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JAMM AQUINO / MARCH 18
An elbow injury will bench middle blocker Casey Castillo for today’s scrimmage.
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The Hawaii women’s volleyball team will be down to two middle blockers for today’s Green-White scrimmage due to an injury to sophomore Casey Castillo.
The 6-foot-3 Castillo suffered a minor injury to the elbow area of her right arm and was not cleared to practice Friday. She will miss today’s closed scrimmage but is expected to be cleared when the Rainbow Wahine resume practice on Monday.
Castillo is transitioning from outside hitter to middle to add depth to the position. Senior 6-3 middle Annie Mitchem is expected to be out for six weeks following surgery on Tuesday to repair a broken left pinkie finger.
The other middles are 6-3 all-conference junior Emily Maglio and 6-5 redshirt freshman Natasha Burns, the latter who was just cleared to practice on Tuesday.
“We’re thinking that Casey would be our No. 2 middle but, Tash (Burns) continues to get better,” UH associate head coach Jeff Hall said. “Tash still has some catching up to do after missing that first week of practice.
“I like the way Em (Maglio) and Tash are playing — they’re both nice pieces for us. I still like having a true middle in there and you can’t teach height. Whoever can help us win will be out there.”
Hawaii, No. 6 in the AVCA preseason Top 25 poll, opens Friday against No. 4 Wisconsin. It is one of “three games to watch opening weekend” selected by NCAA.com.
Today’s scrimmage is closed to the public.