Kahuku headlines Aloha World Sevens

Reigning state high school rugby champion Kahuku High meets Canada’s St. Anne’s Catholic Secondary School in the featured match Friday in the Aloha World Sevens rugby tournament at Aloha Stadium.

Kahuku is ranked ninth nationally and coached by Liam Messam, a current member of the famed All Blacks of New Zealand. The match is at 7 p.m. and concludes the opening day of the two-day event, which starts at 1 p.m.

Also on the schedule of Hawaii’s largest men’s and women’s sevens rugby tournament is the Under-20 men’s competition, with 40 matches between 14 sides from Hawaii, New Zealand and Canada. One of the favorites is Team Messam-SPI, the New Zealand U-20 side coached by Messam.

The U20 women’s competition includes two teams from Canada. There also is U-14 keiki flag rugby in three 5-13 age-group divisions beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Discounted two-day passes are available until 5 p.m. Thursday through AWSrugby.com at $20 for adults and $12 for students ages 6-17. Single-day tickets will be on sale at the Aloha Stadium box office Friday and Saturday at $20 for adults and $12 for students.

Boxing smoker to be held at Palolo

Clyde Hardiman takes on Dedric Ke-a, and Rocky Balala faces Jerick Bagay in Saturday’s double main event of the Amateur Boxing of Hawaii card at Palolo District Park.

The event begins at 6:30 p.m. with 13 bouts scheduled between boxers from Oahu and Maui. Admission is $15 at the door.

Tinman adds new event

The iconic Tinman Triathlon has added a new event with the inaugural Tinman Duathlon, a run-swim-run competition on March 29 at Ala Moana Beach Park

The race is open to individuals and teams and includes a 2-mile run followed by an 800-meter swim and another 2-mile run. Registration is available at active.com and tinmanhawaii.com.

For information, call 202-1065 or The Bike Shop at 596-0588.

Malova earns Big West tennis honors

Four wins last week earned University of Hawaii freshman Viktoria Malova the Big West women’s tennis athlete of the week award on Wednesday.

Malova teamed with Sarah Gealer for a doubles victory and won her singles match in UH’s 6-1 loss to SMU on March 11.

Malova and Gealer picked up another doubles win in UH’s home finale against Cal State Fullerton last Saturday and Malova’s 6-3, 6-2 win over Camille De Leon contributed to a 4-3 Rainbow Wahine victory.

No. 71 UH (5-7, 2-2 Big West) faces Cal Poly in a conference match on Monday to open a two-week road trip.

HPU softball splits series with Faulkner

Hawaii Pacific’s Paige Crawford threw a no-hitter with seven strikeouts to blank Faulkner 3-0 on Wednesday at Howard A. Okita Field. The Sharks fell 2-1 in the first game of the doubleheader.

In Game 1, Mattie Dotson pitched the full game and earned her sixth win for the Eagles (11-5). Faulkner outhit the Sharks 8-5 and Chelsea Cramer led HPU (11-9) with two hits and a run.

The Sharks scored two runs in the first inning of Game 2 and held onto the early lead. Five different HPU batters recorded hits in the win.

HPU tennis sweeps Armstrong on the road

The Hawaii Pacific men’s tennis team, ranked No. 2 in Division II, remains undefeated with a 6-3 win over No. 5 Armstrong Atlantic on Wednesday in San Diego, Calif.

The Sharks (13-0) took a 2-1 advantage in doubles play and HPU’s Marko Lenz took down top-ranked Fernando Bogajo 4-6, 7-5, 11-9 on the No. 1 singles court.

BYU-Hawaii tennis defeats Academy of Art

The No. 4 BYU-Hawaii women’s tennis teams thumped No. 18 Academy of Art in an 8-1 rout on Wednesday in Laie.

The Seasiders (17-1) won on the top three singles courts, led by Nannan Zhang’s 6-4, 6-1 win over Nina Gajdosikova on the No. 1 court.

It was the Urban Knights’ (4-2) first road loss and their first loss to a top-30 ranked Division II team.