CSTV Sunday Night Spikes: AVCA Match of the Week
9/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 22, 2004
By: Bill Kauffman, AVCA - This week's CSTV Sunday Night Spikes: AVCA Match of the Week features Pepperdine (2-5) at Hawai'i (8-0). The match, played on Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. HT, will be aired on Sunday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m. ET on CSTV. The Waves and Rainbow Wahine also face each on Sept. 24 in a non-televised match.
Pepperdine, left out of the USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Poll for the first time in 81 ranking periods this week, will play its fifth and sixth match against a ranked opponent this weekend. The Waves will also play their third straight weekend on the road. Pepperdine, which has gone undefeated in the West Coast Conference each of the last three seasons, have won 18 league championships in the program's history. Junior outside hitter Katy Daly leads the Waves with 3.89 kills and 2.79 digs per game, while senior libero Christina Hinds ranks 21st in the NCAA for digs with 5.21 per game. Sophia Milo, a sophomore middle blocker, holds a team-leading 1.18 block average to go with 3.18 kills per game. Junior setter Melissa Melhorn runs the offense with 11.68 assists per game while adding 2.75 digs and 1.07 blocks per game on defense. The team is slowing recovering from a rash of injuries affecting four players missing action.
Hawai'i has not missed a beat in 2004, despite losing AVCA National Player of the Year Kim Willoughby, AVCA All-American Lily Kahumoku and four other All-Western Athletic Conference performers to matriculation. The Rainbow Wahines are one of eight undefeated teams remaining in NCAA Division I, which has included victories over four currently ranked teams. Sophomore setter Kanoe Kamana'o, the 2003 AVCA National Freshman of the Year and AVCA Third-Team All-American, directs the Rainbow Wahine offense to a .254 team attack percentage this season. Junior outside hitter Susie Boogard leads Hawai'i with a 3.91 kill average to go with 2.64 dig average and .241 attack percentage. Junior middle blocker/right side Victoria Prince hits at a team-best .381 clip with 3.42 kills and 1.06 blocks per game average. Sophomore outside hitter Alicia Arnott adds 3.91 kills per game to the Rainbow Wahine offense, while ranking third in dig average 2.79. The televised match will also represent Hawai'i Head Coach Dave Shoji's 1,000th contest leading the program.
Pepperdine Head Coach Nina Matthies is in her 22nd year leading the Waves. She holds a 411-237 career record while directing Pepperdine to 14 NCAA Tournament berths and nine West Coast Conference titles. Matthies has earned WCC Coach of the Year a league-record eight times, in addition to being named Tachikara/AVCA Pacific Region Coach of the Year three times.
Shoji, in his 30th season at Hawai'i, has led the Rainbow Wahine to 22 NCAA Tournament berths, including four national championships (three NCAA, one AIAW). He holds an 848-149 record with 15 seasons of 30 or more victories. Shoji has been named the Tachikara/AVCA Region Coach of the Year six times. He earned the 2002 USA Volleyball All-Time Great Coach Award.
College Sports TV currently has agreements with the top three national distributors - Comcast, DirecTV and Time Warner Cable, among others. For information on CSTV availability in particular markets, consumers can log on to www.collegesports.com/getcstv or call their cable or satellite operator. The 2004 CSTV Sunday Night Spikes: AVCA Match of the Week telecasts feature teams from 12 different conferences showcasing some of the top players in pursuit of a national title. This year marks the second year for the national volleyball package on CSTV.
Future CSTV Sunday Night Spikes: AVCA Match of the Week Schedule (All Times ET)
Sept. 5 - Southern California def. Pepperdine 3-1 Sept. 12 - Minnesota def. Florida 3-2 Sept. 19 - South Carolina def. Notre Dame 3-1 Sept. 26 - Pepperdine at Hawai'i - 6:00 p.m. Oct. 3 - Southwest Missouri State at Northern Iowa - 6 p.m. Oct. 10 - Texas at Kansas State - 6 p.m. Oct. 17 - Long Beach State at UC Santa Barbara - 6 p.m. Oct. 24 - Pepperdine at Santa Clara - 6 p.m. Oct. 31 - Stanford at California - 6 p.m. Nov. 7 - Colorado State at Nebraska - 6 p.m. Nov. 14 - Colorado State at Utah - 4:30 p.m. Nov. 14 - Texas A&M at Texas - 6:30 p.m. Nov. 21: Patriot League Championship, 4 p.m.; at American Univ. Nov. 21: WAC Championship, 6 p.m.; at Univ. of Nevada-Reno
