PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Utah State opposite side hitter Amanda Nielson has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 15-21. This is the first career WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior.
The West Valley City, Utah (Granger) native, led Utah State to a 2-1 record last week with wins against Idaho (3-0) and Boise State (3-0) and a loss to 11th-ranked Hawai?i. Nielson began her week by recording a match-high 16 kills and a team-high nine digs against Hawai?i. Against Idaho, Nielson tied the school record for most kills in a three-game match with 24. She also had eight digs against the Vandals and hit .312 (24-9-48). Nielson then concluded her week by again tying the school’s single-match kills record with 24 more kills against Boise State. In the match against the Broncos, she hit .353 (24-6-51) and notched her sixth double-double of the season with 11 digs. For the week, Nielson averaged an amazing 7.83 points, 7.11 kills, 3.11 digs, 0.78 blocks and 0.33 service aces per game.
Other nominees included: Tairyn Rasmussen of Fresno State led the Bulldogs with 15 kills and 11 digs ... Shannon Phillips tallied 27 kills and 20 digs over the weekend against San Jose State and Nevada ... Karly Sipherd of Nevada had 30 kills and 12 blocks as the Wolf Pack went 1-1 ... Lindsey Yon of New Mexico State had 40 kills and 37 digs in two wins by the Aggies.
WEEK TEN IN THE WAC ? No. 11 Hawai?i will host No. 13 New Mexico State on Friday, Oct. 26. Utah State will host Fresno State in its only conference match of the week. San Jose State and Nevada will both host Boise State and Idaho.
BATTLE ON THE ISLAND ? When No. 11 Hawai?i and No. 13 New Mexico meet in Honolulu on Friday, Oct. 27, it will be the first time two WAC teams in the top 15 in the polls will meet since 1998. In that year, No. 7 Hawai?i defeated No. 6 BYU in five games, 13-15, 13-15, 15-2, 15-5, 16-4.
TURN BACK THE CLOCK ? Compared to this point in last year’s WAC standings, Utah State has made the biggest improvement. In 2006, the Aggies were 5-7 and in 6th place. This season, Grayson DuBose’s Aggies are 8-4 and currently stand in third place. The bottom three are the same from last year to this year, Fresno State, Boise State and Louisiana Tech.
IN THE POLLS ? New Mexico State jumped up five spots in the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Poll to No. 13, Monday, Oct. 22 with its record at 19-3 overall and 10-1 in the Western Athletic Conference. The Aggies were ranked No. 18 last week, but with a win over Nevada and a sweep over San Jose State last week, NMSU moved up to No. 13. Last week’s No. 18 ranking was the highest NMSU had ever been ranked reaching that mark for the second time, but this week’s ranking is now the highest the Aggie volleyball has ever been.
Hawai?i remained No. 11 in the polls despite the loss to top-ranked Nebraska. In the RichKern.com poll, the Rainbow Wahine are also No. 11, while the Aggies are No. 15.
WAC IN THE TOP FIVE ? No. 20 New Mexico State ranks sixth in the nation in both assists (15.82 apg) and kills (17.05 kpg). Nebraska leads the nation in both categories, with 17.00 apg and 18.41 kpg, respectively. Idaho’s Haley Larson is fifth in the nation in kills, averaging 5.40 per game. Hawai?i’s Jamie Houston is sixth in kills per game (5.29 kpg)
HAWAI?I FALLS TO NO. 1 NEBRASKA ? The No. 11 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine volleyball (16-4) fell to the Nebraska Cornhuskers (19-0) 22-30, 30-16 and 30-24 in front of an sold-out and NCAA regular-season record crowd of 13,396 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Sunday.
Jamie Houston led all players with 16 kills, adding eight digs. Juliana Sanders hit .417 with six kills and three blocks while Aneli Cubi-Otineru had nine kills and eight digs. Tara Hittle led UH with 12 digs while Elizabeth Ka`aihue had 11 digs.
