United Athletic Conference

WEEK TWO IN THE WAC ? Hawai?i looks to get back on track hosting the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic. After a 1-2 start at home last week, the Rainbow Wahine will host Kansas State, Louisville and No. 5 UCLA. The Bruins ended the Rainbow Wahine’s season last year, defeating Hawai?i, 3-0 in the Regional Final in Honolulu.

New Mexico State looks to continue its fast start. The Aggies will travel to Houston and take on No. 4 Texas and host Houston. Both Nevada and Fresno State are looking for their first wins of the season. The Wolf Pack will be in Malibu at the ASICS Classic, while Fresno State will host UC Davis, Idaho State and Saint Mary’s.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? New Mexico State outside hitter Lindsey Yon has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 27. This is the first WAC Player of the Week of the season and the first career honor for the junior.

The San Antonio, Texas, (Texas A&M) native, led New Mexico State in kills as the Aggies began the 2007 season 4-0. At the NAU Invitational, she was named tournament MVP for the first time ever in her career. She led the Aggies in kills with 14 in the championship match against Northern Arizona to help New Mexico State to its first tournament title of the season. Yon also had a team high for the weekend 18 kills in match two of the tournament against UC Davis. She ended the season with 44 kills and 18 digs, while only playing in 10 games. She also hit .310 in the three matches in which she played.

Other nominees included: Arlee Tamietti of Boise State led the Broncos in several categories, leading Boise State to their best start since 2000 ... Lauren Berger of Fresno State led the Bulldogs with 19 kills and 10 total blocks ... Haley Larsen of Idaho had 47 kills and 23 digs in three matches last week ... Jennifer Senftleben of San Jose State had 60 kills as the Spartans went 2-1 last week ... Amanda Nielson of Utah State was named to the Four Points University Plaza Wildcat all-tournament team after leading the Aggies to a third place finish, finishing the tournament with 43 kills and 23 digs.

CONGRATULATIONS! ? San Jose State head coach Oscar Crespo got his first collegiate coaching victory on August 25 with a 3-0 victory over Grambling State. Before coming to San Jose State, Crespo spent seven years as an assistant coach at Nevada.

PERFECT BEGINNINGS ? The New Mexico State volleyball team (4-0) was led by sophomore Kelli Goodan to sweep Texas Southern (0-5) in three games by scores of 30-11, 30-17 and 30-14 at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M. on Aug. 26.
 Goodan led all players with 11 kills and hit .529 in the home opener.  She also had one dig and one block assist.
 Head coach Michael Jordan was pleased with how Goodan and other young players did in the match against Texas Southern.

HAWAI?I RANKED IN PRESEASON POLL ? Defending Western Athletic Conference volleyball champion Hawai?i has been selected in a poll by the league’s coaches to defend its crown in 2007 and take home its 12th-straight regular-season title.

The Rainbow Wahine received eight of the nine first-place votes with San Jose State earning the other first-place vote. Hawai?i earned 64 total points followed by New Mexico State with 55. San Jose State under the direction of new head coach Oscar Crespo finished tied for third with Idaho with 44 points. Nevada was picked fifth with 36, while Boise State was picked sixth with 30. Utah State finished in seventh place with 22 points with Fresno State earning 20 points, good for eighth. Louisiana Tech was picked ninth with nine points.

Hawai?i is coming off a 29-6 season in 2006 that saw the Rainbow Wahine earn their 11th-consecutive WAC regular-season title with a 15-1 record. Hawai?i also captured its seventh WAC Tournament title. The Rainbow Wahine advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals before losing to UCLA. New Mexico State also advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2006.

The 2007 WAC season begins August 24 with all nine teams in action. After five seasons in Reno, the WAC Volleyball Tournament moves to Las Cruces, N.M. on the campus of New Mexico State. The nine-team tournament will be held November 15-17.

2007 PRESEASON ALL-WAC TEAM ANNOUNCED ? The WAC Preseason all-WAC volleyball team was announced today as voted on by the nine coaches. Hawai?i All-American Jamie Houston was named WAC Preseason Player of the Year. This is the third-straight season that a Rainbow Wahine player earned the preseason honor with former Hawai?i All-American Kanoe Kamana`o earning the honor in 2005 and 2006.

Hawai?i led the way placing four on the 12-player team. Along with Houston, seniors Kari Gregory and Juliana Sanders and junior Tara Hittle earned preseason honors. Houston, Gregory and Sanders were all first-team all-WAC selections in 2006. Hittle missed most of the 2006 season due to injury.

New Mexico State placed two players on the preseason team, senior Kim Oguh and junior Amber Simpson. Both were first team all-WAC selections last season. San Jose State also had two players make the team with junior Niki Clement and senior Jennifer Senftleben being named to the squad.

Four teams placed one player on the preseason all-WAC team all of whom made the second team last season. Nevada senior Teal Ericson, Louisiana Tech senior Shannon Phillips, Idaho junior Haley Larsen and Utah State senior Amanda Nielson round out the 2006 preseason team.

NIELSON NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM, TIES SCHOOL RECORD WITH ACES ?  Utah State opposite side hitter Amanda Nielson was named to the 2007 Four Points University Plaza Wildcat Classic all-tournament team after leading the Aggies to a third-place finish with a 1-2 record during the weekend.  Nielson averaged 5.60 points, 4.30 kills, 2.30 digs, 0.90 service aces and 0.70 blocks per game during the tournament.

 Her best match of the weekend was against Eastern Washington as she recorded her first double-double of the year with 21 kills and 13 digs, both of which are season-highs.  She also hit .319 (21-6-47) in the match and tied a school record with six service aces in the four-game win against EWU.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ? The Rainbow Wahine will be hosting their 20th Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic, holding a 43-14 (.754) record in the tournament’s history. UH has won nine of the previous 19 tournaments, taking second six times and third four times, never taking last in the classic. All three of the opposing teams have also made appearances in the Wahine Classic. UCLA has appeared in 17 classics, playing in every one from 1988 to 2003, then returning to the classic in 2006. They have a 38-13 record (.745), winning seven titles. Louisville will be making their third appearance in the classic, holding a 3-3 (.500) record. The Cardinals finished second in the 1996 classic with a 2-1 record and finished 1-2 in the 2003 classic. Kansas State will be making their second classic, going 1-2 in 2001.

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

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 & 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

Boise State Broncos (2-1 0-0 WAC)
The Broncos opened their season with a pair of three-game sweeps against Cal State Fullerton and UT-San Antonio, finishing the weekend with a record of 2-1, with their only loss at the Bronco Invitational coming to No.2 4 Santa Clara ... the Broncos have not swept their first two matches of the season since 2000 ... this week, Boise State travels to the Gonzaga Tournament.

Fresno State Bulldogs (0-3, 0-0 WAC)
Fresno State as a team leads the WAC in blocks with 2.86 per game and is second in digs with 17.55 per game ... the Bulldogs are looking for their first win of the season after a tough showing at the Husky Tournament hosted by the University of Washington ... this week, Fresno State has three matches at home against Idaho State, UC Davis and Saint Mary’s.