JAY METZGER / SPECIAL TO THE HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER
Taylor Averill attempts to block a ball during practice at ‘Iolani in 2018.
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Former University of Hawaii middle blocker Taylor Averill was named as one of 12 players for the U.S. Men’s Volleyball Team for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Averill was previously an alternate for the 2020 Tokyo Games. He becomes the third former Rainbow Warrior to make the national team, joining Carlos Briceno (1992) and Clay Stanley (2004 & 2008).
Also on the team are setters Micah Christenson (Kamehameha) and Micah Ma‘a (Punahou), and libero Erik Shoji (Punahou). This will be the third Olympics for Christenson and Shoji, who won bronze medals in the 2016 Rio Games. Ma‘a will be making his debut on the national team.
The Rainbow Wahine softball team was swept in their Friday doubleheader by UC Davis on Friday in Davis, Calif. Hawaii lost the first game 4-1 before being mercy-ruled 9-1 in five innings in the second game.
The Aggies (20-29, 11-15 Big West) claimed an early lead in Game 1, scoring two runs in the first inning, then added two more in the third on a two-run home run by Sarah Starks. Hawaii got on the board in the fifth, when Ka‘ena Keliinoi scored Cierra Yamamoto on an RBI double. Hawaii loaded the bases in the fifth but could not score. The Rainbow Wahine (20-25, 13-11) outhit the Aggies 8-4, but left 10 runners on bases.
Hawaii scored first in the second game, as Keliinoi raced home on an error. But the Aggies got the run back immediately in the bottom of the inning, as Anna Dethlefson scored on an inside-the-park home run before Starks added an RBI double later in the inning. The Aggies exploded for seven runs in the third, sending 12 hitters to the plate in the inning and collecting seven hits along the way.