Cubi-Otineru had three kills in a five-point span to give UH a 7-6 edge early in the first game. Both teams traded small runs before a 7-2 Cornhusker run broke a 14-14 tie, pushing them ahead 21-16. Nebraska never let up down the stretch, taking game one 30-22.
PACKING THE STANDS ? Hawai?i continues to lead the nation in attendance. This is the sixth-straight season that the Rainbow Wahine have led the nation in attendance. Hawai?i has drawn 83,762 fans so far this season for an average of 6,440 fans. New Mexico State is 18th in the nation attendance with a total of 13,835 fans for an average of 1,765.
AGGIE VISION? With great success, Aggie Vision has provided three matches on television for New Mexico State volleyball. The first match televised was on Sept. 4 against New Mexico, the second came on Sept. 11 versus UTEP, while the third was on Sept. 27 against Boise State. Future matches that will be televised include the following: Louisiana Tech at NMSU on Oct. 11 at 7:00 p.m.; Nevada at NMSU on Oct. 18 at 7:00 p.m. All times are mountain times.
UTAH STATE AT HOME ? Over the last eight years, Utah State is 63-28 (.692) in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, which includes a 50-24 (.676) record against conference opponents. During the last three years, USU is 16-6 (.727) at home against WAC opponents, which includes a 4-2 record this year.
HALEY’S COMET ? Haley Larsen eclipsed 30 kills for the second time this season with 31 kills vs. San Jose State (Oct. 11). She had a season-high 35 kills at UC Davis (Sept. 8), which currently ranks as the third-highest kills total in the NCAA this season. Larsen is ranked No. 4 in the nation for kills per game (5.46) this week. She has been ranked in the top four for six consecutive weeks and was ranked as high as No. 2 earlier this season.
SIPHERD RECORDS 1,000TH CAREER KILL ? Nevada senior middle blocker Karly Sipherd became the ninth player in school history to reach the 1,000 career kill mark in the Pack’s 3-2 loss at New Mexico State last Thursday when she totaled 18 in the match. Sipherd’s 1,020 kills ranks ninth in school history. She also moved up to ninth in career solo blocks after totaling two last week which gives her 44. Two weeks ago she became the career leader in block assists moving past former teammate Salaia Salave`a(2002-05) into first and currently has amassed 442. She is also second in total blocks(486), fourth in points(1,312), and is sixth in attack percentage(.268) on the Nevada’s career lists.
UTAH STATE LEADS THE WAC AND RANKS 17TH NATIONALLY IN BLOCKING ? Utah State continues to lead the Western Athletic Conference in blocking this year and is now averaging 3.08 blocks per game. In league only matches, USU is leading the WAC with 3.71 blocks per game. As of Oct. 14, USU ranked 17th nationally with 3.15 blocks per game. Last year, USU averaged 2.86 blocks per game which ranked third in the WAC and USU finished the 2005 season by averaging 2.81 blocks per game, which also ranked third in the WAC.
TICKETS ON SALE FOR WAC VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT ? Tickets for the 2007 Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament are now on sale to the public. The volleyball tournament is Nov. 15-17 at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M. It is the first time that the volleyball tournament has been held in Las Cruces after being in Reno for five-straight years.
For all-session tickets, there will be an “Early Bird” promotion (20% off regular price) until Sept 30, 2007. Ticket prices during this promotion are $20 for adults and $16 for senior citizens (age 65 and over) and $8 for children (18 and under) for an all-session pass (eight matches; four sessions).
Beginning Oct 1, 2007 the regular price all-session tickets and single-session tickets will be available. All-session tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for children. All seats are general admission. Single session tickets are also available for $10 for adults and $8 for senior citizens and $4 for children.
All-session tickets for the volleyball tournament may be purchased by calling 1-866-672-8524 or calling the Pan American Center Ticket Office at 505-646-1420. Single-session tickets are available online at www.ticketmaster.com (there is an additional service charge for Ticketmaster online sales). Single-session tickets are also available by calling 915-544-8444 or 505-532-2060. Pan American Ticket Office hours are Monday-Friday, 10:00 a.m.? 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, 11:00 a.m. ? 2:00 p.m.
