HAWAI‘I’S CROSON EARNS WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Hawai‘i freshman outside hitter Jane Croson has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 12-18. This is the first-ever WAC Player of the Week honor for Croson.
The Los Alamitos, Calif., native posted a pair of double-doubles as she led the Rainbow Wahine to two wins over No. 21 Pepperdine. She opened the week with 11 kills and a career-high 19 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. The following night, Croson posted a career-high 23 kills, the most this season by a Hawai‘i player, to go with 19 digs for her fifth career double-double. She also added three service aces. For the week, Croson averaged 4.13 kills, 4.25 digs and 0.38 service aces.
Other nominees included: Fresno State’s Barbara Alcantara averaged 6.18 assists on the week ... Clara Vido of Louisiana Tech averaged 3.69 kills and 3.38 digs as the Lady Techsters went 2-2 on the week ... New Mexico State’s Jennah DeVries was named to the all-tournament team at the Northwestern Challenge after averaging 10.15 assists and 1.69 digs on the week ... San Jose State’s Kylie Miraldi was named MVP of the Hilton Stockton Invitational after leading the Spartans to their first tournament title since 2007, averaging 2.20 kills on .378 hitting and 1.60 blocks per set and posting her first-ever double-double ... Josselyn White of Utah State posted a pair of double-doubles on the week.
FOUR WAC PLAYERS NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS IN FOURTH WEEKEND
The WAC had four of its players named to all-tournament teams in the fourth weekend of play, including San Jose State’s Kylie Miraldi, who was named MVP of the Hilton Stockton Invitational. Teammate Caitlin Andrade was also named to the all-tournament team. Meanwhile, Louisiana Tech’s Clara Vido was named to the Husky Classic all-tournament team and New Mexico State’s Jennah DeVries was named to the Northwestern Challenge all-tournament team.
MIRALDI TIES SJSU SINGLE-MATCH BLOCKS RECORDS
San Jose State senior Kylie Miraldi tied the school single-match record for both block assists and total blocks when she tallied 14 against UC Riverside last Saturday. She also had 11 kills in the match for her first-ever double-double.
BIN RECORDS 3,000TH ASSIST
Louisiana Tech’s Bianca Bin recorded her 3,000th career assist in the first set of a four-set loss to McNeese State on Sept. 13. The senior now has 3,121 assists, good for fourth place all-time at LA Tech and 507 shy of second place.
UH’S DANIELSON LOOKS TO BECOME SEVENTH PLAYER TO REACH 1,000 KILLS, 1,000 DIGS
WAC Preseason Player of the Year Kanani Danielson currently has 1,444 career kills and 992 career digs. She looks to become the seventh player in Rainbow Wahine history to surpass 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs.
BRAND’S KILL STREAK ENDS AT 13 MATCHES
With 20 kills at UNLV and 10 kills vs. Baylor, Fresno State junior Marissa Brand extended her double-digit kill streak to 13 matches, dating back to last season. However, the streak came to an end on Sept. 17, when she finished with four kills against San Francisco. She has reached double-digit kills in 29 of 39 matches on her career.
WAC STAT LEADERS
In team statistics, Hawai‘i State leads the WAC in hitting percentage (.315), assists (13.62) and kills (14.75). Utah State is tops in blocks (3.20) and digs (17.10). Meanwhile, New Mexico State leads the league in opponent hitting percentage (.142), while Fresno State is tops in service aces (1.47).
Individually, New Mexico State’s Meredith Hays leads the WAC in kills (4.23) and points (4.71). Hawai‘i’s Emily Hartong and Mita Uiato are tops in hitting percentage (.416) and assists (11.57), respectively, while Idaho’s Alyssa Schultz is tops in blocks (1.52). Grace Anxo of Nevada leads the WAC in service aces (0.46), while Stephany Salas of Louisiana Tech is tops in digs (5.00).
FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS (4-7, 0-0 WAC)
Fresno State went 0-3 at the UNLV Classic last week, falling to the host Rebels (25-9, 25-23, 25-27, 14-25, 15-13), Baylor (25-9, 25-20, 25-21) and San Francisco (25-21, 25-13, 25-19) ... Marissa Brand saw her double-digit kill streak extend to 13 matches before being snapped in the loss to USF. She has posted double-digit kills in 29 of 39 matches on her career ... Eight of the Bulldogs’ 11 matches this season and 10 of the past 14 have been decided in three sets ... Brand ranks third in the WAC in kills (3.94) and points (4.32) per set ... Korrin Wild ranks third in the WAC digs per set (4.21) and fourth in service aces (0.32) ... Cecilia Agraz is third in the conference in service aces (0.32), while Barbara Alcantara is fourth (0.32) ... As a team, Fresno State leads the WAC in service aces per set (1.47), ranks fourth in assists (11.66), and fifth in kills (12.16) and hitting percentage (.169) ... Fresno State has tallied five or more service aces in six of its 11 matches this season and has posted six more aces on the season than its opponents ... The Bulldogs host Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday and open WAC play against Nevada on Saturday.
