HONOLULU – The University of Hawaii women’s volleyball team will make its 22nd straight NCAA Tournament appearance at 3 p.m. Friday against Duke at the University of Washington’s Alaska Airlines Arena.
The match will be televised live statewide on OCSports and broadcast live on radio via ESPN 1420 AM. The winner will advance to Saturday’s 5 p.m. second-round match vs. the winner of Friday’s match between No. 1 regional seed Washington and New Hampshire.
The Rainbow Wahine (21-6) are ranked No. 23 in the latest AVCA poll and finished second in the Big West Conference. No. 21 Duke (22-7) took third place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Four UH players were named to the Big West All-Conference first team on Monday: Senior middle hitter Kalei Adolpho, junior outside hitter Tai Manu-Olevao, junor middle blocker Olivia Magill and sophomore outside hitter Nikki Taylor, who became the first Hawaii player in the rally-scoring era to record a triple double (10 kills, 11 blocks and 10 digs at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Nov. 22).
Also, outside hitter Kalei Greeley was named to the All-Freshman team.
This was the first season since 1995 that the Rainbow Wahine did not win at least a share of the conference championship; Hawaii won 16 straight Western Athletic Conference titles from 1996 to 2011 and won the Big West in 2012 and 2013.
The Rainbow Wahine are ranked No. 6 in the country in blocks per set, and Magill finished in the Top 10 in hitting percentage (.416). She went without a hitting error in six matches and had only one error in 11 other matches. Magill hit .400 or better in 17 of UH’s 27 matches, including .727 at Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 1.
Manu-Olevao and setter Taylor Higgins finished first and second in the Big West, respectively, in aces per set.
MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM FACES BYU ON THE ROAD: The UH men’s basketball team (7-2) heads back to the Continent for a 1 p.m. (HST) game Saturday vs. Brigham Young (6-2) in Salt Lake City.
The game will be broadcast live statewide on radio via ESPN 1420 AM, KHLO in Kona and KHLO in Hilo.
The Rainbow Warriors are coming off an impressive 75-60 home victory Tuesday night over Delaware State, a team that had won at Wake Forest just four nights prior.
Sophomore wing Aaron Valdes leads UH with 15.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, and senior shooting guard Garrett Nevels is second at 12.9 ppg and 5.3 rpg.
Junior point guard Roderick Bobbitt leads the Big West with an average of 5.6 assists per game and 2.56 steals per game. He also is one of just two players in the nation this season to record a triple-double (12 points, 10 assists, 10 steals) vs. UH-Hilo on Nov. 19.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM PLAYS HOST TO PACIFIC: The Rainbow Wahine basketball team will play host to Pacific at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The game will be televised live statewide on OCSports, and will be carried live on radio via ESPN 1420 AM, KHLO in Kona and KHLO in Hilo.
UH (4-3) is coming off a hard-fought 74-65 home defeat against No. 11-ranked North Carolina. Senior wing Shawna-Lei Kuehu leads the Rainbow Wahine with an average of 12.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Senior shooting guard Ashleigh Karaitiana is next at 12 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, and senior point guard Morgan Mason is averaging 10.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
Pacific is 3-2.
