PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Hawai?i left-side hitter Jamie Houston has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 9. This is the second WAC Player of the Week honor this season for the sophomore.
The Huntsville, Ala., (Huntsville) native, had two great matches, hitting a combined .400 with 6.83 kills. She also averaged 2.83 digs and 0.67 blocks per game. She posted 23 kills with a .386 hitting percentage against Utah State on Oct. 6. The sophomore also hit .417 with 18 kills and 10 digs against Nevada on Oct. 8, handing the Wolf Pack their first WAC loss of the season. She is now averaging 5.48 kills, 2.42 digs and 0.66 blocks per game on the season. Houston is hitting .366 with 6.64 kills, 2.45 digs and 0.73 blocks per game. She helped lead the Rainbow Wahine to their 112th-straight WAC win.
Other nominees included: Cameron Flunder of Boise State led the Broncos to a 1-1 record with 29 kills in two matches ... Lacey Gera of Fresno State had 22 kills and four blocks in losses to Idaho and Boise State ... Karly Sipherd of Nevada had 25 kills in two matches as the Wolf Pack went 1-1 last week ... Alice Borden of New Mexico State had 41 kills and five total blocks as the Aggies defeated rival UTEP and Louisiana Tech ... Niki Clement of San Jose State had a season-high 20 kills against Idaho.
WEEK EIGHT IN THE WAC ? Hawai?i now stands as the only undefeated team in conference action after sweeping Nevada at home. This week, the WAC schedule is spread out with conference matches on six days. Hawai?i played consecutive matches playing on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9, sweeping Nevada and Boise State, respectively. The Rainbow Wahine will look for their 114th-straight WAC win on Oct. 11 at Louisiana Tech before heading for their big showdown with New Mexico State. The Aggies and the Rainbow Wahine will meet for the first time this season on the dubious day of Friday the 13th. Nevada looks to get back on track this week traveling to San Jose State and Fresno State. Idaho, which has won two-straight WAC matches, will take the week of from conference play at take on Eastern Washington on Oct. 11.
SHULL NEARING 2,000 DIGS, NCAA MILESTONE ? With 1,987 career digs, Jessie Shull needs just 13 digs this weekend to become only the 17th person in NCAA history to record 2,000 or more digs in her career. Shull, already the San Jose State career dig leader, has 403 digs on the season and is averaging 6.01 per game.
HOUSTON EARNS NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR HONORS ? Jamie Houston, a sophomore left-side hitter from then-fifteenth-ranked University of Hawai’i, has been named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week. Houston led her team to two home wins this past week over Utah State and Nevada. Houston, in a sweep of the Bulldogs, had 23 kills, 3 blocks and 7 digs; her hitting percentage was .386 for the match. Later in the week in a sweep over the Wolf Pack, she put away another 18 kills and added 10 digs for a double-double, while hitting .417. For the week, Houston averaged 6.83 kills per game and a steady 2.83 digs per game; she hit an even .400 and averaged 7.50 points per game. Houston is the sixth Rainbow Wahine player to receive the Sports Imports/AVCA National Award, and the first since 2002.
WAC IN THE NCAA STATS ? Several WAC players earned a spot in the top 15 in the most recent NCAA stats (Oct. 3). Hawai?i’s Jamie Houston is up to eighth in the nation in kills per game, averaging 5.30 kpg. San Jose State’s Jessie Shull is 13th in digs per game (5.97 dpg). Hawai?i’s Kanoe Kamana`o is ninth in assists (13.18 apg). New Mexico State’s Amber Simpson is 11th in hitting percentage (.428) As a team, New Mexico State tied for first in win-loss percentage (1.000). The Aggies are one of six teams that are undefeated this season, including No. 1 Nebraska and No. 3 UCLA. The Aggies are also ninth in hitting percentage (.299).
UTAH STATE GETS STRONG PERFORMANCES ? Despite losing a pair of three-game matches at Nevada and at 15th-ranked Hawai’i, freshman middle blocker Melissa Larson had a solid weekend for Utah State. Against the Wolf Pack, she hit .455 (5-0-11) to go along with two block assists. Against the Rainbow Wahine, she hit .400 (7-1-15) to go along with two block assists. For the weekend, Larson hit . 423 (12-1-26) and averaged 2.00 kills and 0.67 blocks per game. Junior outside hitter Beth Hodge recorded a season-high 20 kills in Utah State’s three-game win against Louisiana Tech Saturday night. Hodge hit .400 in the match (20-4-40) and added 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the season.
FRESNO STATE STRONG AT HOME ? Fresno State is back home this week to continue conference play in a rematch against Utah State on Thursday and also will face conference opponent Nevada for the first time this year Saturday. The Utah State Aggies are now 10-10 overall and 3-3 in conference. The Nevada Wolf Pack are 10-7 and 4-1 in the WAC. Since 1980 the Bulldogs have recorded 16 winning seasons at home. Fresno State ended its season on home court 11-2 in 2002. In 2003, the Bulldogs finished with a 9-2 home record. In 2004, Fresno State swung an 8-3 home record and have recorded some of its best seasons as of late.
