Willoughby only Wahine on all-West Region team
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
On the UH good news/bad news front yesterday, sophomore Kim Willoughby was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association all-West Region team, but was the only Wahine selected.
Advertiser library photo
All-region players are eligible for All-America honors, which will be announced next week at the final four in San Diego. A dozen players in each of eight regions were selected yesterday.
UH's Kim Willoughby was one of three sophomores selected to the all-West Region team.
Willoughby, who leads the nation in kills, is one of three sophomores in the West, along with Utah's Kim Turner and Pacific's Jennifer Joines. Junior Brittany Hochevar is one of four Long Beach State players on the team. The West's other eight are seniors.
Colorado State also had four players honored, which was the Wahine's biggest beef.
"I thought we had more people deserving to be on this team," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "For CSU to get four is ... I don't think they have four players better than us."
Hawai'i also nominated junior setter Margaret Vakasausau and sophomore hitter Maja Gustin, an all-region middle blocker as a freshman. Shoji was particularly bitter about Vakasausau's absence.
"I think think our setter is every bit as good as (Long Beach's Keri) Nishimoto and the Colorado State setter (Allison Peckham). I thought Maja had a chance, too. I shouldn't talk about CSU because I haven't seen them, but for them to get four and us one seems uneven. Utah beat them twice and only got player, too.
"Maybe they're going totally on stats, which is maybe the only way you can go about these things, but it seems a little unfair."
No place like Hawai'i
Washington State did not have the atypical response to being home for last week's sub-regional. Of course isolated, icy Pullman and balmy Honolulu are not your atypical sites.
The Cougars watched the selection show live and were ecstatic to be grouped with ninth-seeded Hawai'i. That was before host sites were announced.
When WSU found out it was hosting, it grew somewhat subdued.
"It was like, 'We can't go to Hawai'i,' " one of the players recalled. " 'We have to stay home.' "
Beach ball at its best
Tonight's second semifinal features two teams with one loss between them.
Long Beach State (30-0) is off to its best start since the 1998 national championship team finished 36-0. The 49ers are 39-1 in the last 13 months, since Keri Nishimoto became their full-time starter at setter.
The loss was the memorable semifinal at Hawai'i last December. The Wahine won 15-6 in the fifth. It was the first time they defeated Long Beach in the NCAA Tournament. The 49ers ended Hawai'i's season from 1989-94. The teams have been in the same region nine times in the NCAA Tournament's 21-year history.
Three of The Beach's four starting seniors were named to the all-region team yesterday — Player of the Year candidate Cheryl Weaver, Nishimoto and 6-foot-8 Tayyiba Haneef.
Nishimoto and Haneef are also on the Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-District team. Nishimoto has a 3.92 grade point average in computer science. Haneef, who is working on her master's, had a 3.20 undergraduate GPA in communications.
Northern Iowa (31-1), located in Cedar Falls, won its first 18 before losing in five at Bradley. One of its victories came at Wisconsin.
Every Panther is from Iowa, as is first-year coach Bobbi Petersen, who played for Northern from 1986-89. Kim McCaffrey, the lone senior, and sophomore Molly O'Brien were named all-Central Region yesterday.
The Panthers have won the last four Missouri Valley championships, and their last 48 home matches. They are 7-8 in the NCAA Tournament, and have never advanced past the Sweet 16.
