Sept. 1, 2005

From the AVCA

NEBRASKA ON TOP OF PRESEASON POLL: Nebraska (2-0) earned the favorite's role in the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll released on Aug. 8, and the Huskers lived up to the billing last week with sweeps over third-ranked Stanford (1-1) and fourth ranked Hawai'i (0-2). Second-ranked Washington (2-0) won twice last week as well. Fifth-ranked Penn State (1-1) split a pair of matches, including a victory over Hawai'i. Rounding out the top 10 are sixth-ranked Minnesota (0-0), seventh-ranked Southern California (1-0), eighth-ranked Florida (1-0), ninth-ranked Tennessee (1-0) and 10th-ranked Wisconsin (0-0). The first regular season CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll will be released on Monday, Sept. 5, shortly after noon MT.

POLL NOTES: The Pac-10 and Big Ten each nabbed three spots in the top 10 of the preseason poll. Overall, the Pac-10 is represented by six teams in the top 19 spots, while all of the Big Ten's four representatives are in the top 12. The Big 12 has four teams among the top 25, while the West Coast Conference has three schools listed on the preseason top 25 list ** Nebraska and Stanford are the only two schools to have been ranked in all 320 polls conducted by the AVCA ** Nebraska has been ranked number one in the poll 41 times, which ranks fourth behind UCLA (51), Hawai'i (48) and Stanford (47) ** Stanford has been ranked in the top 10 of the poll 291 times, or 90.9 percent of the time ** A total of 85 different NCAA Division I teams have been ranked at some point in the history of the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll. Wichita State and Rice, who both received points in the 2005 preseason poll, are on the verge of becoming the next teams to join the all-time poll list ** Only 13 of the top 25 schools competed last weekend.

NCAA VOLLEYBALL ON CSTV: AVCA MATCH OF THE WEEK: This week's NCAA Volleyball on CSTV: AVCA Match of the Week features Texas at Notre Dame. The match, contested the evening of Saturday, Sept. 3, will air Sunday, Sept. 4, at 6 p.m. ET on CSTV. Texas (0-0) opens its 2005 season at the Notre Dame Diamond Shamrock Invitational and will face Arizona State prior to its contest with the Fighting Irish. The Longhorns are ranked 11th in the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll released on Aug. 8. The Big 12 coaches voted Texas to finish third in the league's preseason poll. Texas, 26-5 and 16-4 in the Big 12 in 2004, embarks on its 32nd year of women's volleyball and holds an 862-324-14 record in 1,200 all-time matches. This year's squad returns four starters and the team's libero from its 2004 NCAA Division I regional semifinalist team outside hitter Dariam Acevedo, outside hitter Jen Christian, middle blocker Brandy Magee, setter Michelle Moriarty and libero Alyson Jennings. The Longhorns welcome five newcomers, including three freshmen. The high school newcomers include outside hitter/middle blocker Lauren Paolini, outside hitter/middle blocker RuthAnn Feist and defensive specialist/outside hitter Kiley Hall. UT also brings in a pair of upperclassmen in junior middle blocker Jennifer Todd from Washington State and senior right side/opposite hitter Heather Schreiber, who just completed a four-year career on the Longhorn women's basketball team. Moriarty and Magee were selected to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team. Notre Dame (1-0) is listed 27th in the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll, and has already come away with a key win to open the season. The Fighting Irish gained a 3-0 victory (30-24, 30-16, 30-26) over Big Ten Michigan in their season opener. Notre Dame is coming off a 21-9 season in which it finished 17th in the final NCAA Division I Ratings Percentage Index. The Irish won the BIG EAST with a 9-1 record and advanced to the NCAA Division I Tournament Second Round. Notre Dame returns nine of its top 10 players (in terms of games played) from the 2004 squad, including five of six starters and the libero. Lauren Brewster, an AVCA Division I All-America Third Team selection last year, leads the Fighting Irish. She is a four-year starter who earned the Division I blocking title in 2003. Senior outside hitter/middle blocker Lauren Kelbley is one of two active Division I players to have been named AVCA All-Region in each of the last three seasons. Texas leads the all-time series with Notre Dame, winning seven of the nine matches. However, the Fighting Irish won the last meeting in three games at Austin, Texas, on Sept. 6, 2003. Jerritt Elliott is in his fifth season leading the Texas Longhorns and has compiled an 81-42 record with the school. He also led Southern California for two years with a 50-11 record. Debbie Brown begins her 15th season at the helm of the Notre Dame women's volleyball program. She has led the Fighting Irish to a 345-118 mark. Brown, 462-201 overall in her coaching career, has guided Notre Dame to the NCAA Division I Tournament 13 consecutive years. For more information on the Texas volleyball team, please go to www.TexasSports.com. For additional information on Notre Dame volleyball, please access www.und.com. CSTV Networks is the multimedia home of college sports. CSTV Networks connects alumni, students, parents and fans to the most comprehensive coverage of college sports anywhere. Through its numerous platforms, CSTV provides more live college sports games, events, news, information, analysis and broadband content than any other company. CSTV Networks consist of: College Sports TV, televising regular-season and championship events for 35 men's and women's college sports, from every major collegiate athletic conference; CSTV Online, the number-one online destination for college sports, capturing the fans' passion in a personalized broadband experience, while serving as the backbone for more than 250 official university athletic sites; GameTracker Live, which provides live coverage and statistics of more than 13,000 online events per year; and CSTV All-Access, a unique broadband subscription service that brings college sports fans even more comprehensive coverage of their favorite schools. This year marks the third year for the national volleyball package on CSTV.

