It was high-fives for the HI 5 on Monday as five Hawaii volleyball players were named to the All-Big West first team.
Senior opposite Nikki Taylor, repeating as player of the year, was joined on the 16-member team by senior hitter Annie Mitchem, junior middle Emily Maglio, junior libero Savanah Kahakai and freshman setter Norene Iosia. Iosia also was named to the eight-member all-freshman team.
BIG WEST ALL CONFERENCE TEAM
Coach of the year—Dave Shoji, Hawaii.
Player of the year—Nikki Taylor, Hawaii.
Freshman of the year—Lindsey Ruddins, UC Santa Barbara.
First team (Name, school, height, year, position)
Nele Barber, Long Beach State, 6-1, Sr., OH; Victoria Dennis, UC Irvine, 6-3, Jr., OH; Aima Eichie, UC Davis, 6-1, Sr., MB; Raeann Greisen, Cal Poly, 6-2, Jr., OH; Taylor Gruenewald, Cal Poly, 6-1, Sr., MB; Norene Iosia, Hawaii, 5-11, Fr., Setter; Savanah Kahakai, Hawaii, 5-8, Jr., Libero; Harlee Kekauoha, UC Irvine, 6-0, So., Opp; Emily Maglio, Hawaii, 6-3, So., MB; Annie Mitchem, Hawaii, 6-3, Sr., MH; Taylor Nelson, Cal Poly, 6-0, Jr., Setter; Aeryn Owens, CS Northridge, 6-0, So., OH; Lindsey Ruddins, UC Santa Barbara, 6-2, Fr., OH; Nikki Taylor, Hawaii, 6-4, Sr., OH; YiZhi Xue, Long Beach State, 6-4, Fr., MB.
Honorable Mention
Shimen Fayad, Cal State Fullerton, 6-0, So., OH; Julie Haake, CS Northridge, 6-0, Sr., OH; Chanel Hoffman, UC Santa Barbara, 6-0, Jr., OH; Maddie Hubbell, UC Riverside, 6-3, Sr., Libero; Lauren Matias, UC Davis, 6-2, Fr., OH; Katie Sato, CS Northridge, 5-6, Jr., Libero; Elizabeth Sheffield, UC Santa Barbara, 5-11, Sr., MB; Adlee Van Winden, Cal Poly, 6-1, So., OH; Kendall Walbrecht, UC Davis, 6-3, Sr., OH.
All-Freshmen team
Melissa Eaglin, CS Northridge, 5-11, Fr., MB; Rowan Ennis, UC Santa Barbara, 6-1, Fr., MB; Hailey Harward, Long Beach State, 5-9, Fr., Libero; Norene Iosia, Hawaii, 5-11, Fr., Setter; Lauren Matias, UC Davis, 6-2, Fr., OH; Lindsey Ruddins, UC Santa Barbara, 6-2, Fr., OH; Mickayla Sherman, UC Riverside, 6-1, Fr., OH; YiZhi Xue, Long Beach State, 6-4, Fr., MB.
Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji also repeated as coach of the year, his sixth from the Big West/PCAA and 14th overall, eight coming during Western Athletic Conference membership (1996-2011). Shoji, who this season became the second Division I women’s coach to earn 1,200 victories, led Hawaii (22-5, 15-1) to its fourth Big West title in five years since returning to the conference, the ninth in Big West/PCAA play and 25th overall with 16 WAC banners.
Monday’s awards were not a surprise to Shoji, particularly when it came to Taylor. The Kaiser High product gives the Hawaii program its 25th player of the year award and is the ninth Wahine to win it at least twice.
“If you look at her numbers, she dominates the league in a lot of categories,” Shoji said. “There’s little doubt that she is the best player in the league.
“And I’m not really surprised about our other players. Every one of them won an honor during a week.”
Taylor is the sixth Wahine to earn all-conference first-team honors all four years of her career, joining Angelica Ljungquist (1993-96), Lily Kahumoku (1999-00, 02-03), Kim Willoughby (2000-03), Kanoe Kamana’o (2003-06) and Kanani Danielson (2008-11). She led the Big West this season in kills per set (4.59), aces (51), service aces per set (.65), and points per set (5.85) — top 11 nationally in all four categories, including No. 2 in aces per set. She is No. 12 in UH history with 1,354 career kills, No. 8 with 116 service aces and No. 10 with 3.67 kills per set.
For Maglio, it was her second consecutive first-team honor. She led the league in both hitting percentage and blocks per set, ranking 19th and 24th nationally.
Kahakai, an honorable mention last season, led the team in digs (380) and is 35 away from becoming the 14th member of UH’s 1,000-career-dig club. Iosia led the Wahine in double-doubles with 12 and is two assists shy of reaching 900.
After missing the first nine games of the season due to an injury suffered on the first day of practice, Mitchem has helped the Wahine go 17-1 since, transitioning from middle blocker to left-side hitter. She has 173 kills and is hitting .330 with 55 blocks and 41 digs.
Freshman of the Year went to UC Santa Barbara hitter Lindsey Ruddins, who was third in the conference in kill average (4.09 kps) and second to Taylor in points per set (4.69).
Also on Monday, Hawaii moved up in both the Ratings Percentage Index and AVCA Coaches Top 25, five places to 23 in the RPI and one spot to No. 12 in the poll.
The RPI was a bit of a sore spot for Shoji, whose team leaves today for the subregional hosted by Minnesota, now No. 1 in the Top 25.
“Penn State’s RPI is lower than ours and they got a seed (No. 16 in the NCAA tournament),” Shoji said of the Nittany Lions’ 26 RPI. “That’s a little strange.”
Shoji is aware of how many coaches felt about Hawaii’s difficult draw, saying, “a lot wanted to call me, but they know how I feel.”
The RPI is used by the selection committee to seed the top 16 teams and hosts for the first and second rounds. Of the top 16 teams in Monday’s RPI, only Western Kentucky (14) and San Diego (16) are unseeded and on the road this week. The committee also jumped over Creighton (17) to give Kansas State (18) a seed, and bypassed Kentucky (19), TCU (20), Wichita State (21), Florida State (22), Hawaii (23), Oregon (24) and Texas A&M (25) in giving Penn State a seed.
Hawaii also is the only team in the top 12 of the coaches poll not to be seeded. The poll is not part of the selection committee’s criteria.
