Eddie Aikau opening ceremony today

The 28th annual Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau big-wave contest official ceremony and blessing will take place today at 3 p.m. at Waimea Bay. All 28 invitees will take part, including local boys John John Florence and Ian Walsh, in joining members of the Aikau family.

The holding period for the contest begins on Saturday and will run through Feb. 28. The event requires a day of quality waves in the range of 20 feet or more local scale. Because of these requirements, has only been held eight times since 1985, with the most recent coming in 2009.

UH receives Big West recognition twice

The Big West Conference announced Wednesday that the Hawaii soccer and volleyball teams were given the fall sportsmanship team awards.

"We are humbled and proud to receive the sportsmanship award from the Big West Conference," UH women’s soccer coach Michele Nagamine said.

UH women’s volleyball coach Dave Shoji said, "Our players always respect the opponent and that’s something we’ve learned to do over the years as a program."

The award is voted on by the student-athletes in each sport, with the winning teams receiving commemorative T-shirts.

BYUH’s Chen is best of D-II West

Brigham Young-Hawaii setter Ying Chun Chen was named the NCAA Division II Daktronics West Region Volleyball Player of the Year on Wednesday.

The sophomore from Taiwan led the Seasiders to a 21-3 record in the regular season, including an 18-0 mark in the Pacific West Conference. Shih Ting Chen, a sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter, received all-region first-team honors, and junior outside hitter Lauren Hagemeyer made the all-region second team.

BYUH opens the NCAA Division II West Regional at the Cannon Activities Center tonight at 7:30 p.m.