HAWAI?I ADVANCES TO REGIONAL FINALS ? The Hawai`i volleyball team advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals with a thrilling five-game win over No. 5 USC. The Rainbow Wahine won 28-30, 30-21, 21-30, 30-17, 15-5. Hawai`i was led by sophomore Jamie Houston's career-high 35 kills. Juliana Sanders was also big with her first 20-20 match. She ended the match with 24 kills and 22 digs. The Rainbow Wahine will now face No. 4 UCLA in the regional finals on Dec. 9 at 6:30 p.m. The match can be seen on ESPU.
WAC SENDS TWO TO NCAA TOURNAMENT ? New Mexico State and WAC Tournament Champion Hawai?i both advanced to the 2006 NCAA Volleyball Tournament.
Hawai?i just won its seventh-straight WAC Tournament and earned the 12th seed in the tournament. If the Rainbow Wahine defeat Oregon in the first round, they would take on the winner of the match between Pepperdine and host Long Beach State. If the Aggies win their first round match, they would face the winner of the match between Colorado State and sixth-seeded Washington.
In the 26-year history of the championship, ten schools have been crowned champion, nine of which are in this year’s bracket, including the defending champion University of Washington.
Additional past winners making the field are Stanford (1992, 94, 96, 97, 2001, 04), University of Hawai`i (1982, 83, 87), Long Beach State University (1989, 93, 98), UCLA (1984, 90, 91), Nebraska (1995 and 2000), University of Southern California (1981, 2002, 03), Penn State (1999), University of Texas at Austin (1988) and Washington (2005).
HAWAI?I IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT ? Hawai?i is making their ninth-consecutive NCAA Regional appearance, their 23rd overall. The Rainbow Wahine are 15-7 (.682) in regional semifinal matches and 8-7 (.533) in regional finals. The Rainbow Wahine have advanced to eight NCAA Championships, advancing to the championship match five times, winning the title in 1982, ’83 and ’87, while falling in the finals in 1988 and ’96. UH is making their 25th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, as they have missed just one of the 26 years of the tournament’s existence. Hawai?i has now made 14-straight NCAA Tournaments. The Rainbow Wahine are 60-21 (.741) in the NCAA Tournament all-time. They have a 32-3 (.914) record in NCAA postseason play at home, including a 20-2 (.909) record in the Stan Sheriff Center. Hawai?i has won 10-straight NCAA Tournament matches at home, dating back to a 1999 loss to Texas A&M in a regional
semifinal match.
ALL-REGION TEAMS ANNOUNCED ? Four Rainbow Wahine, Jamie Houston, Kanoe Kamana`o, Sarah Mason and Juliana Sanders, earned all-West Region honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Wednesday, marking the first year that Hawai`i ever placed four players on an all-region team. New Mexico State sophomore Amber Simpson also earned all-West Region honors. Her teammates Jackie Choi and Alice Borden earned honorable mention honors.
Kamana`o earned her fourth all-region honor, the only player on this year’s list that is a four-time all-region performer. Kamana`o is also the three-time WAC Player of the Year. She is ranked 10th in the country with 13.49 assists per game, while adding 0.97 blocks and 2.43 digs per game. She sets the UH offense, which ranks 17th in the country with a .269 hitting percentage.
Houston is making her first appearance on the all-region list. The sophomore ranks sixth in the country with a 5.46 kills per game average. Houston is also averaging 2.55 digs and 0.71 blocks per game.
Mason is also making her first all-region appearance. She ranks 17th in the country with 0.59 aces per game, while averaging 4.04 kills, 3.02 digs and 0.75 blocks per game.
Sanders, another first time all-region honoree, is UH’s leading hitter, posting a .365 hitting percentage with 2.32 kills and 1.43 blocks per game.
Simpson earned her first all-region honor. The first-team all-WAC honoree is 18th in the nation in hitting percentage (.387). She led the Aggies to their first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
NEW MEXICO STATE FALLS TO COLORADO IN FIRST ROUND ? Senior outside hitter Alice Borden had a match-high 15 kills for the No. 19 New Mexico State volleyball team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Thursday, Nov. 30, against Colorado, at the Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colo. The Aggies (33-4) fell to the Buffaloes (17-11) in three games, 24-30, 20-30, 32-34. Junior outside hitter Anna Callis added eight kills while senior setter Jackie Choi recorded 36 assists and four blocks.
NMSU’S CHOI EARNS ACADEMIC HONORS ? Senior setter Jackie Choi, of the No. 19 New Mexico State volleyball team, was named to the 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team selected by CoSIDA, the organization announced. This is the second consecutive year that Choi has earned this prestigious honor. As a sophomore, Choi was a third-team member. Choi, who posts a 4.0 grade point average in accounting and economics, is the only player from the WAC to receive the award.
