The Hawaii beach volleyball team opened at No. 5 in Monday’s American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll, the same rank the Rainbow Wahine finished with in last May’s final poll.
The SandBows were fourth at the NCAA tournament, their fourth consecutive top-four finish. Hawaii returns seven from that 28-11 team, including All-American Morgan Martin and reigning Big West Freshman of the Year Pani Napoleon.
Two-time defending national champion and top-ranked UCLA received nine of the 11 first-place votes, with No. 2 Florida State and No. 3 LSU each with one vote. National runner-up USC was at No. 4.
Two other Big West teams are in the Top 20: No. 7 Cal Poly and No. 12 Long Beach State. The SandBows play 11 other teams in the preseason poll, including UCLA to open the season on Feb. 22 in the Duke Kahanamoku Classic at Queen’s Beach.
All of Hawaii’s home matches will be played at Queen’s Beach. Other ranked teams on the SandBows’ schedule are Florida State (2), LSU (3), USC (4), Loyola Marymount (8), Stetson (9), Grand Canyon (14), Stanford (19) and Arizona State (20).
Hawaii Pacific continues to dominate
The nationally ranked Hawaii Pacific women’s basketball team picked up its 17th straight win, defeating Azusa Pacific 85-71 at the Felix Event Center in Azusa, Calif., on Monday.
Six Sharks scored in double digits, with Abbey Noblett scoring 17 and Starr Rivera adding 16.
Savanna Hanson had 18 points to lead the Cougars.
Hawaii Pacific improved to 21-1 overall and 16-0 in the Pacific West Conference, while Azusa Pacific fell to 18-4 and 12-4.
Hawaii Pacific faces Concordia Irvine on Wednesday.
>> HPU’s men’s basketball team lost to Azusa Pacific 82-48 at the Felix Event Center on Monday.
Ronald Blain, Daniel Melifonwu and Tavon Tarpley led the Sharks (9-13, 7-9 PacWest) with eight points each.
Allie Navarette breaks record in win
Allie Navarette scored 34 points and the Hawaii Hilo women’s basketball team defeated Holy Names 67-50 in Oakland on Monday.
Navarette tied Sheila Azevedo for the school’s single-game scoring record in scoring, tied her own record with 19 rebounds and broke UH Hilo’s free-throw percentage mark by going 12-of-12 from the line for the Vulcans (8-13, 7-10 PacWest).
Elle Burland and Gernice Martin led the Hawks (1-20, 1-16)with 12 points apiece.
>> UH Hilo’s Kupaa Harrison drained the game-winning shot with six seconds left as the Vulcans defeated Holy Names 63-62 in Oakland.
Harrison finished with 27 points for UH Hilo (10-11, 8-9 PacWest).
Zamara Odom led Holy Names (8-16, 6-11) with 17 points in the loss.
Chaminade upsets Point Loma
Andre Arissol scored 21 points and Tyler Cartaino added 17 to lead the Chaminade men’s basketball team to an 80-70 upset of 16th-ranked Point Loma in San Diego on Monday.
Kendall Small added 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Silverswords (14-8, 12-5 PacWest) in the win over the Sea Lions (17-5, 13-3).
>> Chaminade’s Isaac Amara-Artharee was named the Pacific West Conference men’s basketball Freshman of the Week for the third time in four weeks.
The guard had double-digit scoring in five of his last eight games and is averaging 12.8 points.
>> Destiny Castro scored 21 points in the Chaminade women’s basketball team’s 75-42 loss at Point Loma in San Diego on Monday.
In the loss, Castro raised her career scoring total to 1,553 points for the Silverswords (4-19, 4-13 PacWest).
Cara Liggins led the Sea Lions (14-8, 10-6) with 21 points.
Hawaii Hilo softball player honored
Hawaii Hilo shortstop Kiarra Lincoln was named Pacific West Conference softball Player of the week on Monday.
The Kamehameha graduate went 10-for-19 at the Dixie Courtyard Classic in Utah, scored six runs and finished with an on-base percentage of .550.
Maui athlete wins Gatorade award
Hunter Shields of Maui High was named the 2019-20 Gatorade Hawaii Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. Shields is the first Saber to win this award.
The 5-foot-10 junior won the state meet this past season with a time of 16:15.60, finishing 3.87 seconds ahead of the next competitor and led the Sabers to a second-place finish.
Shields has volunteered with the Maui Humane Society and as a youth sports camp counselor, all while maintaining a 3.89 grade-point average.
