WAHINE VOLLEYBALL PLAYBOOK
Vs. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
GAME RESULTS LATE TONIGHT
IN BREAKING NEWS
Tonight: Tulsa (8-13, 2-7) at No. 3 Hawaii (19-1, 8-0), 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center.
Coaches-Hawaii: Dave Shoji (25th season, 700-136-1). Tulsa: Matt Sonnichsen (2nd, 19-29).
Series: Hawaii leads Tulsa, 3-0. The Wahine needed just 69 minutes to sweep the Golden Hurricane in Tulsa four weeks ago, 15-4, 15-5, 15-2
Top players -- Hawaii: Heather Bown (6-3 Sr. MB) 4.12 kpg, .361, 2.39 bpg, 20 aces; Jessica Sudduth (6-2 Jr. LS) 3.20 kpg, .220, 20 aces, 2.55 dpg; Veronica Lima (6-2 So. MB) 2.00 kpg, .283, 2.58 dpg, 1.11 bpg, 20 aces; Jennifer Carey (6-1 Fr. S)12.02 apg, 2.67 dpg, 1.16 bpg; Lily Kahumoku (6-2 Fr. LS) 3.39 kpg, .317, 1.86 dpg. Tulsa: Kristien Van Lierop (5-8 Jr. OH) 4.18 kpg, .232, 3.31 dpg, 22 aces; Juliet Klemm (6-2 Sr. MB) 3.17 kpg, .245, 1.13 bpg, 24 aces; Shannon Smith (5-10 Jr. S) 10.50 apg, 2.53 dpg,
About the Wahine: Hawaii gave Shoji his 700th career victory last Saturday in an 82-minute win at Fresno State. He is just the seventh coach in NCAA women's volleyball to reach this milestone. A ceremony to honor Shoji will be held after tonight's match ... Last week's road wins at San Jose State and Fresno upped Hawaii's perfect WAC record to 8-0. The Wahine are now 51-1 in 3-plus seasons in the WAC ... Sophomore transfer Tanja Nikolic has filled in for an ailing Lima the past three matches and had career highs of 17 digs and 13 blocks in the win at San Jose State ... Hawaii seeks to begin a new home winning streak tonight at the Sheriff Center. The Wahine's last home match resulted in an 0-3 loss to Stanford, snapping their win streak at 31, as well as their unbeaten season at 17 ... Against the Golden Hurricane last month, Sudduth and Bown each had 11 kills and hit over .400. Bown added 10 blocks, one of her eight double-double performances ... The Wahine continue to lead the country in blocks (4.12) with Bown No. 1 nationally (.2.39) ... As a team, Hawaii leads the WAC in hitting percentage (.283) and blocks, and is second in kills (15.79) ... The Wahine have surpassed the 100,000 mark in attendance for the fifth consecutive year. Through 15 home matches, the Wahine are averaging 7,363, nearly 4,000 more than Nebraska, which ranks second nationally in attendance.
About the Golden Hurricane: Tulsa has lost its last six matches, including last Saturday's contest against visiting SMU, 3-1. Van Lierop had team bests of 20 kills and a .294 hitting percentage. Van Lierop ranks second in the WAC in digs and is fourth in kills ... Klemm is fourth in blocks in the WAC and Smith is seventh in assists ... Tulsa coach Sonnichsen was a three-time All-American setter at UCLA and led the Bruins to national titles in 1987 and '89. He has begun to turn around a program that went 6-29 in 1997 to 11-16 last season ... In last month's meeting with the Wahine, the Golden Hurricane drew 300 to the Reynolds Center, a season high that was matched by last Saturday's crowd against SMU.
End quote: "It's a tribute to all the players we've had in the program that I've come out of the gym 700 times with a win,'' Dave Shoji on hitting the career milestone.
On the air: Live on KFVE (Channel 5) and KCCN (1420-AM).
Tickets: $5-$9 (upper level only).
Next up: Hawaii has its final conference road trip of the season next week, playing three matches in four days: SMU Nov. 12, TCU Nov. 13 and UTEP Nov. 15. The Wahine then return home for their final regular-season matches against Rice Nov. 18 and San Jose State Nov. 23.
Cindy Luis, Star-Bulletin
