Michigan State wins in UH’s tourney

Kyndra Abron put down 16 kills and Michigan State held off one match point in Set 4 to defeat New Mexico 22-25, 25-19, 25-27, 26-24, 15-10 in yesterday’s opener of the Hawaiian Airlines Volleyball Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Megan Schatzie added 14 kills and Becca Zlabis 13 for the Spartans (4-0), who play No. 4 Hawaii (3-0) in tonight’s second match.

The Lobos (2-2) got a match-high 18 kills from Lisa Meeter. Taylor Hafield added 16 kills and Kelly Williamson 15 for UNM, which plays No. 10 USC (3-0) at 5 p.m. today.

U.S. tops Japan

The U.S. women’s national volleyball team, with former Hawaii Rainbow Wahine All-American Heather Bown, defeated Japan 26-24, 25-20, 25-23 on Sunday to win the 18th FIVE World Grand Prix, in Ningbo, China.

Bown scored 10 points with six kills, three blocks and an ace. Team USA went 5-0 in the six-team final round to capture its third Grand Prix title, and first since 2001. The Americans beat Poland and Brazil in five on the way to the title.

Wong and Jennings triumph

Kevin Wong, brother of UH associate coach Scott Wong, won the $380,000 Milner Open on Sunday with beach partner Casey Jennings. The Swatch FIVB World Tour stop was in The Hague, Netherlands. Wong and Jennings, seeded 21st, beat eighth-seeded Brazilians Benjamin Insfran and Bruno Oscar Schmidt 21-18, 18-21, 17-15 in the final.

Hawaii Pacific soccer team falls to 0-2

For the second game in a row, the Hawaii Pacific women’s soccer team dropped a 1-0 overtime contest.

Cal State East Bay, playing in its opener, defeated the Sea Warriors at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park yesterday on Shianna Falk’s goal in extra time.

Amber Fuller had four of HPU’s six shots in the match.

The Sea Warriors dropped to 0-2.

» In a men’s match, Cal State East Bay defeated Hawaii-Hilo 1-0 at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park.

5 gold medals for Hawaii kayakers

Members of the Hawaii Canoe and Kayak Team captured five gold medals at last week’s U.S. Canoe/Kayak Sprint National Championships in Oklahoma City.

Kailua’s Ryan Dolan won the men’s K-1 senior 500-meter A final in 1 minute, 39.642. Dolan’s brother Patrick took seventh and Ryan Murphy ninth. Ryan also won the K-1 senior 1,000 and K-1 senior 200 A Final.

Patrick Dolan and Morgan House teamed to win the men’s K-2 senior 1000. Ryan Dolan and Ryan Stock were second and HCKT’s Ryan Murphy and Kaihe Chong fifth.

Chong took first in the men’s intermediate K-1 500 final. In juniors, Kalei Kahookele won the A final in men’s K-1 200 meters.

Rolfing golf adventure airs Sunday

The fourth episode of Mark Rolfing’s Global Golf Adventure will air Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on KHNL, before NBC shows the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. Rolfing, a golf analyst for NBC and The Golf Channel, lives at Kapalua, Maui.

The show focuses on the final round of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. It includes a talk with champion Graeme McDowell.

"The impression I had on June 20 was that it was really one of the strangest days I’ve ever seen in golf," said Rolfing, who has been broadcasting for 25 years. "I was just so captivated by that one final day at Pebble Beach, it all went by so fast to me. I wanted to figure out how to capture that day."