WAC TOURNAMENT RECORDS ? There were two records broken at the 2006 WAC Tournament. New Mexico State senior Jackie Choi set the record for service aces in a match with five in a sweep of Idaho in the semifinals. In the quarterfinals, Hawai?i set the record for shortest tournament match with a sweep of Fresno State that took 1:05. The previous record was 1:11 by Utah and TCU in 1998
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM ? Hawai?i earned its seventh WAC Tournament MVP when sophomore Jamie Houston earned the honor. All-American Victoria Prince had captured the last two WAC Tournament MVP honors. This season, the size of the team was reduced from 11 to eight.
2006 All-Tournament Team
Niki Clement, San Jose State
Kari Gregory, Hawai`i
Amber Simpson, New Mexico State
Kanoe Kamana`o, Hawai`i
Jackie Choi, New Mexico State
Kim Oguh, New Mexico State
Sarah Mason, Hawai?i
Jamie Houston, Hawai?i, MVP
SHULL BREAKS WAC SINGLE SEASON DIG RECORD ? Jessie Shull broke the San Jose State and WAC single-season dig record against Boise State during game one of the match on November 9. Shull ended the season 676 digs and holds the top-four spots on the San Jose State single-season dig list. She is the only person in WAC history to record 600 or more digs in a season.
2006 WAC Tournament ? Reno, Nevada
Wednesday, November 22 (Quarterfinals)
M1 - No. 8 Fresno State def. No. 9 Louisiana Tech, 3-1
M2 - No. 2 New Mexico State def. No. 7 Boise State, 3-1
M3 - No. 3 Idaho def. No. 6 Utah State, 3-1
M4 - No. 5 San Jose State def. No. 4 Nevada, 3-1
M5 - No. 1 Hawai?i def. No. 8 Fresno State, 3-0
Thursday, November 23 (Semifinals)
M6 - No. 2 New Mexico State def. No. 3 Idaho, 3-0
M7 - No. 1 Hawai?i def. No. 5 San Jose State, 3-0
Friday, November 24 (Championship)
Match 8 - No. 1 Hawai?i def. No. 2 New Mexico State, 3-1
KAMANA`O MOVING UP NCAA ASSIST LIST ? Kanoe Kamana?o moved to a tie for ninth on the NCAA career assists list, as the senior is now at 6,340, just 39 assists away from eighth on the list. The three-time All-American is the school and conference career assists leader. But Kamana?o is not only getting in the record books in the category of assists. Kamana?o also moved to third in the UH record book in career digs, with 1,203. The senior is also ranked fifth with 398 block assists and seventh in career blocks (422). She also moved into ninth on the career aces list at 95, making Kamana?o the only player in UH history to rank in the top 10 in assists, digs, blocks and aces for the program.
DID YOU KNOW??? ? When No. 24 New Mexico State hosted No. 11 Hawai?i on Oct. 13, it was the first time that two ranked teams had a faced each other since the WAC Championship match in 1998 when Hawai?i defeated BYU.
WAC IN THE NCAA STATS ? Several WAC players earned a spot in the top 15 in the most recent NCAA stats. Hawai?i’s Jamie Houston is eighth in the nation in kills per game, averaging 5.46 kpg. San Jose State’s Jessie Shull is 13th in digs per game (6.04 dpg). Hawai?i’s Kanoe Kamana`o is 10th in assists (13.49 apg). New Mexico State’s Amber Simpson is 18th in hitting percentage (.387), while Kim Oguh is 25th in hitting percentage (.377)
RAINBOW WAHINE DOMINATE WAC TOURNAMENT ? Top-seeded Hawai?i has won the last seven WAC Tournament titles after falling to BYU in the championship match in 1996 and 1997. The Rainbow Wahine have a 25-2 record (.926) in the tournament overall. Since the revival of the tournament in 2001 after a two-year hiatus, Hawai?i has recorded 15 sweeps in WAC tournament play, only giving up a game twice (to Nevada in 2002 and 2004 and to New Mexico State in 2006).
HOME SWEET HOME ? Currently, New Mexico State is No. 15 in the nation for home attendance with an average of 1,830 fans per match. A capacity crowd of 2,803 saw the Aggies upset No. 11 Hawai’i, Oct. 13, which was the largest crowd of the season until senior night against San Jose State, Nov. 18. A crowd of 3,397 attended the regular season finale.
Hawai?i once again leads the nation in attendance, averaging 7,052. 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 Hawai?i is looking to lead the nation for the 13th-straight season.
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 5.88 dpg.