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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 7B
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2014
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GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
Freshman setter Ainise Havili ranks third in the Big 12 in assists with over 11 per set. She's on track to shatter the current Kansas assist record of 4,772 previously set by Andi Rozum in 2002.
Young setter on pace to break assist record
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MATT CORTE
@Corte_UDK
IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY
Role models come in many forms. Sometimes it's a teacher or a professional athlete, and for some, a family member is the most influential.
In the case of freshman setter Ainise Havili from Fort Worth, Texas, it was several family members.
Not only did help come from her sister, a setter for Murray State, but from some caring cousins as well.
Since she was young, Havili aspired to be just like her sister, Lia, and not just by playing volleyball, but by being a setter, too.
"I've always been a setter, and always wanted to be a setter," Havili said. "My sister was a setter, and I always wanted to be like her, so when I first got out there I wanted to set, and it stuck."
"I had a lot of cousins that were definitely influential," Havili said. "They worked at the club I was in for the first seven years, and they really took the extra time to help me get better, and get those skills when I was really young. I think they should be credited for this."
That extra time paid off.
HONING HER SKILLS
At Haltom High School outside of Fort Worth, Havili earned first-team all-district every year in high school and finished her career by being selected to the Texas Girls Coaches Association All-State First Team.
in club volleyball, Havili played for Texas Image before switching to powerhouse Texas Advantage, who has been named the best club team in Texas for 11 straight years.
Texas Advantage coach Ping Cao saw Havili's talent immediately, but he thought that talent could be taken to a new level.
"I could see her potential right when I saw her," Cao said. "But when I chose her, I knew I could make her better, too."
Under Cao, Havili won a club national championship on the U17 squad and was voted MVP of the tournament.
If getting All-State and winning a club national championship wasn't enough, Havili was selected to the 2014 U.S. Women's Junior National Team that competed in Guatemala this summer. She can thank her mom for the nudge.
"My mom told me to do the tryout, and I said 'Sure, whatever,' Havili said. "But when I was picked for the next tryout, I was completely stoked, and then when I got picked for the team, I thought 'What is going on in my life right now?'"
She was one of only 12 players in the country to be selected for the squad.
"It was a huge honor," Havili said.
Having to replace last year's Big 12 Setter of the Year, Erin McNorton, should have been a tall order for Kansas this season. But Havili is making sure the drop-off isn't significant.
OFF TO THE RACES
Her numbers back that statement up as she's averaging about one assist less than McNorton's 12.14 per set last year, which ranked fifth best in Kansas history.
Havili is ranked 31st in the nation with 611 assists on the season, and her 11.11 assists per set puts her at third in the Big 12 and 21st in the NCAA.
It didn't take long to get acclimated to the college game,
either. Havili was named to the All-Tournament team at two of the jayhawks' four pre-conference tournaments.
"She really held us together," Kansas coach Ray Bechard said after the team's first tournament of the season, which Kansas won. "There was a lot of moments there when I'm sure her head was spinning, but she looked composed, and did a nice job as a freshman."
If Havili's 11.11 assists per set average continues, she is on pace for 5,555 assists for her career, which would shatter the previous record of 4,772 set by Andi Rozum.
And if she improves over the next four years as most players do, watch out.
HUMBLE HAVILI
From what everyone's seen so far this season, her talent seems to be endless, but she remains humble.
Havili puts the team first, which gives her the rare ability to be a leader as a freshman.
Cao said he knew Havili had the capability of being a Division I athlete when he first saw her play in high school, and yet, Havili viewed it differently.
Havili said she was 17 when she first thought playing Division I was a possibility, and she is only 18 now.
Edited by Kelsey Phillips
If it sounds unreasonable that someone with talent like Havili only knew Division I was possible less than a year before college, it's because it is. But that's the mindset that makes good players great, and Havili certainly brought this with her to Kansas.
Jayhawks return home for clash with Big 12 champs
KYLE PAPPAS
@KylePap
Kansas coach Ray Bechard knew that beginning Big 12 play with a tough match at Oklahoma, followed by a showdown with rival Kansas State, would be no simple task. It's why the 17th-year coach scheduled a rigorous nonconference schedule that included matchups with Penn State, Creighton and Yale. It won't get any easier this weekend when two-time defending Big 12 champion Texas (9-0, 1-0) arrives in Lawrence for Sunday's match at Horejsi Family Athletic Center.
