BYUH No. 1 in PacWest preseason poll
Brigham Young-Hawaii is ranked No. 1 in the Pacific West Conference preseason women’s volleyball poll, and the Seasiders placed three players on the all-conference first team.
BYU-Hawaii received 12 of 14 first-place votes and 194 points. Grand Canyon is second with 164 points and California Baptist is third with 155.
Hawaii Pacific is ranked No. 5, Hawaii-Hilo is No. 6 and Chaminade is tied for 12th.
BYU-Hawaii sophomores Shih Ting Chen (5-10, outside hitter/middle blocker) and Ying Chun Chen (5-7, setter), and senior Lauren Hagemeyer (6-1, OH) were named to the preseason first team. Shih Ting Chen was the 2011 PacWest Player of the Year and Ying Chun Chen was the Freshman of the Year.
HPU junior Chelsea Buyuan (5-6, libero) and senior Sanoe Recca (5-9, OH) made the first team.
Kono to speak at Japanese Cultural Center
Two-time Olympic weightlifting gold medalist Tommy Kono will speak at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
Kono’s appearance is part of “Pride of Hawaii: Japanese American Amateur Athletes.”
Kono, who has lived in Hawaii since the 1970s, won gold medals at the 1952 Helsinki Games and 1956 Melbourne Games, and silver at the 1960 Rome Games. He will be signing copies of his book “Championship Weightlifting.”
The cultural center is located at 2454 South Beretania Street.
Kansai, local prep baseball teams to play
The fifth annual Kansai Japan/Hawaii Goodwill Baseball Tournament will be held this weekend at Les Murakami Stadium.
The six-game high school tournament will have Hawaii All-Star teams playing against their counterparts from Kansai, Japan.
Kansai, which has 23 players, will play a local team in each game.
On Saturday, Kansai will play Pearl City at 9 a.m., and Cinco Stars at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.
On Sunday, Kansai will meet Mid-Pacific at 9 a.m., ‘Iolani at 12:30 p.m. and Kahala Warriors at 3 p.m.
Admission is free.
