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What 2 Watch 4
The second week of non-conference play starts on Thursday with teams adding to their destination tally as programs travel to Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Washington, along with in-state play in California and Hawai’i.
This week, the tandem of Long Beach State and Hawai’i both stay at home for back-to-back weekends with both programs coming off big upset victories. Long Beach State is set to host Pac-12 foes Washington and UCLA over the weekend while the Rainbow Wahine host USC on O’ahu for a pair of matches. After a weekend trip to Chicago for a pair, UC Irvine also takes the home court, playing Boston College on Sunday.
Three ranked foes dot the docket, with No. 9 BYU hosting UC Davis on Saturday afternoon in Provo. Playing a first season in the Big 12, the Cougars were selected second in the league, only trailing defending national champion Texas in the voting.
Also playing a top team on the road, UC Irvine heads to No. 17 Washington State next Wednesday to cap a four-match week for the Anteaters. The Cougars were picked to finish second in the Pac-12, trailing Stanford. WSU enters the weekend sporting a 2-1 mark, suffering a defeat at No. 3 Louisville last weekend.
After hosting in the opening week of play, the league’s two unbeaten sides venture out this weekend. UC Santa Barbara heads down the coast to take on Pepperdine Thursday before continuing the journey all the way to San Diego to face off with No. 6 Oregon and San Diego State.
Cal State Bakersfield started the season with a trio of home victories and put the unblemished record on the line against New Mexico
Including a select number of away matches, 13 contests are set to air on ESPN+ this weekend Check listings for specific match information.
Last Week, Today
- The Big West season started with a Big Bang on opening night, as Long Beach State downed defending national champion and then-No. 1 Texas, 3-1, from Walter Pyramid. The Beach got a 10-kill 11-dig double-double from graduate student Hanna Lesiak in a LBSU debut. Savana Chacon added 14 digs and six assists and the win with setter Zayna Meyer piloting the squad to victory with 41 assists to g along with eight digs, three kills, two aces and two blocks.
- Hawai’i went 2-1 in the Hawaiian Airlines Ranbow Wahine Classic, picking up wins against Northwestern and No. 13 San Diego before falling to No. 9 Oregon to close the event. The Rainbow Wahine were paced by 2022 Big West Player of the Year Amber Igiede, who earned all-tournament honors after totaling 39 kills on .337 hitting to go along with 16 total blocks. In the upset of the Toreros, Igiede was dominant on both sides of the net, tallying a team-best 18 kills and a team-high .417 hitting and was in on four blocks en route to Big West Offensive Player of the Week. Teammate Kate Lang earned Setter of the Week with 120 total assists and 25 digs. Lang recorded a double-double of 49 assists and 10 digs to go along with four blocks against USD.
- UC Santa Barbara went 3-0 at the Thunderdome Classic under first-year head coach Matt Jones. Michelle Ohwobete finished as tournament MVP as a six-rotation outside hitter. Joining Ohwobete on the all-tournament team were Macall Peed and Andi Kreiling. Kreiling’s final performance on the weekend was nearly perfect, with 12 kills and no errors on 15 swings in the sweep of North Florida. All told, Kreiling averaged 4.11 points per set on an eye-popping .574 hitting in a first weekend as a Gaucho after transferring in from Arizona State.
- UC San Diego went 2-1 in the Butler Bulldog Brawl with Ava McInnes and Emily McDaniel claiming all-tournament accolades. McDaniel was also tabbed as Big West Defensive Player of the Week after a weekend of averaging 1.92 blocks per set - 25 total - along with 24 kills. In the season-opening victory over Fresno State, McDaniel matched a career-high with 10 total stuffs. Lauren Brooker earned the season’s first Freshman of the Week awards, finishing with a double-double in each match of the debut weekend. Brooker flirted with a triple-double against Kent State, finishing with nine kills, 15 assists, 10 digs and three aces in the 3-1 victory.
- Cal State Bakersfield went undefeated in the Roadrunner Classic, with Ava Palm closing the tournament as MVP. The redshirt junior averaged 3.7 kills and 4.4 points per set in the trio of victories. True freshman libero Grace Moss tallied double-digit digs in each contest including 17 ups in CSUB’s sweep of Providence en route to all-tournament honors.
- UC Davis opened the 2023 campaign strong going 2-1 in the first weekend of play, notching wins over Power 5 programs Arizona and North Carolina. Olivia Utterback racked up a game-high 17 kills while hitting at a .438 clip against the Wildcats in the season debut. Ally Chander added seven block assists in the match with Casi Newman recording 24 assist and nine digs in the road victory against Arizona.
