Katie Spieler, the most decorated player in University of Hawaii beach volleyball history, will represent Team USA at this week’s third Pacific Rim Beach Volleyball Championships.
Speiler will team with AVP pro Amanda Dowdy as part of Friday’s international compeition at Queen’s Beach. The field includes UH’s beach-only players and pairs representing Canada, Japan and Australia, with play starting at 4 p.m.
Friday’s Collegiate Challenge runs from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. and features UH, UCLA, Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade
On Saturday at UH’s Ching Complex courts, eight exhibition matches will be held starting at 2 p.m. between Hawaii and UCLA. Other matches involving international teams will follow and be played under the lights.
The junior volleyball portion of the event includes Friday clinics at Queen’s Beach with Hawaii coach Evan Silberstein, UCLA coach Stein Metzger, former Olympian Kevin Wong and former Olympic coach Dane Zelznick. The Pac Rim Junior Championship is Saturday at Queen’s Beach beginning at 8 a.m.
For more information, the web site is pacrimhi.com
Strand-Nicolaisen, Recca earn top honors
Senior outside hitters Marley Strand-Nicolaisen of Hawaii Hilo and Pomai Recca of Hawaii Pacific were named to the All-PacWest first team for volleyball on Tuesday.
Strand-Nicolaisen is the first Vulcans player to receive first-team honors since Hillary Hurley in 2011. She ranked third in the conference with 4.34 kills per set. The senior finished her career strong, piling up 20 kills and 20 digs against Dominican, and a career-high 31 kills in her final collegiate match against BYU-Hawaii. The performance helped her earn the Sports Imports/AVCA Division II National Player of the Week honor, a first for the Vulcans program.
Recca averaged 4.27 kills per set this season for the Sharks, fourth best in the PacWest. She also finished eleventh in the conference with an average of 2.96 digs per set. She has earned All-PacWest honors in each of her four seasons at HPU, receiving first-team honors for the first time this year.
Bianca Alvarez of Notre Dame de Namur was named the PacWest Player of the Year and Concordia’s Paula Weishoff was named the Coach of the Year.
Seeds fall in Hawaii Open
Sachia Vickery delivered the first — though not the biggest — upset of the inaugural Hawaii Open with a 7-5, 6-2 win over third-seeded Maria Sakkari on Tuesday at Central Oahu Regional Park.
Vickery, No. 142 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, advanced to the round of 16 by knocking off Sakkari, ranked 89th in the world, in her second victory over a top-100 player this year.
“Going in I just felt like I had nothing to lose,” Vickery said. “She’s a really great player and we have similar game styles. … I knew it would be a very physical match.”
Jacqueline Cako, ranked 329th in the world, pulled of an even bigger surprise with a 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 75 and second-seeded Nicole Gibbs.
A two-time All-American at Arizona State, Cako closed out her victory over Gibbs, a two-time NCAA champion at Stanford, with her fourth service break of the match.
“I came in with no expectations,” Cako said. “I’ve known her for a long time. We’ve grown up in the juniors and we played against each other in college. … I just knew I needed to stay tough and she never goes away. She’s a fighter as well.”
Top seeded Shuai Zhang of China cruised past Akiko Omae of Japan 6-3, 6-2. Fifth-seeded Sabine Lisicki ripped 17 aces in a 6-4, 6-4 win over Julia Boserup.
HPU breezes past West Coast Baptist
Connor Looney poured in a game-high 29 points as Hawaii Pacific dominated West Coast Baptist 111-38 on Tuesday at Moanalua High School.
Chauncey Orr added 20 points and eight assists for the Sharks, who improved to 4-0 this season.
>> Shad Wilson scored 23 points off the bench, sparking BYU-Hawaii to an 82-71 win, its first of the season.
>> Sisters Safia and Marian Sheikh scored 23 and 21 points respectively to lead BYU-Hawaii past Oakland City 81-74. BYUH improves to 2-2 with the victory.
