Volleyball faces two final four teams in Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world.
For the USU women’s volleyball team, it is also the site of its most challenging preseason tournament in recent memory.
The Aggies left for Honolulu last weekend in preparation for their participation in the Aston Imua Wahine Volleyball Challenge. Utah State University took the floor on Thursday against the tournament host University of Hawaii.
Play will continue today when the Aggies face off against Cincinnati University and conclude on Saturday against the University of Southern California.
All four teams in the tournament qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season, with USC and Hawaii advancing to the Final Four.
Coming into Thursday’s match against the Aggies, the Rainbow Warriors had an uncharacteristic 2-3 record.
Don’t let the record fool you.
All three of Hawaii’s setbacks have come against teams ranked in the USA Today/AVCA top seven, including a loss to the No. 1 University of Nebraska squad. Hawaii’s most recent loss was against the University of California, L.A., in the championship game of the State Farm Women’s Volleyball Classic.
Leading the Rainbow Warrior attack is sophomore outside hitter Kim Willoughby. Willoughby is the reigning Western Athletic Conference freshman of the year.
Despite having four returning starters, Hawaii is a relatively young team with only one senior. Hawaii is ranked No. 10.
Friday’s match between USU and Cincinnati (2-0 on the season) will be the first meeting between the two schools.
The Bearcats return four starters from last year’s team – a team that claimed the Conference USA crown.
Picked to finish second in C-USA by most preseason publications, the Bearcats are lead by first-team all-league selections Rachel Beran and Trish Ladusaw. Ladusaw was also named the C-USA defensive player of the year.
The Aggies will have another chance to pull off an upset when they take on the No. 6 Trojans of USC.
The Trojans are coming off a tough five-game loss to fellow Final Four participant Wisconsin University.
Joining the Trojans’ program is the nation’s number one recruiting class, according to Volleyball, StudenSports. USC also welcomes back four returning starters and six other players who saw significant playing time.
All-American candidate, Jennifer Pahl leads the Trojans with a hitting percentage of .444. USC hits .315 as a team.
Leading the way for the Aggies is senior setter Chelsi Neves. Neves and newcomer Erin Cartwright were both named to the all-tournament team at last week’s University Park Holiday Inn Classic. Neves leads the Aggies in hitting percentage (.382) and Cartwright in kills (45) through three matches.