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This Season
A two-time NCAA Championship MVP, outside hitter Keao Burdine enters her fourth season with the Women of Troy... Currently ranks eighth on USC's career record list with a 2.76 digs per game average... Trained with the USA A2 Women's National Team in Atlanta, Ga., this summer... Also competed on the beach and finished as high as 25th at the AVP's San Diego Beach Open.
2003 Junior Season
Just as she did as a sophomore, Burdine was a consistent and dominant force for the Women of Troy who shined in the final weeks of the season, leading USC to the 2003 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP... For the second-consecutive year, she was named NCAA Championship MVP, becoming the first player to twice be named sole NCAA Championship MVP (Penn State's Lauren Cacciamani - the only other two-time NCAA MVP - earned the honor in 1998 and 1999, but shared the title with Long Beach State's Misty May in 1998)... In these two final noteworthy outings that led to her MVP honor, Burdine contributed 12 kills and four blocks in a .346 attack effort against Minnesota in the NCAA Semifinals (Dec. 18), then followed with a 23-kill performance (one shy of career high) against Florida in the NCAA Final (Dec. 20)... Against the Gators she hit .360 with only five errors off of 50 attacks and collected 17 digs... During the season she averaged a .280 attack percentage, 3.47 kills, 0.17 assists, 0.26 service aces, 3.01 digs, 0.40 blocks and 3.99 points per game... She finished second on the team in kills and kills per game... Started 34 matches, missing only one match due to an elbow injury... Named to the AVCA All-America second team, as well as All-Pac-10 first team and AVCA All-Pacific Region first team... Honored to the NACWAA State Farm Classic All-Tournament team by averaging 4.2 kills and 2.5 digs against Florida (Aug. 22) and Hawai'i (Aug. 23) to open the season... Named to the McDonald's-Texas A&M All-Tournament team after averaging 3.2 kills and 2.1 digs against Centenary (Sept. 12), Southwest Missouri State (Sept. 13) and Texas A&M (Sept. 13)... Registered a career-high 18 digs at Arizona (Nov. 7)... Had her best career performance against Stanford on Nov. 14 when she hit .649 against the Cardinal with a career-high 24 kills off of 37 attacks and no errors, in addition to tying her her career-high with 18 digs... Following the Stanford and California (Nov. 15) matches (against Cal she had 16 kills and hit .419), she was named Pac-10 Player of the Week and AVCA/Sports Imports National Player of the Week... Named NCAA Central Regional MVP after contributing 3.71 kills and 3.29 digs per game against Texas A&M (Dec. 12) and UCLA (Dec. 13)... Trained with the USA A2 Women's National Team in Lake Placid, N.Y., before the season during the summer of 2003.
2002 Sophomore Season
Burdine was a consistent force for the Women of Troy throughout the season and made her presence known in the final weeks, leading USC to the 2002 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP... For her performances at the NCAA Final Four (3.9 kpg, 0.5 sapg, 3.0 dpg, 4.6 ppg), Burdine was named NCAA Championship MVP... She was also honored as AVCA All-Pacific Region honorable mention and All-Pac-10 first team... Burdine started all 32 matches at outside hitter... Averaged a .273 attack percentage, 3.28 kills, 0.13 assists, 0.28 service aces, 2.98 digs, 0.39 blocks and 3.81 points per game... Finished second on the team in kills and third in digs... Started the season with two outstanding tournament efforts... Was named to the Radisson/Nike Classic All-Tournament team after averaging 4.2 kills and 3.2 digs per game against Ball State (Aug. 31), Pittsburgh (Sept. 1) and Nebraska (Sept. 2)... Named to the BYU Mizuno Classic All-Tournament team and Tournament MVP the following week as she led USC to a tournament sweep with 11 kills, 10 digs and a .333 attack percentage against Florida (Sept. 6)... Against UCLA (Oct. 18), she set a new career-high with 16 digs... Against Washington State (Oct. 26) she posted a personal-best five blocks... Compiled a career-high .750 (10-1-12) attack percentage against Michigan State (Dec. 12)... Had a career-high four aces against Texas A&M (Dec. 7) and Stanford (Dec. 21).
