Wahine volleyball players Brooke Van Sickle and Kate Lang earn BWC honors

Hawaii senior outside hitter Brooke Van Sickle and freshman setter Kate Lang earned Big West women’s volleyball player of the week awards on Monday following a Rainbow Wahine sweep to open conference play.

Van Sickle was named the conference Offensive Player of the Week after hitting .468 over six sets in UH’s road sweeps at UC Riverside last Thursday and at UC Davis on Saturday. Van Sickle had 23 kills with just one hitting error in 47 attempts during the road trip. She had nine kills in 24 attempts against UC Riverside, then hit a career-best .609 with 14 kills in 23 error-less swings in the win at UC Davis. She also had 11 digs, four blocks and an ace against the Aggies.

Van Sickle ranks second in the Big West with 3.89 kills per set and 4.64 points per set, trailing Long Beach State’s Kashauna Williams (4.50, 4.86) in both categories.

Van Sickle’s production over the first weekend of conference play was aided by distribution of sets by Lang, who earned the conference’s Freshman of the Week honor.

In the first two starts of her career, Lang averaged 12.3 assists per set, with 36 against UC Riverside and 38 at UC Davis. The Rainbow Wahine hit a combined .360 in the series, with a season-high .396 on Saturday. Lang connected with middle blockers Amber Igiede and Skyler Williams for a combined 37 kills on .429 hitting to help open seams for the outside hitters.

Lang also had three kills and 17 digs and was in on seven blocks and added an ace over the trip.

UH (5-5, 2-0 Big West) returns to SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center this week to face Long Beach State (6-7, 0-2) on Friday and Cal State Fullerton (4-5, 1-1) on Sunday.