The No. 2 Longhorns have looked dominant following a 2013 campaign that saw them reach the Final Four before falling to Wisconsin in four sets. With early-season wins against No. 8 Nebraska and No. 9 Florida, the Horns appear poised to be contenders in the Big 12 and NCAA Tournament again in 2014.
Kansas (12-3, 0-1) will need another big performance from senior outside hitter Chelsea Albers if it expects to compete with Texas. Albers, one of two Jayhawk seniors,
leads the team with 172 kills and is second in blocks (44). But more importantly, she's routinely been the one to step up when her team needs it most. Her career-high 24-kill performance in Kansas' conference-opening loss to Oklahoma kept the Jayhawks close in the final three sets.
Senior outside hitter Sara
RAY BECHARD Coach
McClinton and freshman outside hitter Madison Rigdon will need to chip in as well.
Though McClinton's 129 kills are third-best on the team, her .170 kill percentage is well below her average, finishing last year at .236. As a veteran on a newcomer-laden squad, the jayhawks will need more consistency from McClinton to be serious players in the Big 12.
Rigdon leads the team in service aces (21) and is second in kills (141). She's been arguably the most productive of Kansas' seven new faces this season, and will look to continue that early success against the Longhorns.
Texas has an extremely efficient offensive attack (.280 team kill percentage) led by junior middle blocker Molly McCage and senior outside outside hitter Khat Bell, McCage, a former No. 1 high school recruit and 2013 All-Big 12 selection, is the focal point of the Longhorns' game plan, leading the team with 78 kills (2.79 per set) and 41 blocks (1.28 per set). Bell, a two-time All-Big 12 honoree, provides a veteran presence as one of only two Longhorn seniors and has notched 58 kills this season on a .278 kill percentage.
"This team will be ready," Bechard said. "We have to flip the switch in a couple areas to get different results."
The match begins at 1 p.m. and will be televised on Fox Sports Network.
Edited by Drew Parks
WVU wary of Kansas' potential for big play
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As West Virginia's new defensive coordinator, Tony Gibson has seen the Mountaineers revert to their old habits of letting opponents get yards in chunks, and he said the potential for Kansas to produce big plays is real despite the Jayhawks' struggles of late.
Gibson only has to look back to last year when Kansas snapped a 27-game Big 12 losing streak by beating the Mountaineers 31-19 in Lawrence, Kansas.
Gibson hopes that the only prolific offense he sees comes from his own sideline when West Virginia (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) meets the Jayhawks (2-2, 0-1) on Saturday in Morgantown.
Kansas has been held out of the end zone in two of its last three games. But four of its seven touchdowns in wins over Southeast Missouri State and Central Michigan have gone for more than 30 yards.
"We don't want to get hit with big plays like that," Gibson said.
The focus for West Virginia's defense will be containing mobile quarterback Montell Cozart, sticking to jayhawks receivers like glue while Cozart is improvising and not letting Kansas running backs get to the open field.
Cozart has seen some success but often has made defenses look great. He's struggled with accuracy problems and had four interceptions in a 23-0 loss to Texas last week. Yet he's thrown for seven touchdowns this season, including tosses of 67, 60 and 30 yards.
"He keeps plays alive with his feet and he gets outside the pocket and he can hurt you," Gibson said. "He can throw the ball, especially when he rolls to his right. He's dangerous when he gets on the perimeter. That's something our kids have to have aware of. And again, guys in coverage have to stay in coverage."
Five Kansas receivers are averaging 12 yards per catch. Top receiver Tony Pierson has a 74-yard scoring run and a 67-yard TD catch this season. Pierson "has the ability to take it the distance," said West Virginia cornerbacks coach
Brian Mitchell. "They've got some home run hitters. I think their wide receivers are very capable. They're going to be a challenge."
Especially with a West Virginia secondary thinned by the indefinite suspension of cornerback Daryl Worley, who has two of the team's three interceptions. Ishmael Banks returned against No. 4 Oklahoma two weeks ago after sitting out the first three games from a suspension imposed by the NCAA for an unspecified academic issue.
West Virginia's defense surrendered scoring plays of 75 and 77 yards in a win over Maryland, while Oklahoma and No. 3 Alabama combined for three non-scoring plays of 37 yards or more.
Once teams get inside West Virginia's 20-yard line, the Mountaineers have done nothing to stop them further. Opponents have scored on all 10 red-zone tries this season, including eight touchdowns.
"I think some of the stuff that we needed to work on was bad tackling," Gibson said. "I think we're honing in on what we do well and we're going to get better with that."
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