NEVADA’S ERICSON EARNS NATIONAL HONOR ? Teal Ericson, a senior outside hitter for Nevada, has been named this week’s Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week last week. Ericson earned the award in helping her team to two wins over Western Athletic Conference opponents. In the Wolf Pack’s match against Fresno State, Ericson hit .500 on 24 kills, while also tallying three digs and one block assist in the 3-0 win. Against Utah State, she garnered 14 kills, three digs and three block assists to lead her team to its second sweep in a row. She combined for 38 kills on the weekend, moving her into fourth on the Wolf Pack’s all-time kills list with 1,348.
VOLLEYBALL FORMAT ? For the third-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.
2007 WAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
November 15 (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 16 (Semifinals)
Match 6 - Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4
Match 7 - Winner Match 2 vs. Winner Match 5
November 17 (Championship)
Match 8 - Winner Match 6 vs. Winner Match 7
LARSEN HAS BREAKOUT PERFORMANCE ? Haley Larsen had 35 kills to help the University of Idaho volleyball team rally to a 3-2 victory over UC Davis at the 2007 Hallmark Inn Aggie Tournament. Larsen’s performance was the second best in school history as she garnered over half of Idaho’s 69 kills in the match. The 35 kills was the highest in the WAC this season and third-highest in the country. Her strong performance led to her being third in the nation in kills per game, averaging 5.52 kpg.
SAN JOSE STATE CAPTURES TOURNAMENT TITLE ? With a 2-1 tournament record, the San Jose State volleyball team won the ASU/Bancorp South Classic despite a 26-30, 30-23, 26-30, 24-30 loss to host Arkansas State.
Junior middle blocker Colleen Burke was selected as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. She had 10 kills against Arkansas State and hit .457 for the weekend with only two hitting errors in 11 games played. Keri Anglin had two blocks against Arkansas State and led the team over the weekend with nine blocks. Jennifer Senftleben recorded 10 kills Saturday night and averaged 3.55 kills per game over the weekend.
NEW MEXICO STATE TO HOST WAC VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT - The Western Athletic Conference announced, that pending board approval, New Mexico State University will host the 2007 WAC Volleyball Tournament, Nov. 15-17 at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces.
The 2007 Volleyball Tournament marks the third time New Mexico State has hosted a WAC Championship in the past nine months. In March, the Aggies hosted the 2007 WAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships and this April, the University Golf Course hosted the 2007 WAC Women’s Golf Championships.
Throughout the week, WAC teams and fans were treated to a variety of cultural events that showcased what the state of New Mexico and the city of Las Cruces are all about, including Native American and Hispanic Culture Days. Fans also had the chance to experience the newly-renovated Pan American Center first hand, including new concourses, concession stands, restrooms and a brand new center-hung scoreboard, which hangs above Lou Henson Court.
Boise State Broncos (4-17, 1-10 WAC)
Despite their efforts to stay on pace with Utah State, the Boise State volleyball team fell to the Aggies in three games with scores of 29-31, 19-30 and 28-30, Saturday ... Junior Jeanette Jenkins had an amazing night as she led the Broncos with 10 kills, hitting .308 (10-2-26) on the night, while notching a pair of blocks ... teammate Maren Ericson also added to the offensive attack, as she tallied 10 attacks of her own against the Aggies ... setter Mandy Klein set the pace for Boise State as she recorded 34 assists and picked up five digs along the way.
Fresno State Bulldogs (5-15, 3-7 WAC)
Fresno State returns to conference action this week after a brief hiatus ... the Bulldogs fell to San Jose State on the road on Oct. 22 to start the week ... Fresno State will also take on Utah State in Logan on Oct. 27 ... the Bulldogs have lost two-straight matches ... Kasey Van Grouw leads the the Bulldogs with four double-doubles ... sophomore Lisa Gera is second in the WAC in digs per game, averaging 5.10 dpg ... Gera is also sixth in service aces, averaging 0.30 sapg.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine (16-4, 10-0 WAC)
The No. 11 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (16-4, 10-0 WAC) returns to WAC play this week to face No. 13 New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech on Friday, Oct. 26, and Sunday, Oct. 28 ... Hawai?i is coming off a tough road loss to the defending national champion and top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in front of an NCAA regular season record crowd of 13,396 ... Jamie Houston is sixth in the WAC in kills per game, averaging 5.29 ... this week, Hawai?i returns home to face No. 13 New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech ... the Rainbow Wahine defeated the Aggies in Las Cruces last month.