- Cal Poly’s Lizzy Markovska was named Sacramento State Invitational MVP after helping lead the Mustangs to a 2-1 effort. Markovska finished with averages of 3.64 kills and 4.27 points per set nothing a career-high 17 kills in a four-set victory over Nevada. Jolie Akima joined Markovska on the all-tournament team after patroling the back row and compiling 55 digs, or 5.00 per set, including a career-high 25 against the Wolf Pack.
Preseason Prognostications
The Hawai’i Rainbow Wahine have been selected to go for four in a row to repeat as Big West champions in the 2023 Big West Women’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll, according to a vote of the league’s 11 head coaches.
Conference victors in five of the last seven contested seasons, Hawai’i (22-7, 19-1 BW) topped the polling with a maximum 100 points and 10 first-place votes.
The 2022 Big West runners-up UC Santa Barbara (20-10, 16-4 BW) are again slotted in second, compiling 83 total points in the voting. The Gauchos hold the slimmest of margins over third pick Long Beach State (19-9, 14-6 BW) and fourth-place vote-getter Cal Poly (17-13, 14-6 BW) with one point separating each place. The Beach received the other first-place vote from the coaches, tallying 82 points.
With 61 points, UC Davis took fifth and is followed in the polling by UC Irvine (54 points). Should the preseason prognostications ring true, the Anteaters will claim the sixth and final spot in the inaugural 2023 Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship, set for Nov. 22-25 from Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid.
An eight-player Preseason All-Big West Team was also named with four of the league’s major award winners from 2022 dotting the list.
The group includes the Hawai’i trio of third-team All-American Amber Igiede (Player of the Year), Kate Lang (Setter of the Year), and Caylen Alexander (Freshman of the Year). UC Santa Barbara boasts Macall Peed (Libero of the Year) and Michelle Ohwobete to the team. Zayna Meyer (Long Beach State), Tommi Stockham (Cal Poly), and Olivia Utterback (UC Davis) round out the preseason team.
Poll Position
Hawai’i received 162 votes in the first edition of the regular season of the AVCA/Teraflex Division I Coaches’ Poll, landing just outside the Top 25. Their tally rates 26th nationally, 15 points behind Purdue for the final place in the polling. After Long Beach State dispatched preseason No. 1 Texas, Wisconsin lept to first, followed by Stanford and Louisville.
Made for TV
The Big West will be part of the robust women’s volleyball linear broadcasting coverage on the ESPN family networks on Friday, Sept. 29 as Long Beach State women’s volleyball hosts defending champion Hawai’i at Walter Pyramid.
First serve for the ESPNU telecast between the Beach and Rainbow Wahine is slated for 7 p.m. PT. Last season, Hawai’i took wins in both meetings and currently sport a streak of 11 straight victories in the regular season series.
As part of ESPN’s industry-leading coverage of women’s sports, more than 2,500 women’s volleyball matches are set for ESPN platforms this fall – the most in ESPN history. Additionally, over 125 women’s volleyball broadcasts across The Big West landscape will also be available to fans through ESPN+. Read more >>>
Debut Postseason Prompts Schedule Shuffle
The upcoming Big West women’s volleyball season will feature a new unbalanced schedule of 18 matches to accommodate the addition of the 2023 Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship. The 2021 and 2022 women’s volleyball slates were both full 20-match double-round robins. However, this fall, all 11 matchups in Week 5 between Tuesday-Saturday, Oct. 17-21, will mark the lone meetings of the season between those squads to get the schedule to 18 conference dates.
2022 Postseason Rewind
Despite a strong start, The Big West champion and No. 8 seed Hawai’i fell to LSU, 3-1, in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship, halting a 12-match winning streak for the Rainbow Wahine.
This marked a milestone 40th appearance in the NCAA postseason for Hawai’i, and 29th in a row without taking into consideration the 2020 edition when The Big West did not compete in fall sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rainbow Wahine are now 82-37 (.689) in NCAA Championship matches, with three national titles in 1982, 1983 and 1987, all under the legendary Dave Shoji, the predecessor to reigning Big West Coach of the Year Robyn Ah Mow. Those three crowns rank tied for fifth all-time with USC and fellow Big West member Long Beach State.
Only three programs have qualified for more NCAA Division I tournaments than the Rainbow Wahine, with seven-time national champion Penn State a perfect 42-for-42 in all-time selections, 2021 runner-up and five-time champion Nebraska earning its 41st successive berth since missing the inaugural one, and record nine-time champ Stanford also a 41-time entrant with its only miss in 2020.
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