IN THE POLLS ? The Aggies are back in the AVCA poll landing at No. 25 in both the AVCA/CSTV and RichKern.com polls. Hawai’i also jumped in the polls this week. The Rainbow Wahine are No. 11 in both polls as Hawai?i starts conference play 6-0.
SENFTLEBEN JOINS 1,000 CAREER KILL CLUB ? With a 24-kill performance against CS Northridge on September 16, Jennifer Senftleben joined the 1,000 career kill club at San Jose State. She recorded her 1,000th kill during game four against the Matadors. She enters the week ninth all-time in kills with 1,070, and needs 31 kills to move into eighth place. Senftleben is the 10th Spartan in school history to record 1,000 kills in her career. Former Spartan Joslynn Gallop owns the career kill record with 1,966 kills from 1997-2000.
HOME SWEET HOME ? A crowd of 2,437 watched New Mexico State sweep Boise State, Sept. 23, giving the Aggies their largest crowd of the season. Currently, New Mexico State is No. 16 in the nation for home attendance.
Hawai?i once again leads the nation in attendance, averaging 7,252. The Rainbow Wahine have nine of the top 10 attendances in the nation this season, including the 8,213 that saw Hawai?i host Stanford. There were 8, 138 people when the Gators took on the Rainbow Wahine, while 7,878 packed the Stan Sheriff Center to see Pepperdine.
SAN JOSE STATE’S SHULL BREAKS WAC RECORD ? San Jose State senior libero Jessie Shull broke her own WAC record with 47 digs in a five-game loss to Santa Clara on Sept. 2. Shull initially set the record again on Nov. 3, 2004 with 42 against Fresno State. Shull is first in the WAC in digs per game, averaging 6.70. She is second in total digs with 134 just behind Louisiana Tech’s Brittany Nakamura.
UTAH STATE’S LARSON TIES SCHOOL RECORD ? Freshman middle blocker Melissa Larson tied a school record and set a season-high with 10 block assists against San Jose State Saturday night. Those 10 block assists tie Denae Mohlman for the most in a four-game match in school history. Ironically, Mohlman also accomplished the feat during her freshman season in 1997 against Boise State. On the year, Larson now ranks third in the WAC with 1.42 blocks per game.
HOME AWAY FROM HOME ? Due to multi-million dollar renovations to the Pan American Center, New Mexico State will be displaced for its home matches this season. With the Pan American Center still undergoing renovations, the Aggies are playing their home matches at Las Cruces High School.
VOLLEYBALL FORMAT ? For the second-straight year the WAC will not compete in divisions. This season’s format will be a double-round robin. Each team will face the other eight at home and on the road. All nine teams will compete in the WAC Volleyball Tournament.
2006 WAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
November 22 (Quarterfinals)
Match 1 - No. 8 vs. No. 9
Match 2 - No. 4 vs. No. 5
Match 3 - No. 3 vs. No. 6
Match 4 - No. 2 vs. No. 7
Match 5 - Winner Match 1 vs. No. 1
November 23 (Semifinals)
Match 6 - Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4
Match 7 - Winner Match 2 vs. Winner Match 5
November 24 (Championship)
Match 8 - Winner Match 6 vs. Winner Match 7
WAC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO LAWLOR ? For the second-straight season, the WAC Volleyball Tournament will be played at the Lawlor Events Center on the campus of the University of Nevada. This is the fifth-straight year that the WAC Tournament has been played in Reno. Before playing in the Lawlor Events Center, the tournament was played in the regular season home of the Wolf Pack, Viriginia Street Gym.
HAWAI?I TO HOST VOLLEYBALL REGIONAL ? Hawai?i will host one of the four 2006 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Regionals, on Dec. 8 and 9. The other three sites will be Seattle, Wash. (University of Washington), Austin, Texas (University of Texas), and Gainesville, Fla. (University of Florida).
Hawai?i will be hosting a regional for the second time since the NCAA switched to predetermined regional sites in 2003, and the eighth time overall. UH last hosted a regional in 2003, when the Rainbow Wahine defeated Illinois and Georgia Tech to advance to the NCAA Championships.
UH has hosted at least one NCAA match in 16 of the 24 NCAA tournaments they have qualified for, but haven’t had an NCAA match in Honolulu in the past two seasons. Hawai?i has led the country in attendance every year since moving into the Stan Sheriff Center in 1994, averaging over 7,000 fans a match in the 11 years at the facility. In the 2003 Honolulu Regional, each session drew crowds in excess of 9,000.
FAMILY AFFAIR? San Jose State’s Jessie Shull is not the only libero in her family. Her younger sister Jenny is in her third season as the libero for the Duke Blue Devils. Jenny, an honorable mention All-American last season, currently has 67 digs, 6.70 dpg and was named the Outstanding Libero of the Duke Invitational last weekend. The two sisters have an older brother, Jimmy, who was drafted and signed by the Oakland Athletics, in the fourth round of the 2005 MLB Draft.