Idaho Vandals (9-11, 5-4 WAC)
Idaho looks to rebound from a two-match losing streak ... this week, the Vandals travel to Nevada and San Jose State ... Haley Larsen is first in the WAC in double-doubles with 15 ... she is also fifth in the nation in kills per game, averaging 5.40 kpg ... junior Kelsey James is second in the conference in assists per game, averaging 11.76 apg ... the Vandals are currently fifth in the WAC standings with a 5-4 record ... Anna McKinney is fourth in blocks (1.29 bpg) ... she has a total of 89 blocks this season.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (6-19, 1-11 WAC)
Shannon Phillips is tied for second in double-doubles this season with 11 ... Phillips is also fifth in kills per game, averaging 4.48 kpg ... the Lady Techsters look to break a six-match losing streak ... this week, Louisiana Tech will look to break its losing streak against non-conference opponent Tulane before making the long trip to Honolulu to take on No. 11 Hawai?i ... Brittney Nakamura is seventh in the WAC in digs per game (3.97 dpg).
Nevada Wolf Pack (10-8, 7-4 WAC)
The next assist for Auburn Hills, Mich. senior setter Ashley Miller will be her 1,400th in the Wolf Pack ... in 41 matches during the 2005 and 2007 seasons with 2006 being a redshirt year she has totaled 1,399 career assists ... Miller would become just the eighth setter at Nevada to reach 1,400 assists in a career ... she could pass Phylis Bustamante’s (1986-87) total of 1,645 into seventh if she averages 31 assists per match over the final eight of the season ... the Pack could play more than eight depending on how far they advance in the season ending WAC Tournament.
New Mexico State Aggies (17-3, 8-1 WAC)
The Aggies have won eight-straight matches since losing to No. 11 Hawai’i in five exciting games, Sept. 22 at the Pan American Center ... the Aggeis will travel to Honolulu, Hawai’i, Friday, Oct. 26 to try to pick up a victory on the Rainbow Wahine home court ... the only other two losses for the Aggies came against No. 1 Nebraska and now-No. 5 Texas ... NMSU has six matches remaining in the regular season before they play host to the Western Athletic Conference tournament, Nov. 15-17 ... Amber Simpson (.353) and Kim Oguh (.337) are two and three, respectively in hitting percentage in the WAC.
San Jose State Spartans (10-12, 4-7 WAC)
Jennifer Senftleben led all hitters with 20 kills to propel the San Jose State volleyball team to a 30-27, 30-19, 30-26, victory over Fresno State on Oct. 22 ... Senftleben hit a season-best .514 with only two hitting errors in 35 attempts ... her 20 kills marked the 22nd time in her career that she recorded 20 or more kills in a match ... the Spartans finish the week at home against Idaho on Oct. 27 ... Colleen Burke leads the WAC in hitting percentage, hitting .359 ... teammate Keri Anglin is eighth hitting .256 ... this week, the Spartans take on Boise State and Idaho at home.
Utah State Aggies (11-10, 8-4 WAC)
Utah State recorded a pair of three-game wins last weekend against Idaho and Boise State ... against the Vandals, senior Amanda Nielson tied the school record for kills in a three-game match with 24 as she hit .312 (24-9-48) in the contest ... Nielson then tied the school record once again two nights later at Boise State as she also added 11 digs for her sixth double-double of the year ... against the Broncos, Nielson hit .353 (24-6-51) ... Nielson is third in the WAC in kills per game, averaging 4.88 kpg ... with the pair of wins the Aggies are third in the WAC standings a game ahead of Nevada ... this week, the Aggies host Utah Valley and Fresno State.