DENVER ? The Western Athletic Conference 2007 postseason award winners were announced today as selected by the league’s head coaches.
Hawai?i left-side hitter Jamie Houston was named the WAC Player of the Year. This is the 12th-straight player of the year honor for a Rainbow Wahine player. Houston was also named to first-team all-WAC this season. Utah State’s Chelsea Fowles captured Freshman of the Year honors, becoming the first Aggie to win the award since Utah State joined the WAC in 2005. Utah State’s Grayson DuBose was named WAC Coach of the Year.
Seven different schools were represented on the first team and eight overall. Hawai?i, the first seed in the WAC Tournament, had three players named to the first team. Second-seeded New Mexico State had four placed on the first team and two on the second team, while Nevada placed two on the first team and one on the second. Idaho, San Jose State and Utah State all had one player on the first team.
For the 12th-straight year, Hawai?i boasts the WAC Player of the Year. Houston has been among the nation’s leaders in kills per game, averaging 5.34. The junior finished conference play leading the WAC in kills per game (5.62). She is a three-time all-WAC honoree. Houston is one of four returning first-team members, along with New Mexico State’s Kim Oguh and Amber Simpson and Hawai?i’s Juliana Sanders. Nevada’s Karly Sipherd earned her first first-team honor after being on the second team her first three years.
Utah State’s Chelsea Fowles earned Freshman of the Year honors. She was also one of six players named to the all-freshman team. All six players came from different teams. The Rainbow Wahine’s Elizabeth Ka’aihue earned honors along with Nevada’s Lindsay Baldwin, San Jose State’s Emily Burke, New Mexico State’s Bryn Rodgers and Fresno State’s Tairyn Rasmussen. There were three setters on the all-freshman team, including Fowles, Rodgers and Burke.
This is Grayson DuBose’s first Coach of the Year honor. DuBose led the Aggies to an 11-5 conference record. Utah State rebounded well after a 6-10 conference record in 2006. In his second season with the Aggies, DuBose’s Aggies were the first WAC team to defeat Hawai?i in Honolulu.
The WAC Tournament will begin Thursday, Nov. 15 in Las Cruces, N.M. There will be five matches on Thursday with No. 8 Boise State facing No. 9 Louisiana Tech in the first match of the day. No. 4 Nevada will take on No. 5 Idaho in the next match, followed by No. 1 Hawai?i facing the winner of the Boise State vs. Louisiana Tech match. No. 3 Utah State will battle No. 6 San Jose State at 5:00 p.m., while host school and No. 2 seed New Mexico State will take on No. 7 Fresno State in the last match of the day.
The Western Athletic Conference, in conjunction with its Web site partner JumpTV Sports, has announced it will stream all of the matches of the 2007 WAC Volleyball Tournament. Viewers can sign up by visiting www.wac.tv. Single matches can be viewed on WAC.tv for $9.95 or fans can subscribe to the full volleyball tournament package (all eight matches) for $19.95.
The complete list of the all-WAC Teams follows:
First Team
Colleen Burke, San Jose State
Aneli Cubi-Ontineru, Hawai?i
Teal Ericson, Nevada
Jamie Houston, Hawai?i
Amanda Nielson, Utah State
Haley Larsen, Idaho
Kim Oguh, New Mexico State
Juliana Sanders, Hawai?i
Amber Simpson, New Mexico State
Karly Sipherd, Nevada
Krystal Torres, New Mexico State
Lindsey Yon, New Mexico State
Second Team
Krista Altermatt, New Mexico State
Keri Anglin, San Jose State
Stephanie Brandt, Hawai?i
Niki Clement, San Jose State
Tara Hittle, Hawai?i
Sarah Loney, Idaho
Ashley Miller, Nevada
Melissa Osterloh, Utah State
Alisha McKee, Fresno State
Shannon Philips, Louisiana Tech
Jennifer Senftleben, San Jose State
Danielle Taylor, Utah State
All-Freshman Team
Lindsay Baldwin, Nevada
Emily Burke, San Jose State
Chelsea Fowles, Utah State
Elizabeth Ka’aihue, Hawai?i
Bryn Rodgers, New Mexico State
Tairyn Rasmussen, Fresno State
WAC Player of the Year: Jamie Houston, Hawai?i
WAC Coach of the Year: Grayson DuBose, Utah State
WAC Freshman of the Year: Chelsea Fowles, Utah State
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