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sports
Weaver Big West
MVP again
By Marten Lewerth
On-line Forty-Niner
Hours after learning
of their No. 1 seeding in the NCAA Tournament Monday, the
top-ranked Long Beach State women's volleyball team got more
good news from the honchos at the Big West Conference.
Five athletes and Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro received awards
for their work this past season as the conference handed out
its postseason honors.
On the player end, Cheryl Weaver, Tayyiba Haneef, Brittany
Hochevar and Keri Nishimoto were all selected to the Big West's
All-Conference first team.
"It was very exciting," Haneef said. "It was
weird to have almost our entire starting lineup on there."
Weaver led the way with two awards, landing on the first team
for the third time in her collegiate career as well as being
named the Big West Player of the Year for the second consecutive
season.
"I definitely believe that Cheryl deserved that,"
said Haneef, who was also a strong candidate for the player
of the year honor.
"Between Cheryl and Tayyiba I'm sure it was tough to
pick," said Hochevar. "But either way they're both
great players and I'm just glad they're on our team."
A 6-foot-2 middle blocker from Washington, D.C., Weaver finished
the season with four BWC player of the week awards and paced
the conference with a .443 hitting percentage. She was also
third in kills with 4.62 per game and seventh in blocks with
1.18 bpg.
Haneef led the 49ers and the BWC with 4.93 kills per game
during the season and was a three-time conference player of
the week. She finishes her 49er career as a three-time first
team selection.
Hochevar earned her debut first-team selection after leading
the conference with 70 service aces. The junior from Fowler,
Colo. finished third on the 49ers with 2.37 kills per game
and first in digs with a mark of 2.99 dpg.
Rounding out the 49ers selected to the first team was senior
setter Keri Nish-imoto, who led the conference with 13.49
assists per game on the season.
Nishimoto, a 5-foot-7 native of Redlands, also claimed two
more awards on the conference and national level for her work
quarterbacking the 49er offense last week.
She was selected as both the American Volleyball Coaches Association
National Player of the Week and co-Big West Player of the
Week after tallying 14.00 assists per game and 3.25 digs per
game.
"It's difficult to pick a player of the week at the national
level," Gimmillaro said. "I'm sure glad Keri got
recognition for what she does for the team."
Nishimoto's national recognition was the first for a 49er
this season and only the third in program history. The last
LBSU player to be honored was Tracy Dahl in November of 1994.
Nichelle Burton was the first, receiving the award in September
1993.
Also, Nishimoto's conference honor helped the 49ers set a
school record with eight player of the week awards in one
season. The old record of seven was set in 1992.
Finally, junior Elisha Thomas earned an honorable mention
from the BWC by amassing 2.24 kills per game on .426 hitting.
The middle blocker from Grass Valley finished second on the
49ers in front of the net with 1.12 blocks per game.
Gimmillaro was named Big West Coach of the Year after navigating
his team to a perfect 28-0 season and the conference championship.
It was his sixth career selection and first since 1998.
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