UHH suspending three programs

Hawaii-Hilo athletic director Dexter Irvin announced last night that the university is suspending three athletic programs — men’s and women’s cross country and cheerleading — for two years to reduce its budget.

UHH estimates a cost savings of $100,000 per academic year. The Vulcans will have six women’s sports and five men’s sports remaining.

Irvin said UHH will honor its scholarships for those sports.

BYUH tennis wins PacWest

The No. 2 Brigham Young-Hawaii women’s tennis team was too much for No. 5 Hawaii Pacific yesterday in Laie, winning 5-0 to earn the PacWest tournament championship.

Elwen Li and Yuan Jia combined for a No. 1 doubles win and triumphed on the No. 3 and 2 singles courts, respectively, for unbeaten BYUH (26-0).

UH varsity outlasts alumni

Jonas Umlauft put down 20 kills and Joshua Walker added 13 kills and three aces to lead the Hawaii men’s volleyball team to a 20-25, 25-16, 25-16, 21-25, 15-13 win over the alumni in front of 1,000 fans last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Pedro Azenha led the alumni with 15 kills.

Hawaii, seeded fifth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, will play at fourth-seeded UC Irvine this Saturday (4 p.m. Hawaii time).

In the earlier alumni vs. alumni match, the Black rallied past the Green 21-25, 25-20, 25-18.

HPU softball sweeps BYUH

The Hawaii Pacific softball team completed an 11-0, 2-0 doubleheader sweep of Brigham Young-Hawaii yesterday at Okita Field in Kaneohe.

HPU improved to 30-9 overall and 16-4 in the PacWest with the wins, while BYUH dropped to 5-29 overall and 3-19 in PacWest play.

HPU, UHH split twin bill

The Hawaii Pacific baseball team claimed a 9-7 win over Hawaii-Hilo in the first game of a doubleheader yesterday at Wong Stadium, but the Vulcans came back to salvage a split of a doubleheader with an 11-2 victory in the second contest.

HPU moved to 17-18 overall (14-10 PacWest). UHH went to 13-21 and 10-14.

Nakanishi, Nelson at QB Club

Hawaii Pacific men’s basketball assistant coach Jesse Nakanishi and sports historian Lyle Nelson are the guest speakers at tomorrow’s Honolulu Quarterback Club luncheon at the Maple Garden Restaurant.

Nakanishi, the former boys basketball coach of the year at Kamehameha, recently accepted an assistant post at HPU.

Nelson was a news reporter at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for 31 years and a radio color commentator for baseball.

The public is welcome. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. with the program at noon.