Rainbow Wahine volleyball coach Robyn Ah Mow, senior Norene Iosia receive awards
The awards for the Hawaii women’s volleyball team continue to pile up.
Today, Robyn Ah Mow was named the AVCA Pacific North Region Coach of the Year and senior setter-hitter Norene Iosia was one of 14 players on the all-region first team.
The Rainbow Wahine also had two freshmen among the six named honorable mention in hitter Hanna Hellvig and middle Amber Igiede. Hawaii had no selections last year.
Ah Mow is in her third season as coach of her alma mater. The former Wahine All-American setter was named the Big West Coach of the Year earlier this season.
Hawaii is 26-3, the most wins since 2015, and has advanced to the NCAA tournament third round for the first time also since 2015. The Wahine also won the Big West title for the first time since 2016, the first under Ah Mow, when finishing 14-2.
No. 18 Hawaii faces No. 6 Nebraska (27-4) on Friday in the third round of the NCAA tournament in Madison, Wis.
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Hellvig was the Big West Freshman of the Year. She and Igiede also were named first-team all-conference along with Iosia and to the conference all-freshmen team.
Hawaii is in the same region as Pac-12 North, West Coast North and Mountain West North teams. Pac-12 champion Stanford dominated the all-region picks with four first-team selections and runner-up Washington had two, as did Colorado State.
The Big West also had Cal Poly junior opposite Maia Dvoracek on the Pacific North first team and UC Santa Barbara senior hitter Lindsey Ruddins on the Pacific South first team for a third consecutive year.
Two players with Hawaii ties also were honored today. Freshman setter Lexis Akeo (Kamehameha) from Pitt was first-team East Coast and sophomore setter Jhenna Gabriel (Maryknoll) from Texas first-team Southwest.
First-team selections are eligible for All-America and regional coaches are considered for national coach of the year.