HAWAI‘I RAINBOW WAHINE (10-1, 0-0 WAC)
Hawai‘i defeated No. 21 Pepperdine twice last weekend, winning 25-14, 25-23, 20-25, 25-17 on Friday and 21-25, 25-9, 25-14, 25-14) ... On Friday, Kanani Danielson led all players with 16 kills to go with 12 digs ... Jane Croson also posted a double-double, finishing with 10 kills and a match- and career-high 19 digs ... On Saturday, Croson tallied a career-high 23 kills to go with 15 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. The 23 kills was the most this season by any UH player ... Danielson finished with 16 kills and 10 digs for her seventh double-double of the season and fourth in a row ... As a team, Hawai‘i leads the WAC in hitting percentage (.315), assists (13.62) and kills (14.75) ... Emily Hartong leads the WAC in hitting percentage (.416), while Brittany Hewitt is second (.410), Chanteal Satele is fifth (.332) and Danielson is ninth (.278) ... Danielson is second in the WAC in kills (3.97) and points (4.56), and 10th in digs (2.95) ... Hawai‘i leads the nation in attendance with an average of 6,659 fans per match. The Rainbow Wahine had a season-high 9,692 last Saturday vs. Pepperdine ... Hawai‘i plays at Idaho on Thursday and at Utah State on Saturday.
IDAHO VANDALS (5-7, 0-0 WAC)
Idaho went 1-2 last week, falling at Portland (25-21, 25-15, 23-25, 25-20) last Wednesday, losing in three at No. 24 Long Beach State (25-18, 31-29, 25-12) last Friday and sweeping UC Irvine (25-20, 25-21, 25-22) on Saturday ... Idaho played its seventh and eighth three-set matches of the season last weekend. The Vandals are 4-4 in three-set matches this year ... Idaho’s 29-31 loss in the second-set against Long Beach State was the first set of the season that went into extra points ... As a team, the Vandals rank third in the WAC in hitting percentage (.197), kills (12.51), blocks (2.32) and assists (11.68) ... Alyssa Schultz leads the WAC in blocks per set (1.52), while Alex Sele ranks fourth in hitting percentage (.345) ... Allison Walker ranks fourth in the league in kills (3.76) and points (4.23) ... Alicia Milo ranks fifth in kills (3.71) and points (4.15), and ninth in service aces (0.27) ... Jenny Feicht is second in the WAC in assists (10.91), while Ryann Carter is sixth (8.64) ... Cassie Hamilton is fourth in digs (4.20) ... Idaho hosts No. 11 Hawai‘i on Thursday and San Jose State on Saturday to begin WAC play. Idaho’s seven WAC home matches are its only home matches of the season.
LOUISIANA TECH LADY TECHSTERS (8-7, 0-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech fell in four sets (25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 25-11) to McNeese State last Tuesday before going 2-1 at the Husky Classic last weekend, falling to Southern Miss (25-13, 25-19, 25-9) and defeating Southeastern Louisiana (25-17, 17-25, 25-14, 25-21) and host Houston Baptist (25-20, 25-21, 17-25, 19-25, 15-9) ... The team posted a season-best 13 service aces vs. Southeastern Louisiana in the two teams’ third meeting of the season last week ... Clara Vido averaged 3.69 kills and 3.38 digs and posted three double-doubles in four matches last week en route to all-tournament team honors. She now has a WAC-best eight double-doubles on the season ... Nataliya Panova posted a season-high 17 kills to go with 11 digs against Southeastern Louisiana, marking her first double-double of the season ... As a team, LA Tech ranks second in the WAC in digs (16.29), opponent hitting percentage (.164) and service aces (1.47) ... Stephany Salas leads the WAC in digs per set (5.17) ... Vido ranks seventh in the WAC in digs (3.38), eighth in kills (3.10) and 10th in points (3.45) ... The Techsters play at New Mexico State on Saturday in their only match this week.