RECAP ON AVCA/NACWAA COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL SHOWCASE: Top-ranked Nebraska (2-0) claimed the AVCA/NACWAA College Volleyball Showcase title as it defeated third-ranked Stanford (1-1) by scores of 30-23, 31-29, 33-31 Saturday night at the Qwest Center OMAHA. Nebraska overcame an 18-17 deficit in game one with a 4-0 run, then held off the Cardinal with five unanswered points to end the stanza 30-23. Christina Houghtelling tallied nine kills in the opening game. The Huskers overcame an 18-13 deficit in game two, then needed to score four of the last five points to cap the second game at 31-29 as Jordan Larson came up with two big kills and Melissa Elmer and Sarah Pavan combined twice for blocks down the stretch. Nebraska allowed a 19-14 third-game lead to evaporate and had to hold for a 33-31 victory capped by a Jordan Larson ace. Houghtelling was named the tournament's most valuable player, and Elmer was chosen to the all-tournament team. Stanford's Cynthia Barboza and Kristin Richards also were tabbed to the all-tournament team, along with Penn State's Sam Tortorello and Christa Harmotto, and Hawaii's Victoria Prince. Earlier in the evening, Penn State (1-1) defeated Hawai'i (0-2) in the AVCA/NACWAA College Volleyball Showcase consolation match. In the 11-year history of the AVCA/NACWAA College Volleyball Showcase, the host team has not won the tournament on its home floor. Nebraska somewhat broke the streak as it had been the designated team host of this year's Showcase. The Huskers play their home matches in Lincoln, Neb., during the regular season. "I was informed that this is the first time in history that a host school has ever won this tournament, and now I understand why because when you have a crowd like this, the expectations and the level of competition, you have to play really well," Nebraska Head Coach John Cook said. "I'm really proud of our team for living up to the expectations and giving these fans their money's worth. Also, I'm so impressed with these three teams that are here as well. College volleyball is getting really good." Larson charted a double-double in the championship match with 15 kills on a .419 attack percentage, 12 digs and six blocks. Houghtelling contributed 15 kills, seven digs and five blocks in the victory. Pavan ended the night with 12 kills and three blocks, while Melissa Elmer contributed eight kills and 10 blocks. Jennifer Saleaumua was credited with seven kills and 17 digs. Nebraska hit .312 for the night on the combined setting of Dani Busboom and Maggie Griffin. Richards banged out 13 kills with 10 digs for a double-double for Stanford. Foluke Akinradewo hammered 12 kills with four blocks in the loss, while Barboza nailed 12 kills and eight digs. Bryn Kehoe notched 50 assists, 12 digs and three blocks while setting the Cardinal to a .211 team attack percentage. Franci Girard turned in 10 kills on a .353 attack percentage, and Courtney Schultz had a team-high 15 digs. Nji Nnamani banged out nine kills.

