PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Hawai?i right-side hitter Tara Hittle has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 1-7. This is the second career WAC Player of the Week for the junior.
The Colorado Springs, Colorado (Doherty) native, had 27 digs and a .388 hitting percentage average as the Rainbow Wahine went 2-0 at home against Nevada and Fresno State last weekend. Hittle hit a career-high .706 (13-1-17) with nine digs versus Nevada, then followed up the performance with a double-double against Fresno State, posting 11 kills and 18 digs to help extend Hawai?i’s WAC home winning streak to 94 matches.
Other nominees included: Lisa Gera of Fresno State had a school-record six service aces in the Bulldogs’ loss to Boise State, and added 49 digs as the Bulldogs went 0-2 ... Krystal Torres of New Mexico State led the Aggies to a 3-0 sweep on the weekend with 72 digs and seven service aces ... Monarisa Ale of Utah State hit .311 and had 19 kills, 11 digs and 9 blocks as the Aggies went 1-1.
WEEK EIGHT IN THE WAC ? All nine teams compete in conference action this week. On Thursday, Nevada hosts Fresno State while No. 12 Hawai?i travels to Boise, Idaho to take on the Broncos. No. 20 New Mexico State hosts Louisiana Tech in Las Cruces, NM and San Jose State makes the trek to Moscow, Idaho to meet the Vandals. On Saturday, Louisiana Tech returns to Ruston, La. to host Fresno State, and No. 12 Hawai?i travels north to meet Idaho. Conference play rounds out with Boise State hosting San Jose State and Utah State heading south to take on the Wolf Pack in Reno.
IN THE POLLS ? New Mexico State moved up two spots to No. 20 in both the AVCA/CSTV and RichKern.com polls, after a 3-0 road win sweep of Utah, Utah State and San Jose State. Hawai?i is at No. 12 in both polls this week.
WAC IN THE TOP FIVE ? No. 20 New Mexico State ranks fifth in the nation in both assists (15.93 apg) and kills (17.13 kpg). Nebraska leads the nation in both categories, with 16.88 apg and 18.16 kpg, respectively. Idaho’s Haley Larson is fourth in the nation in kills, averaging 5.34 per game.
HAWAI?I EXTENDS STREAK - No. 12 Hawai?i remains atop the WAC, defeating conference foes Fresno State and Nevada on Oct. 5 and Oct. 7 at home to extend their WAC home winning streak to 94 matches. The Rainbow Wahine’s conference home winning streak is at 105 matches, dating back to the 1994 season.
AGGIES TOP AGGIES FOR SECOND - New Mexico State stands alone in second place in the WAC after topping Utah State in four games on Oct. 4 in Logan, Utah. Both Aggie squads came into the match with one conference loss each. Sophomore Krista Altermatt and junior Lindsey Yon led the way for New Mexico State, both coming up with double-doubles on the night. Altermatt had 17 kills and 11 digs, while Yon had 16 kills and 10 digs.
RAINBOW WAHINE TAKE CONTROL OF FIRST ? The two ranked teams in the WAC, No. 13 Hawai?i and No. 24 New Mexico State battled on Sept. 22. Hawai?i defeated New Mexico State in five close games, handing the Aggies their first conference loss of the season. Last season, New Mexico State stopped the Rainbow Wahine’s streak of 114 consecutive WAC victories, Friday, Oct. 13, 2006 at Las Cruces High in front of a crowd of 2,803. The Aggies stopped the Rainbow Wahine in five games. In Honolulu, Hawai?i defeated New Mexico State, 3-1. The Rainbow Wahine also defeated the Aggies, 3-1 in the 2006 WAC tournament in Reno.
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 14th in the nation attendance with a total of 13,835 fans for an average of 1,976.
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.
BRONCOS BREAK STREAK - Boise State broke a 10-match losing streak, Oct. 4, beating Fresno State in five games with scores of 33-31, 27-30, 26-30, 30-25, 15-9.
Setting the pace for the Broncos was Mandy Klein, who tallied 60 assists on the night. Klein appeared to have her eye on teammate Jeanette Jenkins as she led the team with a career-high 21 kills, while freshman Alisha King also tallied a career-high 20 kills.
Freshman Elise Ardron led the offensive attack with a hitting percentage of .286 (8-2-21), while redshirt junior Kristen Voyson posted a percentage of .261 (8-2-23).
The record setting night continued for Boise State as freshman Lauren Hamm recorded a career-high 32 digs, earning a spot on the Broncos all-time game high leaders list. Jeanene Rose tallied a career-high 26 digs, while senior Jamie Claussen made her comeback this season with 15 digs of her own.
Adding to the defensive front was junior Maren Ericson, who notched a career-high 10 blocks, while Jenkins, Klein and Voyson all tallied five blocks a piece.
SIPHERD NEARS MILESTONES ? Nevada senior middle blocker Karly Sipherd finished with three block assists in the Pack’s match at Hawai`i last week bringing her career total to 426 which ties her with former teammate Salaia Salave`a’s (2002-05) for first on the schools all-time
list. She also moved closer to 1,000 career kills posting a team-high nine at UH to give her 981 which ranks ninth in Nevada history. She is looking to become just the ninth player in school history to reach the 1,000 career plateau. Currently she is also second in total blocks (467), fourth in points (1,260), sixth in attack percentage (.268), and 10th in solo blocks (41) on the Nevada’s career lists.
NIELSON RECORDS 1,000TH KILL - Utah State senior opposite side hitter Amanda Nielson recorded her 1,000th career kill against 25th-ranked New Mexico State on Sept. 20 and is now one of just five players in school history to record 1,000 kills. Overall, Nielson has 1,090 career kills.
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.
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.
SAN JOSE STATE NAMES CRESPO HEAD COACH - San Jose State University has named Oscar Crespo as its new women’s volleyball head coach. Crespo, a 1990 graduate of San Jose State, becomes the sixth head coach in the program’s history.
Crespo spent the past seven years as a member of the University of Nevada volleyball coaching staff. From 2000-01, he was the Wolf Pack’s assistant head coach before being promoted to associate head coach prior to the start of the 2002 season.
His primary areas of focus at Nevada were athlete training and development; opponent scouting and evaluation; recruiting; setter development; drill development and individual and team skill evaluation; development of defensive and offensive systems, and statistical analysis of individual and team play.
His recruiting expertise helped the Wolf Pack sign the 23rd-ranked volleyball recruiting class for 2006 according to PrepVolleyball.com. Crespo was instrumental in Nevada’s recent success of participating in four of the last six NCAA Tournaments.
REGIONAL SITES SELECTED - The NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee has announced the following sites for regional competition of the 2007 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championships.
Regionals (4) December 7-8, 2007
Host: University of Florida
Stephen C. O’Connell Center
Gainesville, Florida
Host: Pennsylvania State University
Rec Hall
University Park, Pennsylvania
Host: Stanford University
Maples Pavilion
Stanford, California
Host: University of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin Field House
Madison, Wisconsin