Seattle midfielder U’i Kaaihue was named the Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in women’s soccer on Tuesday and also made the All-WAC first team.
The 2022 King Kekaulike alumna tied for the team lead with seven goals and had three assists for the Redhawks (11-5-3), who will play Friday in the second round of the WAC Tournament.
Kaaihue got hot down the stretch this season, scoring six goals in her last six matches as her playing time increased.
Seattle finished 8-1-2 in the regular season and placed second behind Utah Valley. The Redhawks handed Utah Valley its only loss of the regular season, 3-0 on Oct. 8.
Pacific Lutheran’s Hetzler wins another NWC award
Pacific Lutheran senior libero Halle Hetzler was named the Northwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the fourth time this season on Monday.
The 2019 Le Jardin alumnus, who also won the award last week, had a match-high 36 digs, five assists and two aces in a five-set win over Pacific (Ore.) on Friday.
On senior night on Saturday, Hetzler tallied 35 digs, five assists and two kills in a five-set win over Willamette (Ore.).
Senior middle blocker Hailey Iha (Kauai ’19), who won the NWC Offensive Player of the Week award last week, hit .483 with a match-high 15 kills, three digs, two block assists and a solo block in the win over the Bearcats.
North Texas’ Galdeira wins player of the week award
North Texas senior libero Aleeyah Galdeira was named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.
The 2019 Kamehameha alumna recorded a conference-high 42 digs over nine sets during the week and added 10 assists and three aces in wins over UTEP and Texas-San Antonio.
Galdeira currently leads Conference USA with 397 digs and ranks 32nd in the nation with 4.56 digs per set.
With four matches left in the regular season, Galdeira is fifth in school history with 1,277 career digs and is tied for ninth in digs in a season.