ATTENDANCE AT THE SHOWCASE: The AVCA/NACWAA College Volleyball Showcase attracted a two-tournament record 20,604 fans, or an average of 10,302 fans per night. On Aug. 26, a total of 10,028 fans went through the Qwest Center OMAHA turnstiles to become the 25th NCAA Division I attendance in excess of 10,000 fans in matches not played in conjunction with another special event such as Midnight Madness. The following night, an even bigger crowd of 10,576 fans showed up for the consolation and championship matches. The second-night attendance ranks 11th all-time in NCAA Division I history. Nebraska has been involved in five of the top 11 attended matches, while at least one of the four teams in the Showcase has been involved in seven of the top 11 attended matches.

KATRINA AFFECTS VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULES: Not only has Hurricane Katrina played havoc with the lives of millions of people along the Gulf Coast, the aftermath of the storm has forced several changes to the upcoming weekend's volleyball schedule. The Kathy Trosclair Invitational at Tulane University on Sept. 2-3 was cancelled due to the heavy damage in New Orleans. Sam Houston, originally scheduled to play in the event, has rescheduled to compete in the Houston Cougar Classic against Houston, Arkansas State, Mississippi and Miami (Fla.). Nicholls State withdrew from the C&C Services Arkansas Invitational. The event now drops to a three-match tournament involving Kansas State, Utah State and host Arkansas. Southern Miss has withdrawn from the Holiday Inn-Costa Mesa Sunset Classic hosted by UC Irvine. The tournament field now becomes a tri-match involving UC Irvine, UNLV and Santa Clara. The University of South Alabama canceled its volleyball invitational this weekend. Stetson, which was set to compete in the tournament, has rescheduled to play three matches in Birmingham, Ala. The Hatters will play UAB once each on Sept. 2 and Sept. 3, while completing their city stop against Samford on Sept. 3. Further schedule changes are pending.

BENEFIT FOR KATRINA RELIEF: Following the devastation left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Georgia State volleyball team will conduct a fundraiser this Friday and Saturday during the Wyndham Atlanta/Georgia State Invitational. Admission to the Invitational is free; however, donations will be accepted at the door that will go directly the American Red Cross. In addition, one-third of the proceeds from merchandise sales during the tournament will be donated to the American Red Cross (www.redcross.org). The volleyball team at Georgia State has a long track record for stepping up when there is a need. During their trip to Brazil in June, the team conducted a clinic for under-privileged children in the Sao Paulo area. Last year, the team won Georgia State's Champs/Life Skills Cup, an award given to the team that uses their position as student-athletes as a vehicle for positive change in the community. This weekend's tournament will have increased significance, as Louisiana State University is one of four participants. Classes at LSU have been canceled until September 6, and many of the athletic facilities on campus are currently being used as medical triage facilities for evacuees from New Orleans and surrounding areas. Two student-athletes on the LSU squad are natives of New Orleans, in addition to an assistant coach. The Wyndham Atlanta/Georgia State Invitational will begin at 4:00 p.m. Friday when Jacksonville State faces Wright State, followed by Georgia State and LSU at 6:00 p.m. The tournament continues all day Saturday with matches at 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m.

39 TO START: Rachel VanMeter opened the 2005 season with one of the best offensive performances in the University of Illinois' volleyball history. She helped lead the Illini to a five-game victory with 39 kills at Illinois State on Aug. 26. In the process, she set an ISU Redbird Arena record with 39 kills seven more than the previous mark. "We rode the arm of Rachel VanMeter for much of the night," Illinois Head Coach Don Hardin said. "Her performance was not only the result of her talent, but also represented a lot of hard work on her part."

YOUNGEST COACHES: Loyola (Md.) Head Coach Kristina Hernandez holds the distinction of being the youngest active NCAA Division I women's volleyball coach. Through research compiled by Northern Colorado athletic media relations coordinator Kyle Schwartz, Hernandez is one of five coaches age 25 or younger as of Aug. 16. She was 23 when the survey was taken. Allison Magner, co-interim head coach at UAB, is the second youngest at 24, followed by Connecticut's Holly Strauss (24), Northern Colorado's Lyndsey Benson (25) and Loyola-Chicago's Marcie Bomhack (25). The next five youngest active head coaches in Division I are Louisiana-Lafayette's Amy Kraljev (26), Quinnipiac's Ryan Woodcock (27), Southeast Missouri State's Renata Nowacki (27), Marist's Sarah Hutton (27) and Chicago State's Lenika Lamar (27). Schwartz compiled the list by going to every Division I web site and compiled a list of 18 coaches who graduated from college from 2000 or later. He then contacted schools for birthdays on the list of 18 coaches to rank the top 10 youngest active coaches.

