Hawaii senior diver Amund Gismervik finished a career-best 12th overall in the 3-meter springboard to collect All-America honorable mention status at the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday in Atlanta.
His previous best finish in the event was 20th during his sophomore season.
UH junior swimmer Yuri Samouilich finished 33rd overall in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 35.89 seconds.
Both athletes return to action today at McAuley Aquatic Center for their second event. Gismervik will compete in the 10-meter platform, an event in which he earned bronze at the NCAA meet as a sophomore and finished 12th last season. Samouilich will compete in the 100-yard freestyle.
UH wins 2 in beach volleyball
No. 5 Hawaii picked up two wins Friday at the Stetson Beach Volleyball Invitational, defeating the host Hatters 4-1 and Florida Atlantic 5-0 at DeLand, Fla.
The Rainbow Wahine (7-5) swept four of the five flights with No. 9 Stetson (15-3), the lone loss coming at No. 1, where Vandy Strakova and Sara Putt ran their record to 17-0 with a 23-21, 21-15 sweep of Lara Schreiber and Nikki Taylor.
Schreiber-Taylor bounced back for a 21-18, 21-12 victory over Florida Atlantic’s Delaney Clesen-Gabrielle Dischler at the Cooper Beach volleyball courts. The Wahine did not drop a set against the Owls (6-3) in the five regulation flights.
Hawaii also won the two exhibitions at No. 6, with Hi‘ilawe Huddleston and Gianna Guinasso winning in three against the Hatters, and Huddleston teaming with Clare-Marie Anderson in a three-set win over the Owls.
The Wahine put their three-match winning streak on the line today with matches against No. 2 Florida State (14-0) and No. 10 Florida International (5-4). Hawaii returns home to host the Outrigger Challenge that includes a pairs event on Friday at the Ching Complex, and duals with No. 4 UCLA (7-4) and Arizona State (7-5) next Saturday at Queen’s Beach.
Hawaii Hilo drops road doubleheader
The Hawaii Hilo baseball team dropped a road doubleheader to Fresno Pacific on Friday.
The Sunbirds (13-16, 8-7 PacWest) beat the Vulcans (4-17, 3-15) handily in both games, winning the opener 9-3 and 6-1 in the second game. The Fresno Pacific bats were hot all day, amassing 17 hits in game one and 11 in the seven-inning second game.
Morgan West and Eric Vega took the losses for UH Hilo. Rickie Garcia tossed a gem for Fresno Pacific in the opener, striking out nine and scattering seven hits over eight innings. Davy Vartanian earned the win in the second game, striking out three and surrendering only three hits over five shutout innings.
>> The Hawaii Hilo softball team dropped a road doubleheader to Azusa Pacific by scores of 8-5 and 7-3.
The Vulcans (20-9, 12-4 PacWest) led 5-0 in the fifth inning of the opener, but the Cougars (16-5, 7-1) erupted for eight runs over the next two innings to close the game out. Azusa Pacific carried the momentum over to game two, where it scored five runs in the first inning.
Soares, Huynh selected to USTA Team
Emily Soares of Hilo and Phuc Huynh of Honolulu have been selected to represent the United States Tennis Association Hawaii Pacific Section on the first USTA Junior Leadership Team.
The program recognizes junior tennis players for “leadership, sportsmanship and character on and off the court.” Soares and Huynh are among 29 players nationwide named to the USTA Junior Leadership Team.
Soares, a senior at Hilo High, won the Big Island Interscholastic Federation girls singles title last year and finished third in the state tournament. She’s second in the USTA Hawaii Pacific Girls 18s rankings and 51st nationally and won the USTA’s Jim Howe Sportsmanship Award in 2014.
Huynh, a sophomore at ‘Iolani, is third in the state in the Boys 16s rankings and 107th in the nation. He partnered with Jordan Azuma to win the boys doubles state title last season and has worked with the Vietnamese Tennis Association in Hawaii.