NEVADA WOLF PACK (2-8, 0-0 WAC)
Nevada was idle last week ... Two weeks ago, the Wolf Pack went 1-2 at the Hilton Garden Inn Classic, falling to Sacramento State and No. 1 California, before defeating UT Arlington ... Tessa Lea’ea was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 2.45 kills on .350 hitting to go along with 1.09 blocks over the three matches ... Brianna Heinen had a career-high 20 digs vs. the Hornets ... Setter Tatiana Santiago became the sixth player in school history to record 2,000 career assists against Sacramento State. Her 2,113 career assists ranks sixth in school history ... Santiago leads the team with four double-doubles, while Grace Anxo and Elissa Ji have two each ... Erin Garvey is 13 kills from 600 in her Pack career ... As a team, Nevada ranks third in the WAC in service aces (1.38) ... Anxo leads the conference with 0.46 service aces per set, while Lea‘ea is sixth in hitting percentage (.325) ... Janelle Batista ranks seventh in the WAC in hitting percentage (.311) ... Santiago is fifth in the conference in assists (9.22), while Kelly Chang is sixth in digs (3.51) ... The Wolf Pack host UNLV in their home opener on Wednesday, then host Fresno State to open WAC play on Saturday.
NEW MEXICO STATE AGGIES (10-4, 0-0 WAC)
New Mexico State swept UTEP last Tuesday (26-24, 25-23, 25-18), then went 1-2 at the Northwestern Challenge last weekend, defeating Colgate (25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 25-21) before falling to Duquesne (25-18, 33-31, 25-18) and the host Wildcats (25-18, 25-22, 25-19) ... Jennah DeVries was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 9.80 assists and 1.40 digs over the three tournament matches ... The loss to Duquesne snapped a six-match winning streak and was the Aggies’ first sweep of the season ... Against Northwestern, NM State had season lows of 32 kills and 31 assists ... Meredith Hays leads the WAC in kills (4.23) and points (4.71), while DeVries ranks third in assists (10.60) ... Kelsey Brennan is third in the league in hitting percentage (.367), while Michelle Kuester is sixth in blocks (1.19) ... Kelsi Phillips is fifth in the WAC in digs (4.06) and eighth in service aces (0.29) ... As a team, NM State leads the WAC in opponent hitting percentage (.142) and is second in hitting percentage (.201), assists (12.98) and kills (13.88), and third in digs (15.35) ... The Aggies open WAC play by hosting Louisiana Tech on Saturday in their only match this week.
SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS (5-7, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State won the Hilton Stockton Invitational last weekend, defeating Pacific (25-22, 25-20, 21-25, 25-23), Cal State Bakersfield (25-22, 25-19, 25-20) and UC Riverside (21-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-14), and falling to Loyola Marymount (23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-15) ... The Spartans had not won a tournament title since the 2007 season ... Kylie Miraldi was named tournament MVP after posting her first-ever double-double, tying the school single-match records for total blocks and block assists (14) and hitting .378 over the four matches ... Caitlin Andrade was also named to the all-tournament team after recording double-doubles in three of the four matches. She averaged 9.47 assists, 3.73 digs and 0.66 blocks for the weekend ... Andrade moved into eighth place all-time at San Jose State in assists with 2,210 ... Andrade ranks fourth in the WAC with 9.70 assists per set, while Alex Akana is eighth in blocks (1.15) ... Savanah Leaf ranks ninth in points (3.47) and 10th in kills (2.96) ... SJSU ranks fourth in the WAC in hitting percentage (.176), blocks (2.41), digs (14.98) and kills (12.23) ... The Spartans open WAC play at Utah State on Thursday and play at Idaho on Saturday.
UTAH STATE AGGIES (5-8, 0-0 WAC)
Utah State fell to Brigham Young (25-22, 25-21, 25-19) last Tuesday, lost to UC Irvine (23-25, 25-20, 25-10, 25-17) on Friday and defeated Cal State Fullerton (20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-19) on Saturday ... Against BYU, Shay Sorensen had 11 kills, while Josselyn White finished with 10 kills and 10 digs ... Against the Anteaters, Liz McArthur had 17 kills, while Ashlan Rogers finished with 18 digs a season-best three service aces ... Against the Titans, White posted her sixth double-double of the season and the eighth of her career with 13 kills and 15 digs, to go along with six blocks ... McArthur ranks fourth all-time at Utah State in career attempts (3,600), sixth in kills (1,202) and 10th in service aces (83) ... As a team, the Aggies lead the WAC in blocks (3.20) and digs (17.10) ... Utah State boasts four of the top 10 blockers in the WAC – Alyssa Everett (3rd, 1.41), Kaitlyn VanHoff (4th, 1.34), Nicole Gneiting-Theurer (5th, 1.29) and White (7th, 1.16) ... McArthur ranks sixth in the WAC in kills (3.54) and seventh in points (3.95), while White is eighth in points (3.80) and ninth in kills (2.96) ... The Aggies host San Jose State on Thursday and No. 11 Hawai‘i on Saturday to open WAC play.