Outside hitter Caylen Alexander of the Hawaii women’s volleyball team earned her fourth Big West Offensive Player of the Week award on Monday after posting 38 kills in Hawaii’s two matches last week.
Alexander averaged 6.33 kills per set as Hawaii split a pair of matches against Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara. She posted 18 kills with just four errors in a sweep against Cal Poly, then tallied 20 in the loss to UC Santa Barbara, the most in the Big West this season in a three-set match.
Her performance against UCSB marks her ninth match with 20 or more kills, making her the first player for Hawaii to do so since Nikki Taylor in 2015. Alexander leads the conference with 5.10 kills and 5.58 points per set. She ranks third nationally with 362 total kills, and in kills per set. She ranks fourth in total points with 396.5, and fifth in points per set.
Lopez honored, Chaminade rises in poll
Middle blocker Lizanyela Lopez of the Chaminade women’s volleyball team was named the PacWest Defender of the Week on Monday, and the team rose one spot in the latest AVCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll to No. 9.
Lopez tallied eight blocks as Chaminade defeated in-state rivals Hawaii Pacific and UH Hilo over the weekend. Lopez anchored a Silverswords defense that held the opposition to an .049 hitting percentage in the two matches.
The Silverswords remain atop the PacWest at 10-0, with a 17-4 record overall, and rise one spot in the rankings after multiple upsets in the Top 10 last week. MSU Denver, which Chaminade defeated on Sept. 14, is now atop the poll after previous No. 1 University of Tampa lost to Barry University on Saturday. Nebraska-Kearney (No. 3 last week) dropped to sixth after a loss to Central Oklahoma, and previous seventh-ranked Southwest Minnesota State fell to 12th after suffered two losses over the weekend.
Damacion earns fourth freshman honor
Nalani Damacion of the Rainbow Wahine soccer team earned her fourth Big West Freshman of the Week award after scoring the game-winning goal for Hawaii on Sunday versus UC Riverside.
Damacion’s goal in the 86th minute gave Hawaii a 2-1 win over the Highlanders. The freshman has scored a team-high six goals for the Rainbow Wahine, all of which have been game-winners, while marking the third time she has given Hawaii a lead in the final 10 minutes of a match. Damacion ranks second nationally with her six game-winning goals, tops among all freshmen. She also leads all Big West freshmen in total goals, and is third among all players in the conference.
She is the first player in conference history ever to earn Big West Freshman of the Week honors four times in a season. She is also the first Hawaii player to earn a weekly award of any kind four times in a season since Hawaii joined the conference in 2012.
