Fresno State Athletics
WAC Volleyball Notebook
7/15/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
July 15, 1999
WAC Enters New Era
The 1999 season will see the Western Athletic Conference go from 16 teams to eight beginning July 1, and will consist of Fresno State, Hawai'i, Rice, San Jose State, SMU, TCU, UTEP and Tulsa. Fourteen conference matches will be played as each school will play each other home and away.
Hawai'i to Host NCAA Final Four
For the second time in school history, the University of Hawai'i will host the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship, Dec. 16 and 18, at the Stan Sheriff Center on the UH Lower Campus. UH, which hosted its first NCAA Final Four in 1989, has made the Stan Sheriff Center its home court for the last five years. In May 1998, that facility was the site for the NCAA MenUs Volleyball Championship. The UH volleyball fans set final four records for single-match (9,822) and total (18,901) attendance.
WAC Sent Record Six Teams to 1998 NCAA Tournament
The WAC placed a league record six teams into the 1998 NCAA Tournament. Hawai'i, the conference's automatic qualifier, along with BYU, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Jose State and Utah represented the league in last year's tournament. The previous high was four teams in 1990, 1994 and 1996. The six teams also tied for first among all conferences, along with the Big Ten and the Big 12.
Power Rankings
In 1998, the American Volleyball Coaches Association teamed up with Jeff Sagarin to produce a WomenUs Division 1 Volleyball Power Rating. In the final RPI, the WAC had six teams ranked among the top 50 in the nation and nine in the top 64, which was the third most by any conference.
