Rainbow Wahine move up in poll, RPI

Hawaii didn’t have to do a thing to move up a spot in both the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index and the AVCA Coaches Top 25 released Monday.

The Rainbow Wahine (16-2), who had a bye week last week, went from No. 10 to No. 9 in the RPI and No. 9 to No. 8 in the rankings. The RPI is a measure of strength of schedule used by the NCAA selection committee to seed the postseason tournament.

Texas (13-2), the preseason No. 1, returned to the top spot in the poll, receiving 44 of the 60 first-place votes. The Longhorns, who remained at No. 1 in the RPI, were at No. 3 in last week’s coaches poll.

Berger is defensive player of the week

For the second time this season, Hawaii soccer freshman goalkeeper Monk Berger was named the Big West defensive player of the week, the league announced Monday.

Berger posted two shutouts in UH’s road trip to UC Davis and Long Beach State last week. She had a combined 10 saves in the two matches at UC Davis (2-0 victory) on Thursday and Long Beach State (0-0 double-overtime draw) on Sunday.

Berger set a single-season Rainbow Wahine record for solo shutouts in a season with six, breaking the mark of five shared by Mahie Atay, Erin Chow and Kori Lu.

Berger’s previous weekly honor came after her road shutouts at Oregon and Oregon State.

UH (7-7-1, 2-3-1 BWC) continues play at home Thursday vs. UC Irvine.