UH’s Mason earns Big West honor

University of Hawaii guard Morgan Mason was named the Big West women’s basketball player of the week on Monday after helping the Rainbow Wahine sweep their season-opening road trip to Colorado.

The senior point guard averaged 15.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in wins over Colorado State and Denver.

Her 3-pointer with 1:09 left in overtime helped the Wahine hold off Colorado State in a 63-58 win on Friday. She set a career high with 10 rebounds to go along with eight points, three assists and two steals.

On Sunday, she scored UH’s final 12 points and finished with a career-best 23 in a 60-58 win over Denver. She also posted seven rebounds, four assists and a steal and UH improved to 2-0 for the first time since the 2002-03 season.

The Wahine play their first home game of the season on Friday when they face No. 14 California in the Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic.

Rainbow Wahine remain unranked

There was no change in Hawaii’s rank in Monday’s Ratings Percentage Index for Division I volleyball teams while the Rainbow Wahine gained 15 points but remained unranked in the coaches poll.

Hawaii (17-6, 9-3 Big West) stayed at No. 30 in the RPI, which is part of the formula used to seed the NCAA tournament. The Wahine were unranked for the sixth consecutive week in the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 with 44 points. It puts Hawaii outside of the rankings at 28th, three places higher than last week.

Stanford (26-0), the lone undefeated team in the country, was a unanimous No. 1, receiving all 60 first-place votes. Both Washington (25-2) and Florida State (24-2) lost twice last week, with the Huskies dropping from No. 2 to No. 5 and the Seminoles from No. 3 to No. 8.

Long Beach State (22-4, 11-0 Big West) moved up two spots to No. 18 and is the only Big West team ranked. The 49ers’ RPI is 26; the rankings and RPI for the other teams to beat the Wahine are No. 14 Oregon at 8, No. 17 UCLA 17 and No. 22 Arizona State 32.

Hawaii is on the road this week with matches at UC Santa Barbara on Friday and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Saturday. The Wahine finish out the regular season at home with matches against UC Riverside on Nov. 28 and UC Davis on Nov. 29.

Rainbow Wahine softball team signs 5

The University of Hawaii softball team announced the signing of five players for the 2016 season on Monday.

Mid-Pacific senior Nicole Lopez, the Star-Advertiser All-State position player of the year last season, signed her letter of intent last Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period. She’s joined in the class by Cerritos (Calif.) High School teammates Jennifer Iseri and Heather Cameron, pitcher/second baseman Naomi Monahan of Roseville (Calif.) High and shortstop Sarah Muzik of Notre Dame (Calif.) High.

Iseri was named the Long Beach Press-Telegram player of the year after going 15-4 with a 1.78 earned-run average and hitting .526 with six home runs as a junior. Cameron, a catcher/outfielder, hit .381 last season.

Monahan, a right-hander, went 16-3 with a 2.18 ERA last season and hit .311. Muzik hit .540 and drove in 22 runs.

Amateurs lead Challenge Cup

A team of Hawaii’s top amateur golfers took an 8-4 lead over a team of local professionals in the first day of the 42nd Gov. John A. Burns Challenge Cup on Monday at Mid-Pacific Country Club.

The amateurs won four matches and halved one in the morning four-ball matches. The pros rallied with 21⁄2 points in foursomes (alternate shot) in the afternoon.

The 12 singles matches are set for Tuesday at 7:16 a.m.

Honolulu tennis team places second

A team representing the USTA Hawaii Section placed second in the USTA League Mixed 18-and-over 7.0 National Championships held over the weekend in Tucson, Ariz.

The Honolulu team of captain Garrett Tanouye, Kathy Kaneshige, Jacqueline Jung, Shari Choy, Tiffany Akiyama, Michael Young and Herbery Sergio Lato won its round-robin flight and defeated a team from St. Louis, Mo., in the semifinals. They fell to Caguas, Puerto Rico 2-1 in the championship match.

Hawaii gymnast grabs gold

Sydney Senter of Aiea claimed one of two Team USA gold medals at the 2014 Trampoline and Tumbling World Age Group Competitions held Saturday at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Senter, who participated under the banner of Hawaii T&T, posted a score of 65.100 to claim the top prize in the women’s 11-12 double mini-trampoline division.