2001 Freshman Season
Burdine enjoyed a successful freshman campaign with the Women of Troy, starting in all 29 matches and playing all 100 games... Named to the All-Pac-10 honorable mention team and Pac-10 All-Freshman team... Also earned Volleyball magazine All-Freshman team honors... Averaged a .279 attack percentage, 3.31 kills, 0.19 aces, 2.54 digs, 0.46 blocks and 3.77 points per game... Finished second on the team in kills, digs and points per game... Made her collegiate debut against UC Irvine (Sept. 1) and tallied 12 kills, 13 digs and a .417 attack percentage... Had outstanding performances at the Hawai'i Aston Imua Volleyball Challenge (Sept. 6-8) where she was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after averaging 3.7 kills, 2.6 digs and 0.8 blocks per game in front of a Hawaiian crowd full of her relatives... Against Cincinnati (Sept. 6), she hit .520 with 15 kills off of 25 attacks, with two errors, 11 digs and three blocks... Set a season high against Stanford (Oct. 12) with 20 kills in addition to 11 digs and a .389 hitting percentage... At Oregon (Nov. 21), she tied her personal best with 20 kills and added three blocks for a season-high 22.5 points... She posted a season-high five blocks in the NCAA Regional Semifinal against Ohio State (Dec. 6), then collected a season-best 14 digs against Arizona (Dec. 7) in the Regional Final... During the summer of 2002 she trained with the USA A2 Women's National Phase II Team and also competed on the beach... With partner Chrissie Zartman (UCLA), she advanced to the quarterfinal round of the 2002 Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championship in Catania, Italy, and earned a fifth-place final ranking (she did not accept any prize money to remain NCAA eligible).
High School
Burdine is a 2001 graduate of La Habra (Calif.) High... A three-year volleyball letterwinner... As a senior she led the Highlanders to their second CIF Southern Section title in three years (fifth overall), the state regional Division II championship and their first state final appearance since 1991... Honored as the 2000 Los Angeles Times Orange County Player of the Year, Orange County Register Player of the Year and Whittier Daily News Player of the Year... As a Volleyball Fab 50 selection and Paul Mitchell All-American, she helped lead La Habra HS to its eighth-consecutive league title in 2000... A three-time All-CIF Southern Section first team and All-Freeway League first team selection (1998, 1999, 2000)... Also named the 2000 Freeway League MVP... Played seven years of club volleyball with Fusion and three years with Diggers... Club teams placed second at Junior Nationals in 2000 and third at the Fiesta Classic (2001) and Las Vegas Invitational (2000)... Prior to her senior year, she joined current USC teammate Alicia Robinson as a member of the U.S.A. Junior National Team... The duo guided the team to a sixth-place finish at the 1999 World Championships in Portugal... A four-year member of the honor roll... Following graduation she helped the U.S.A. Junior National Volleyball Team qualify for the World Championships with a third place finish at the Intercontinental Qualification Tournament in Monterrey, Mexico, at outside hitter.
Personal
Ruth Keao Anuenue Burdine was born Jan. 2, 1983 in Long Beach, Calif. ... The daughter of Paul and Pam Burdine, she has two sisters, Bonnee (30) and Harmony (16), and two brothers, Kawika (19) and Komaka (14)... Her brother, Kawika, is currently a sophomore outside hitter at UC Santa Barbara... Her sister, Bonnee, played collegiate volleyball at Hawai'i-Pacific... Her mother and father both coach high school volleyball... Her uncle, Junior Utu, is a USC alum who played football and volleyball for the Trojans (1984)... Enjoys visiting her relatives in Hawaii... A political science major.
