Seasiders weather the Red Storm

The BYU-Hawaii women’s volleyball team remained atop the PacWest Conference after a four-set road victory (27-25, 20-25, 26-24, 25-12) over Dixie State on Wednesday night.

"Dixie State has been a tough team to beat at home this year and tonight was no different," BYU-Hawaii head coach Mona Ah Hoy said. "We started out slowly in each of the first three sets and their fans really got into the match to energize their team. We ended up trying several different lineups to try and spark us, but I don’t think we were really able to find our rhythm until that last set."

Shih Ting (Stella) Chen led BYU-Hawaii (18-4, 15-1 PacWest) with 29 kills and 18 digs. The mark tied her for the third-highest kill total in NCAA Division II in a four-set match this season. Elizabeth Blake Solaita also had a double-double effort with 52 assists and 12 digs. Kalistina Takau added seven kills, three blocks and finished the match with a .400 hitting percentage.

Cal Baptist clips ‘Swords

California Baptist edged the Chaminade women’s volleyball team in five sets, 22-25, 25-22, 25-11, 21-25, 15-11, Wednesday evening in Riverside, Calif.

The match was the eighth five-set contest that the Silverswords have played in this season.

Freshman Kira Long had a team-high 12 kills for the Silverswords (12-15 overall, 5-12 PacWest). Four others had seven or more kills for the ‘Swords with Suncica Bakic netting 10. Riverside native Cassie Rushlow had eight, followed by Ku‘ulei Lynch and Reigna Johnson with seven apiece.

Michelle Waber, a former member of Hawaii’s Rainbow Wahine squad, had a match-high 16 kills to lead the Lancers (15-9, 11-5).

Long named to PacWest preseason team

Hawaii Pacific senior guard Justin Long was named to the 2014-15 preseason All-PacWest team in advance of the Sharks exhibition matchup with Hawaii at the Stan Sheriff Center tonight at 7.

Long, an All-PacWest first teamer last season, averaged 18.5 points per game while leading HPU to the second round of the PacWest postseason tournament. Long was second in the conference’s scoring ranks by one point and finished the season as the PacWest’s best free-throw shooter (91.5 percent) and fourth-best 3-point shooter (45.2 percent). Long’s free-throw shootling landed him atop HPU’s single-season record book for free-throw percentage.

Hawaii Pacific women’s hoops picked 4th

The Hawaii Pacific women’s basketball team was picked to finish fourth in the PacWest Conference Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll released by the league on Wednesday.

The Sharks received 125 points in a vote of the conference coaches and led fellow Hawaii squads Hawaii Hilo (9th, 67 points), BYU-Hawaii (12th, 42 points) and Chaminade (13th, 18 points). Academy of Art, the defending PacWest regular season and tournament champion, is a heavy favorite to repeat, receiving 167 points and 11 first-place votes. Azsua Pacific is slated to finish second with 155 points and received the other two first-place votes.

The league also announced the six-player preseason All-PacWest Team, which includes Academy of Art’s Krystal Forthan, who was named Preseason Player of the Year. The all-conference team included Morganne Comstock (Hawaii Pacific) and Brydgette Tatupu-Leopoldo (BYU-Hawaii).

SOCCER

5 earn All-Big West honors

The 2014 Big West soccer season was a disappointing one for Hawaii, but the Rainbow Wahine did not go into the offseason empty-handed.

Three Wahine — senior forward Krystal Pascua, junior defender Lidia Battaglia and sophomore midfielder Storm Kenui — were named to the All-Big West second team in postseason awards announced Wednesday.

In addition, forward Sonest Furtado was named to the all-freshman team and sophomore forward Kama Pascua was an all-league honorable mention.

UH (7-10-1 overall, 2-5-1 Big West) finished in eighth place among nine teams and failed to qualify for the Big West tournament.

"You know, I was very happy," UH coach Michele Nagamine said of the awards. "I didn’t really expect to get anybody on the first team. I think the unfortunate part for our kids is that when you finish at the bottom of the conference, there’s not a lot of thought as far as impact goes, especially from a defensive point of view.

"But I thought (our awards were) not bad at all. It was nice for the kids to get that recognition."

Krystal Pascua, now a two-time Big West second-teamer, notched four goals and two assists in her final season at UH. Battaglia anchored a young defense that managed to post shutouts in its final two matches of the year. The versatile Kenui had a team-high six goals and two assists.

Furtado scored four goals with a team-high three assists and Kama Pascua, a preseason first-team pick, netted five goals with two assists.

TENNIS

Wahine host tournament

The Rainbow Wahine tennis team hosts Cal State Northridge and Missouri-Kansas City in the three-day Weinman Foundation Invitational starting Friday morning.

Matches begin at 8 a.m. Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at the UH Tennis Complex.

UH junior Sarah Gealer enters the tournament at 8-1 this fall and reached the consolation finals at the ITA Southwest Regional last month. Sophomore Cindy Nguyen advanced to the quarterfinals of the regional and is 6-2 this fall.