Northwestern senior and Punahou graduate Kacie Komoto earned the clinching point in the Wildcats’ 3-2 victory over Kent State in the quarterfinals of the NCAA women’s golf championship on Tuesday in Sugar Grove, Ill.
Komoto helped Northwestern claim the top seed in the eight-team match-play bracket by tying for 14th in the three-day stroke-play portion of the tournament, which ended Monday. She went the distance against Kent State’s Michaela Finn on Tuesday and closed out a 2-up win with a par on No. 18 at Rich Harvest Farms to give the Wildcats their third point of the match.
Northwestern’s semifinal match against USC was delayed by rain and later suspended due to darkness with USC leading in four of the five matches. Komoto was 2 down thru 13 holes against USC freshman Muni He when play was halted. The semifinals are scheduled to resume today starting at 4 a.m. with the championship match to follow.
Stanford leads Arizona State 2-1 in the other semifinal and leads in one of the remaining matches with another all square.
UH women’s sailing team trails in 13th
The University of Hawaii women’s sailing team sat in 13th place after the first day of competition of the 2017 ICSA Sperry Women’s National Championship on Tuesday in Charleston, S.C.
The top nine teams in each regional semifinal advance to the final round and the Rainbow Wahine are 32 points behind ninth-place UC Santa Barbara. The Eastern and Western semifinals conclude today.
UH volleyball schedule announced
The Rainbow Wahine volleyball team will open the first season of the post-Dave Shoji era on Aug. 25 against Marquette.
UH also will face San Diego and UCLA in the Rainbow Wahine Invitational, which will feature the debut of Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, the third head coach in program history. All three opening weekend opponents played in the NCAA tournament last season. Hawaii finished the 2016 season 23-6 and lost to Minnesota in the second round of the NCAAs.
Other teams coming off NCAA berths who are on the Wahine schedule are BYU, Utah and Baylor.
Western Carolina, South Dakota, Nevada and Northern Arizona round out Hawaii’s nonconference slate.
The Wahine open Big West play on Sept. 22, hosting UC Irvine. Senior night will be on Nov. 4, against Long Beach State.
Metzger named nation’s top beach coach
The AVCA named UCLA’s Stein Metzger the national college beach volleyball coach of the year on Monday.
The Punahou and UCLA alumnus led the Bruins to a 30-6 record, their best season yet, and an NCAA tournament berth in his fifth year at the helm.
Hamilton earns wild card to Fiji Pro
Bethany Hamilton received the wild card to compete in the Outerknown Fiji Pro announced Tuesday. The waiting period for the fifth stop on the World Surf League Championship Tour begins on Sunday and runs through June 2.
