HOUSTON--Three members from the 24-8 University of Houston volleyball team were named to the 1996 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-District VI team Wednesday. The Cougar trio of senior Sami Sawyer and Nashika Stokes and sophomore Debbie Vokes were the most players from one school to earn District VI accolades.

Stokes and Vokes had already won First Team All-Conference USA while Sawyer was a second team selection after leading Houston to a 12-2 league record. The group led UH to the championship final of the C-USA postseason tournament and to the school's sixth-straight NCAA bid two weeks ago.

11/20/96: Senior hitter Nashika Stokes and sophomore hitter Debbie Vokes were selected to the C-USA all-conference volleyball team. Stokes, a unanimous pick, led the Lady Cougars with a .309 hitting percentage while Vokes led UH with 368 kills. Senior setter Sami Sawyer was a second-team selection and senior hitter Marie-Claude Tourillon was picked for the third team. UH opens play today in the C-USA tournament in Louisville, KY.

10/23/96: UH senior hitter Nashika Stokes reached 1,000 career kills while Sami Sawyer moved into second on the UH career list with 120 service aces as the Lady Coogs swept three games this past weekend to up their winning streak to eight. The UH record is 17 straight wins set in 1974. UH plays host to C-USA rivals Southern Miss on Friday and Tulane on Sunday.

09/14/96: The UH volleyball team won the Kentucky Conference Challenge in Lexington, KY by defeating host Kentucky 15-6, 15-10, 15-7. The Cougars were undefeated in the tournament, previously defeating Purdue 15-12, 11-15, 15-9, 10-15, 15-10 and Central Florida 15-9, 15-13, 16-14. Seniors Nashika Stokes and Sami Sawyer were both selected to the all-tournament team with Stokes named the tournament MVP. Stokes averaged 4.9 kills per game and hit .452 for the weekend. The Cougars have now won four straight matches and stand 4-3 on the season. Their next match is against Rice at 7:30 pm on Wednesday at Hofheinz Pavilion.

Ailing are Stacy Craven (knee), Emily Leffers (knee), Bethany Hill (knee), Debbie Vokes (back), Cortney Williams (ankle) and Sami Sawyer(flu).

Walton calls the weekend "a daunting task. Do we rush them back or make sure they don't do further damage?"
 

Added on 12-2002: Here is a real good article on Sami, one of Ventura County's best athletes: Sami Sawyer:  UH's shy, smart, skilled senior setting sensation by Adam Burns Sports Editor  9-18-96  A defeated Houston opponent trods off the volleyball court, body aching from trying to block hits that came at every conceivable speed and from every possible angle all night.  The hits were different, but each hit had one thing in common: they came from the same woman, a 21-year-old girl, setting the play each time.  She is sports savvy, scholastically strong, smiling, soft-spoken, stressed senior setter Sami Sawyer.  Whether the set is a quick set for Emily Leffers or Marie-Claude Tourillion right above the net, or a high floater when Nashika Stokes seems to be trying to leap out of the gym, it always starts with Sawyer calling the play.  "In my case, (UH coach) Bill (Walton) has given me the power to call the plays," she said. "I run the offense from my perspective.  "For each hitter there is a different set."  Sawyer says that difference can be as little as hundredth of a second.  Sawyer has been making teammates look good since high school, when she quarterbacked Nordoff High School to a California state championship as a senior.  "The was the next best thing to winning conference," she said.  After she left her native Ojai, Calif. (pronounced like, "Oh, hi, how you been?" so don't think of any white bronco jokes), she came to UH on a volleyball scholarship in 1993.  Sawyer said that talking to Walton and some of the players there at the time immediately made her want to go to Houston.  The players who were there when she was recruited are no longer on the team, but she quickly made a good friend, Leffers, on the team.  "Emily Leffers and I came in as freshmen," she said "We just seemed to click."  Then, in Sawyer's sophomore season, the whole team clicked.  In 1994, the Cougars won the Southwest Conference Championship, the only time a school other than the University of Texas had won since UH was a member. The Cougars made it to the elite eight in the NCAA tournament and finished fifth in the nation.  "The 1994 season was just awesome," she said.  In 1995, after SWC Player of the Year Lilly Denoon-Chester left and Emily Leffers suffered a season-ending injury, Houston was only 17-14 on the season and was knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  "I definitely felt we could have played better," she said. "That was the biggest disappointment."  As good as Sawyer is in volleyball, there is another sport that she played in high school which she does not get much chance to enjoy anymore.  "I love soccer," Sawyer said. "I like the aggression."  Sawyer says she does not use any athletes as role models (her mother and her sister fill that role) but she does concede she loves to watch Karch Kiraly, an three-time Olympic volleyball gold medalist.  A four year starter, Sawyer has one of the top active assist totals in the country, with over 4,700 in her career. She makes no guarantees for the season, but she places no limits on herself about what team the Cougars can or can't beat.  Sawyer says she and the Cougars are striving for the Conference USA Championship, the NCAA Tournament, and the Final Four, no matter what team they face.  "(Walton) pointed out to us, we're not playing the name of the school,  we're playing people," she said. 1996 The Daily Cougar

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