BYUH, HPU tennis teams advance
Top-ranked Brigham Young-Hawaii easily moved into the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis Championship on Wednesday, sweeping Nebraska-Kearney. The Hawaii Pacific women’s and men’s teams also advanced by a 5-0 score in Louisville, Ky.
The Seasiders upped their record to 26-0, opening with wins in all three doubles matches. They clinched when freshman Sherry Liu shut out Heather Connolly, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 2 singles and Marika Kobayashi won, 6-0, 6-1, at No. 5. BYUH plays seventh-ranked Columbus State this morning.
The fifth-ranked Sea Warrior women (17-5) beat Colorado Mesa, losing just five games as they swept the three doubles matches. First singles player Zora Vickova, ranked 11th nationally, followed with a 6-0, 6-1 win. Ielyzaveta Rybakova clinched it with a 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 4. HPU meets third-ranked Armstrong Atlantic this morning.
HPU’s sixth-ranked men’s team also meets top-ranked and unbeaten Armstrong Atlantic in a quarterfinal. Weather postponed some Round of 16 matches to this morning, but the Sea Warriors (15-4) got their five wins before the rain came.
Punahou’s Baron honored for exploits
Punahou senior Shelby Baron received the AXA Achievement Scholarship and the U.S. Tennis Association Multicultural/Diversity Althea Gibson Leadership Award in the past month.
AXA honors 52 players — one from each state, the District of Colombia and Puerto Rico — with a one-time scholarship of $10,000. AXA Achievers are “ethnically and economically diverse, but share qualities of ambition and drive; determination to set and reach goals; respect for self family and community and ability to succeed in college.”
The Leadership Award is a $2,500 grant for Baron to further her tennis pursuits. Grants are awarded to high school students “who aspire to reach excellence in competitive tennis and in leading others both on and off the court.”
Baron has a 3.7 GPA at Punahou and is headed to the University of Hawaii. She holds the second-highest ranking of any American junior in the ITF Wheelchair Tennis world rankings (14). Last fall she was captain of the Kilauea team in Junior Team Tennis and became the first player to compete at National Championships in a wheelchair.
Baron will play in her second BNP Paribas World Team Cup later this month in South Korea.
UHH chooses new women’s soccer coach
Unity Beddingfield was named as the new women’s soccer coach at Hawaii-Hilo, athletic director Dexter Irvin announced on Tuesday.
Beddingfield spent a year as an assistant coach at San Bernardino Valley College. She was previously an assistant under Cal State San Bernardino (and former UHH) coach Travis Clarke.
