DENVER ? Hawai`i left side Jamie Houston has been named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 17-23. This is the fourth career WAC Player of the Week honor for the junior, and her first for the 2007 season.
The Huntsville, Ala., (Huntsville) native, came up big on the road, leading the Rainbow Wahine in kills with 22 at Louisiana Tech and 29 at No. 25 New Mexico State, also posting four blocks in each match. In the match against the Lady Techsters in Ruston she put way the final five points of the match with five kills on just nine swings. Houston is averaging 5.04 kills, 2.42 digs and 0.79 blocks per game on the season. She now totals 1,230 career kills for the Rainbow Wahine, and is just two short of emerging the UH career top 10 list. The Rainbow Wahine fought off six match points to win a thriller over the No. 25 New Mexico State Aggies, improving their record to 10-3 overall 4-0 in the WAC.
Other nominees included: Alisha McKee of Fresno State had a season-high 20 kills and a season-high .333 hitting percentage in the Bulldogs 3-2 win over Boise State, marking their first road win of the season ... Sarah Loney of Idaho 55 kills in three matches as the Vandals went 2-1 ... Kara Jones of Louisiana Tech tallied a total of 13 blocks and 25 kills in three matches last week ... Karly Sipherd of Nevada averaged 4.11 kills, 1.33 digs, .67 blocks and 4.78 points while hitting .304 as the Pack split a pair of WAC road matches ... Kim Oguh led the way for New Mexico State with 33 kills and 15 blocks, recording her first double-double of the season in the match against No. 13 Hawai’i ... Amanda Nielson led Utah State in a split pair of WAC matches, recording her second career double-double with a match-high 19 kills, 10 digs and a career-high tying 10 block assists against No. 25 New Mexico State.