DOUBLE THE TRIPLE PLEASURE: It may be just the first weekend of her sophomore season, but Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Leanne Felsing has already posted one of the best individual weekends in UWM volleyball history. Felsing recorded triple-doubles in each of UWM's two matches in Iowa City, tallying 15 kills, 15 digs and 21 assists versus Drake on Aug. 26 before adding 19 kills, 14 digs and 16 assists against Iowa on Aug. 27. This is the first time in UWM's Division I history a player has recorded triple-doubles in back-to-back matches. Only one other Panther has had two career triple-doubles, with Lindsey Spoden recording a pair of them during the 2003 season, and UWM has now had just nine triple-doubles since 1990.

STARTING STRONG IN HOMETOWN: Iowa State Head Coach Christy Johnson started her collegiate career strong, and her hometown fans in Omaha were able to witness the birth of a head coaching career. Johnson, a product of Millard North High School in Omaha, led the Cyclones to a 3-0 record to claim the Bluejay Invitational at Creighton on Aug. 26-27. She had accepted the head coaching position at Iowa State earlier this year.

EIGHT IS ENOUGH: The Washington Husky defense held opponents in check to the point it tied a school record on consecutive nights. Washington allowed just eight points to Gardner-Webb on Aug. 26. The Huskies proved the defensive effort was not a fluke by allowing just eight points in the first game against Montana State the next night. Conversely, the Washington offense broke the school record for team attack percentage with a .566 mark. Washington had set the single-match team attack percentage record the previous night against Gardner-Webb with a .537 mark.

EIGHT IS ENOUGH, REVISITED: Texas A&M had its defense clicking on all cylinders against Prairie View A&M on Aug. 27. The Aggies allowed a school-record fewest single-match points against PVAMU. Texas A&M gave up a total of 42 points in the entire match, including a rally-scoring era record low game total of eight points in the second game.

SERVING NOTICE: Washington junior setter Courtney Thompson took control of the Huskies match versus Gardner-Webb on Aug. 26, and did not relinquish it for quite several minutes. She stepped back to serve with the Huskies leading 10-7, and before Gardner-Webb could regain the serve, Washington was in full control at 28-8. Thompson set a NCAA record with 18 consecutive serves in the process.

EAGLES SET FOR BIG WEEKEND: The Boston College volleyball team will hold its first-ever BC Invitational Sept. 1-3 as the Eagles host Maine, Syracuse and defending national champion Stanford. BC opens the tournament on Sept. 1 in Conte Forum against third-ranked Stanford. BC will be playing on the floor of Conte Forum for the first time and it will be going after a northeast attendance record (1,946) for a college volleyball match. Further, the ground-breaking match between BC and Stanford will be televised locally on CN8 on Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. ET. "We are very excited for the opportunity to play a national championship team in Stanford," BC Head Coach Andrea Leonard said. "This is also a significant time for our program to face such a strong program as we enter the competitive ACC conference. I would like to thank CN8 for its support in televising this match and creating an exciting volleyball environment in Boston." Karolyn Kirby, a recent inductee into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame, will server as the color analyst for the televised match.

A FIRST IN DIVISION I: The University of North Florida is making the transition to NCAA Division I after wrapping up its final NCAA Division II season in 2004. The Lady Ospreys wasted little time in getting into the win column against the upper NCAA level. UNF defeated Troy 30-22, 26-30, 30-28, 30-28 in its very first match competing against a NCAA Division I schedule on Aug. 26. In the process, the Lady Ospreys won their fourth consecutive season opener.

SWEEP OR MARATHON: The Big Ten opened the season with an 8-3 overall record as eight schools started the first weekend. In all 11 contests, the match either lasted the minimum of three games or extended to a fifth game. The Big Ten was 6-1 in three-game matches and 2-2 in five-game matches.

