Nov. 25, 2010

LOGAN, Utah - Junior outside hitter Liz McArthur was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2010 Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament as she helped Utah State defeat Nevada (3-1), New Mexico State (3-2) and No. 3 Hawai'i (3-0) to win the tournament championship for the first time in school history.

Other Aggies named to the all-tournament team include senior middle blocker Shantell Durrant, senior setter Chelsea Fowles, and sophomore opposite side hitter Shay Sorensen.

With Utah State's win, Hawai'i was swept for the first time in a match since the 2008 NCAA Regional final and was defeated in the WAC Tournament for the first time since 1997.

Utah State has won nine of its last 10 matches and improves to 24-8 on the year as it heads to the NCAA Tournament. Those 24 wins are the seventh-most in school history and the most since the 1982 team finished with a 29-20 record.

Utah State becomes just the third team in the history of the WAC to win the tournament championship as Hawai'i had won the previous 10 tournament titles, while BYU won the first two. The Rainbow Wahine entered the championship match against USU having won 31 straight WAC Tournament matches. USU also snapped UH's 23-match winning streak and 62 set winning streak dating back to Sept. 11, 2010.

For Utah State, it was its first win against a ranked opponent since Sept. 13, 2008 when it defeated No. 15 Purdue in five sets. It was also its first win against a top 10 team since Nov. 12, 2007 when it defeated No. 10 Hawai'i in Honolulu in three sets. USU is now 11-53 against ranked opponents over the last 11 years.

McArthur (St. George, Utah) hit .213 (47-18-136) during the tournament and averaged 3.92 kills, 2.00 digs, 0.58 blocks and 0.17 service aces per set. McArthur began the three-day event with 16 kills and eight digs against the Wolf Pack in the quarterfinals. She then had 19 kills, nine digs and five blocks against NMSU in the semifinals, and posted 12 kills and seven digs against UH in the championship match.

Durrant (American Fork, Utah) hit just .070 (12-9-43), but averaged 1.83 blocks and 1.00 kills per set. She began the tournament with six blocks and four kills against Nevada, had eight blocks and four kills against NMSU, and finished the tournament with eight blocks and four kills against Hawai'i.

Fowles (Hollister, Calif.) hit .538 (7-0-12) and averaged 9.83 assists, 2.08 digs, 0.83 blocks, 0.58 kills and 0.17 service aces per set. She began the tournament with 39 assists, 10 digs, four kills and two blocks against Nevada, had 44 assists, 10 digs, four blocks, two service aces and one kill against New Mexico State, and had 35 assists, five digs, four blocks and two kills against Hawai'i.

Sorensen (North Ogden, Utah) hit .333 (31-7-72) during the tournament and averaged 2.58 kills, 0.75 blocks and 0.33 digs per set. Against Nevada, Sorensen had nine kills, three blocks and two digs. Against NMSU, she had nine kills, four blocks and two digs. And against Hawai'i in the championship match, she had 13 kills and two blocks and hit an amazing .684 (13-0-19).

Utah State will be appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-time in school history as it advanced to the second round in 2000 and 2001, and lost in the first round in 2005. All-time, USU is 2-3 in NCAA Tournament play.

The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will air on Sunday, Nov. 28 at 1 p.m. (MT) on ESPNews.