Arnott honored
by WAC

There is something to be said for persistence.

Alicia Arnott: The UH hitter was named conference player of the week

Sophomore hitter Alicia Arnott wasn't all that concerned about the minor slump she'd been in earlier this month. The Hawaii volleyball player knew she just had to keep swinging away and good things would happen.

Yesterday, Arnott received her first player of the week honors from the Western Athletic Conference, based on her performance in two road victories last week. She had a huge match, a career-high 30 kills against SMU on Saturday, adding 19 digs and hitting .463.

It was the first 30-kill match by a Rainbow Wahine this season. Arnott is also the first UH player to hit more than .450 with 30-plus kills since three-time All-American Teee Williams-Sanders had 44 kills and a .493 hitting percentage at UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 8, 1989.

"It's a nice honor," said Arnott, who had 13 kills in Thursday's sweep at Louisiana Tech. "Our middles were doing a good job (splitting the block) and I pretty much had just one blocker on me the whole time.

"The good thing about our team is, on any given night, you don't know who will step up and have a big night."

No. 3 Hawaii anticipates needing a solid all-around night from its entire lineup Thursday when hosting Rice. The Owls, who are one spot outside the top 25 in the national poll, are 18-2 overall and 7-0 in the WAC's Eastern Division.

The Wahine are 16-0 overall, 6-0 in the Western Division.

"On paper, Rice is the best team on that side and maybe in the conference," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "They've beaten everyone (except for UH and San Jose State, which Rice hasn't played).

"We're hoping that we have all parts of our offense working. There's no doubt that we have to keep competing and playing hard."

Besides deciding which team will be the top seed in next month's WAC tournament, Thursday's match also marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Stan Sheriff Center. Then called the Special Events Arena, the Wahine defeated San Jose State 3-1 on Oct. 21, 1994, in front of a then-capacity crowd of 10,031.

Hawaii finishes this homestand against Tulsa (13-6, 2-5) on Friday. Both WAC matches start at 7 p.m.