TENURED COACHES MEET: UC Riverside Head Coach Sue Gozansky and Hofstra Head Coach Fran Kalafer met up on the court on Aug. 26, and the opposite coast coaches shared more than just the job of being a head coach. Both coaches have represented their schools for 25 years. Gonzansky is in her 36th season leading the UCR, while Kalafer has been a head coach for 27 seasons, including the last 25 with the Pride. The two coaches combine for 63 years of head coaching experience with 1,239 career wins (Gozansky 649, Kalafer 590).

DEFENSE AGAINST DEFENSE: Youngstown State and Canisius met on Aug. 28 at Akron, Ohio, and both teams showed off their defense. Canisius' Jess Stackhouse recorded 37 digs in the five-game match, but it was the balanced defense of YSU led by Amanda Cindric's 30 digs that proved to be the winning difference. YSU held a 101-86 dig advantage with five players in double-figure digs, while Canisius' defense yielded just three players in double-digit digs. Further, the Youngstown State offense benefited from Jessica Fraley's 31 kills, a school record for a single match.

ALOHA MEANS HELLO AND GOODBYE: After sweeping Hawai'i at the season-opening AVCA/NACWAA College Volleyball Showcase last weekend in Omaha, Penn State boarded a plane and headed for none other than Honolulu, Hawai'i. The fifth-ranked Nittany Lions competes in the Hawaiian Airlines Classic with matches against Western Michigan and Southern California before playing the host Rainbow Wahine on Sept. 2. Penn State then returns back to the contiguous 48 states, and after a couple days on campus, flies back to Midwest to compete in Lincoln, Neb., against Pepperdine, Nebraska and Pacific.

BLOCKS FOR A CURE: For the second consecutive year, the Western Illinois volleyball team is pledging $1 for every block this season to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation as part of the "Block for the Cure" campaign. "We're excited to bring back our Blocks for a Cure program for the second straight year," WIU Head Coach Kym McKay said. "Last year we totaled a donation of $864, which was well above what we anticipated donating. We had quite a few people sign-on and match our donation throughout the season, and it was great to see that kind of support from our fans." Those interested in joining the WIU volleyball team and its fight against breast cancer by matching the team block-for-block or making a one-time donation can call the volleyball office at (309) 298-1855.

BIG 12 STARTS STRONG: The Big 12 competed in 18 matches in the opening weekend with nine of 11 schools in action. The league came away with a 16-2 record over the first three days of the season, and both losses were absorbed by Texas Tech. Kansas State won all three of its matches over the weekend, while Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Nebraska and Texas A&M finished 2-0. Oklahoma won its only match of the week.

SPANNING THE GLOBE: Long Island University has a domestic and international flair to its 2005 women's volleyball roster. The 12-person Blackbird roster contains seven international players and five players from five different states. The international players hail from Brazil, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Germany (two), Israel, Poland and Romania. The United States is represented by players from California, Florida, Maryland, South Carolina and Texas.

QUICK SETS: Creighton's Leah Ratzlaff recorded her 53rd straight match with 10 or more kills following a 12-kill performance against Iowa State on Aug. 27 ** Notre Dame won its season-opening match for the 15th consecutive season, all under current head coach Debbie Brown ** Missouri State University, which previously was Southwest Missouri State University until officially making the name change on Aug. 28, recorded its first victory under the new school name versus Southeast Missouri State on Aug. 28 ** Western Michigan Head Coach Colleen Munson opened her first season as the Bronco head coach with two wins, something that has not been done since the 1998 season ** Kansas State achieved three shutouts in a row to open the 2005 season, a feat not accomplished by the Wildcats since 1998. It is only the second time in school history the Wildcats have opened with three straight shutout wins, and first in the Suzie Fritz era ** Ohio extended its home win streak to 29 matches by defeating West Virginia on Aug. 27 ** Texas-El Paso defeated Alabama A&M on Aug. 27 to claim the Texas-El Paso Tournament title. The Miners had not won a tournament title since capturing the Roadrunner Classic in Las Cruces, N.M., in 1997 ** After posting a 2.98 blocks-per-game average in 2004, the Ball State carried over its strong play at the net, averaging 3.92 blocks per game during the opening weekend ** Illinois State's Erin Lindsey became the first Redbird freshman since Stacey Anderson in 1986 to start the season-opening match at setter