How athletes from Hawaii fared in NCAA sports over the past week:
BASEBALL
>> Wehiwa Aloy (Baldwin), Arkansas: Won the opening series of SEC play with a three-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning of a 12-9 win over Mississippi, his second dinger of the contest. He had three hits in the game and walked in all three contests. Kuhio Aloy (Baldwin) lashed three hits with a double in a 10-6 loss to Mississippi and had hits in the next two games, 12-3 and 12-9 victories, but struck out five times. Nolan Souza (Punahou) had two hits in the series for six total bases.
>> Nuu Contrades (Saint Louis), Arizona State: Had back-to-back three-hit games in victories over Texas Christian, walking three times and scoring six runs. He had two hits in the first game of the series and raised his batting average from .258 to .300 by the time the series was over. He has reached base safely in every game this season and his streak sits at 28 dating back to 2023.
>> Kaikea Harrison (Punahou), Tulane: Paired hits and drove in two runs in a 10-3 loss to Xavier, the fifth time this year he has had multiple hits in a game. He had been on base in nine straight games before going 0-for-4 in the rubber game of the series, a 5-4 win.
>> Cody Kashimoto (Punahou), Saint Mary’s: Had the first four-hit game of his career from the leadoff spot in a 4-3 loss to Sacramento State, raising his batting average to .441 and running his hitting streak to 10 games. It all ended in the second game of the doubleheader, though, as he went 0-for-4 with a walk in a 10-3 win to drop his average to .413 with a lofty on base percentage of .565.
>> Keoni Painter (Kamehameha-Maui), Brigham Young: Broke out in the first two games of a series against Central Florida, lashing two hits in a 9-8 loss and three safeties with his first home run of the year in an 8-7 victory. He is 0-for-6 with three strikeouts and grounded into a double play to end a 7-6 loss since but is still hitting .346.
>> Tyler Quinn (Maryknoll), Utah: Had six hits in three games of a sweep by Kansas State, three of them in the first game when he scored three runs. He is hitting .325 this season and has started every game.
WOMEN’S GOLF
>> Kara Kaneshiro (Kalani), Colorado State: Was selected the Mountain West Women’s Golfer of the Week for her performance at the Clover Cup, where she had 11 birdies and an eagle for her fourth top-10 finish of the season. She shot 68-75-68 in the tournament and led the Rams to sixth place.
WOMEN’S BEACH VOLLEYBALL
>> Emi Erickson (Punahou), Pepperdine: Won all three of her matches with Deanie Woodruff at the Malibu Invite, topping Morehead State in three and sweeping Sacramento State on the first day before sweeping Texas-El Paso the next day. The duo was winless in five matches this season before the tournament.
>> Skyy Nihipali-Botelho (Kahuku), Southern Oregon: Went unbeaten over the weekend with partner Kendal Hadwick, sweeping a pair from Northwest twice and gutting out a 21-15, 17-21, 15-3 victory over the College of Idaho’s No. 5 flight. The duo improved to 5-3 together, Nihipali-Botelho was 1-3 with other partners and Hadwick was winless in four matches.
MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
>> Shane Kawakami-Williams (Hawaii Baptist), Occidental: Swept the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the Redlands Invite, beating teammate Zachary McGraw with a time of 10.93 in the 100 and 22.06 in the 200. He has not lost in the 100 since May of last year.
WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
>> Tatum Moku (Kamehameha), Washington State: Earned second-team All-America honors in her first NCAA Indoor Championship, finishing in 11th place in the pole vault. The sophomore cleared 13 feet, 11.25 inches but failed at 14-5.25. She easily beat that mark twice last week.
>> Jocelyn Saribay (Waipahu), St. Martin’s: Captured the hammer throw at the Pacific Lutheran Invitational with a heave of 161 1/2 feet, which was 7 feet farther than the runner-up. She took third in the discus throw and eighth in the shot put.
WATER POLO
>> Lehua Bender (Punahou), Bucknell: Scored two important goals in a 10-9 win over Cal State Fullerton, one to tie the match at 2 and the other to make it 4-3 before halftime.
>> Jacqueline Brandon (Kamehameha-Maui), Cal Lutheran: Scored six goals on 11 shots in a 22-4 win over Caltech, as many goals as she had in the previous five matches combined to put her seventh on the school’s single-game list. Hudson Geier (Punahou) buried her only shot for a goal and added two assists.
>> Koko Butcher (Moanalua), Occidental: Doubled up on goals in a 16-8 loss to Fresno Pacific, giving her 22 goals on 66 shots in 13 matches this season. The senior leads her squad in goals.
WOMEN’S WRESTLING
>> Kelani Corbett (Leilehua), Missouri Valley: Closed out her career with a runner-up finish at 180 pounds at the NAIA championships, earning her fifth All-American award with a 2022 national title. She beat her first two opponents by technical fall and pinned the third before losing to top seed Ashley Lekas of Texas Wesleyan in the final.
