Thursday, December 17, 1998

Bown named
All-American

Nebraska's Fiona Nepo also
is named to the AVCA
first team

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii middle blocker Heather Bown had but one regret when she arrived in Madison, Wis., last night. The rest of her Wahine volleyball teammates hadn't made the trip with her to the site of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament final four.

"It's a team sport and I owe my success to them," said Bown, who was named yesterday to the 12-member AVCA All-America first team.

Bown, a junior, is the 17th player in Hawaii history named to the All-America team. It's the 29th certificate for the Wahine program, third most among women's volleyball teams.

The NCAA semifinals began today with top-ranked Long Beach State taking on No. 4 Florida. In the other semifinal today, second-ranked Penn State took on No. 3 Nebraska.

The Cornhuskers had two players named to the first team, including Honolulu's Fiona Nepo.

Bown was the only WAC player on the first team. Named to the second team were BYU senior hitter Korie Rogers and junior setter Anna-Lena Smith.

"You tend to compare Heather with (UH All-American) Angelica Ljungquist because both are middle blockers," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji. "But the player I most compare Heather with is Teee Williams. And we've never had a player so strong and so dominant as Heather."

Bown was the WAC Pacific Division Player of the Year, leading the conference in hitting percentage (.389) and kill average (4.74).

VOLLEYBALL

AVCA All-America Team

First team
Player, School -- Pos -- Yr --
Heather Bown, Hawaii -- MB -- Jr --
Bonnie Bremner, Penn St -- S -- Jr --
Lauren Cacciamani, Penn St -- MB -- Jr --
Jenny Manz, Florida -- OPP -- Jr --
Misty May, Long Beach St -- S -- Sr --
Nancy Meendering, Nebraska -- OPP -- So --
Fiona Nepo, Nebraska -- S -- Sr --
Demetria Sance, Texas -- OH -- Sr --
Elsa Stegemann, Pacific -- OH -- Jr --
Kerri Walsh, Stanford -- OPP -- Jr --
Jenna Wrobel, Michigan St -- OH -- Sr --
Petia Yanchulova, San Diego -- OH -- Jr

Second team
Lindsay Anderson, Penn St -- OPP -- Sr --
Benishe Dillard, Long Beach -- MB -- Sr --
Roberta Gehlke, UCSB -- OH -- Jr --
Kelly Kennedy, Wisconsin -- MB -- Jr --
Jennifer Kessy, USC -- OPP -- Sr --
Megan Kovar, Nebraska -- MB -- Sr --
Jasmina Marinkovic, USC -- MB -- Sr --
Korie Rogers, BYU -- OH -- Sr --
Jennifer Sanchez, Florida -- S -- Jr --
Anna-Lena Smith, BYU -- S -- Jr --
Kim Storey, Arkansas -- MB -- Sr --
Stacy Sykora, Texas A&M -- OH -- Sr