conference tournament. The other Aggies, Utah State, were 9-18, 5-13 in the Big West. The Idaho Vandals were 17-13 last season, 9-9 in the Big West.
sBoth New Mexico State and Idaho lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies lost to San Diego in the opening round, while the Vandals lost to Washington in the first round
s In 2003, both Idaho and New Mexico State advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Vandals lost to Hawai'i 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.
TWO CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS ?“ This season, the WAC will have two 2004 conference champions vying for the title. Both Hawai'i and New Mexico State won conference titles and tournaments last season. The Rainbow Wahine had a perfect 13-0 season as the WAC champion. The Aggies had their second-straight 15-0 perfect season as the Sun Belt champs.
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 ?” 4:30 p.m.
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.
RETURNING ALL-WAC PLAYERS ?“ Of the 12 first-team all-WAC players in 2004, seven should return for the 2004 season, including Hawai'i?™s Kanoe Kamana`o, the WAC?™s Player of the Year and Tara Hittle, the WAC?™s Freshman of the Year. Hawai'i also returns first-team all-WAC selections Alicia Arnott and Victoria Prince. Nevada?™s Salaia Salave`a, San Jose State?™s Jessie Shull and Boise State?™s Cameron Flunder also return from the 2004 first team. Four of the second-team all-WAC performers will also return this season, including Nevada?™s Tristin Johnson and Karly Sipherd. Hawai'i has a duo returning, including Susie Boogaard and Ashley Watanabe.
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