>> Erin Hikiji (Mililani), Providence: Won her first national championship, dominating the NAIA meet at 103 pounds to finish her junior season 30-1 and her third All-American recognition. She was the top seed and pinned her first opponent in under a minute, beat her second 11-0 with a technical fall, beat the next by 10-0 technical fall and then went the distance for an 8-2 win over Alexis Miller of Oklahoma City in the final. Waipuilani Estrella-Beauchamp (Baldwin) finished second at 138 pounds, earning her fourth All-America award. She won two of her first three matches by stoppage before losing 10-0 to top seed Zaynah McBryde of Life in the final. It was the third straight loss to McBryde since beating her last year.
>> Tristan Nitta (Mililani), Grand View: Earned a seventh-place finish for NAIA All-America status at 110 pounds, pinning both of her opponents before falling to the No. 2 seed in the quarterfinals. She pinned another girl in the consolation round but lost to Indiana Tech’s Tehani Soares on criteria. She got seventh place when her next opponent forfeited because of injury to improve on her eighth place finish last year. The sophomore had lost three of her four matches going into the tournament.
SOFTBALL
>> Nelly McEnroe-Marinas (Maryknoll), Oklahoma: Went nuts in a three-game sweep of Arkansas, getting two hits in each game with two home runs for six runs and seven RBIs. Ailana Agbayani (‘Iolani) had her second three-hit game of the season in a 10-2 win over Tulsa, driving in a career-high five runs and scoring the game-ending run in the sixth inning. She went 1-for-9 against the Razorbacks to drop her batting average to .343, but the Sooners have won all 26 games she has played in after transferring from BYU. She hasn’t played in a loss in 31 games, since April 26 of last year.
>> Lauren Almeida (Kamehameha-Maui), Fresno State: Had multiple hits in her third straight game, hitting a home run and driving in three runs in an 8-0 win over Boise State in the second contest and banging out a double in the third. She went hitless in three at-bats in the final game of the series but drove in her 23rd run.
>> Cairah Curran (Campbell), Santa Clara: Collected six hits and six runs in five games at the Golden Coast Classic, leading the Broncos to four victories. The leadoff hitter is getting on base at a .537 clip with 33 runs and 14 stolen bases in 27 games.
>> Trendee Kahunahana (Kaiser), UC Riverside: Heated up in the final two games of a series sweep over Cal State Bakersfield, pairing hits in both games and scoring four runs to raise her batting average from .188 to .227. She had only two hits in her past 16 games.
>> Lovey Kepa’a (Leilehua), Grand Canyon: Bashed out four hits with a home run in a doubleheader sweep of Utah Valley, driving in three runs. The senior is slashing .296/.433/.648 this season after struggling to a .175/.273/.392 line in 60 games last season.
>> Colby McClinton (Kamehameha), Cal State Fullerton: Scored a career-high three runs on two hits and a walk in an 11-9 loss to Cal State San Bernardino, denting the plate to tie the score in the eighth inning. She has scored runs in five straight games and carries an on-base percentage of .442 with seven stolen bases on seven attempts.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
>> Tyrell Bucasas (Damien), Regis: Had his fourth double-double of the season with 39 assists and 13 digs in a 3-1 win over Bard, adding five kills and four blocks. He had 19 assists in a 3-0 loss to Nichols earlier in the evening. He leads the team with 497 assists and has dished out 1,822 in his four years with the Pride.
>> Trent Goo Sun (University), Marian: Ran the offense and dished out 36 assists with six kills and six blocks in a 3-1 win over North Park, his fifth straight contest in double figures in assists. Aaron Velasco (McKinley) posted a career high 30 digs in the win, just a day after he stepped into the front row and had six in a sweep at the hands of Cal Lutheran with four kills on 15 swings.
>> Jack Deuchar (Punahou), Southern California: Enjoyed his homecoming at the Outrigger Invitational, putting up six kills in a sweep of Penn State, 13 in a sweep of Ball State and then 15 with five aces in a four-set victory over Hawaii to earn a spot on the all-tournament team.
>> Jaiton Kamaunu (Saint Louis), Olivet Nazarene: Put down 15 kills on 28 swings in a 3-2 loss to St. Ambrose with an additional seven digs. He took only 17 swings in seven sets of a doubleheader the next day against Viterbo and Wisconsin-Stevens Point but totalled 28 digs.
>> Sam Landers (Hawaii Prep), Adrian: Bashed 12 kills with only two errors in a sweep at the hands of crosstown rival Siena Heights, hitting .588 to raise his percentage to .159.
>> Micah Nakasato (University), Simpson: Continued his fine season with 38 assists in a sweep of Pacific Union and 25 the next day in a sweep of Jessup. He has 490 assists in his first year of college, good for 7.78 per set. Akira Davies (Kaiser) had eight kills against Jessup and nine against Pacific Union to give him 136 this season, two more than he had all of last year in 21 fewer sets.
>> Evan Porter (Punahou), Stanford: Reached double figures in digs for just the second time this season with 11 in a 3-1 loss to Pepperdine, putting him over 100 this year with 107 after getting five in a 3-1 loss in the rematch the next day.
>> Cade Trujillo (Kamehameha), Sacred Heart: Played a full match for the first time this season and second in his career and meted out 31 assists with seven digs and four blocks in a 3-1 win over Fairleigh Dickinson, breaking the school’s 11-match losing streak with his surprise start. It was the first time they won a set in more than a month.
