Hawaii athletes Adolpho, Ching, Fong up for NCAA Woman of the Year

Hawaii two-sport athlete Kalei Adolpho, Pepperdine golfer Alina Ching and Lewis & Clark’s Geena Fong have been nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year, the NCAA announced Friday

Adolpho played both volleyball and basketball for three seasons for the Rainbow Wahine before playing just volleyball last fall where she earned first-team all-Big West honors. The Molokai High graduate, on the conference all-academic teams in both sports, will return to the Rainbow Wahine basketball season this fall as a graduate student.

Ching, a 2011 Punahou School graduate, was a four-time all-West Coast Conference selection and three-time WCC all-academic first team pick.

Fong, a Maryknoll graduate, was the starting goalkeeper for the Division III Pioneers’ soccer team. The trio are among 480 females nominated, the most in the 25-year history of the program.

The award honors graduating female college athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service and leadership.

The selection process continues with each conference forwarding two names to the Woman of the Year committee. The committee cuts the list to 30 honorees, 10 each from Division I, II and III.

Three finalists are selected from each division with the announcement of the winner coming at the annual awards ceremony in Indianapolis on Oct. 10.

USA volleyball loses to Iran

The U.S. men’s national volleyball team suffered its first loss in World League play Friday, falling to Iran 25-19, 29-27, 25-20 in front of 12,000 at the Azadi Sport Complex in Tehran.

Kamehameha graduate Micah Christenson set the entire match while Punahou graduate Erik Shoji was at libero finishing with five digs. ‘Iolani graduate Kawika Shoji was a serving sub in Set 2.

The teams will play again Saturday. The U.S., the defending World League champion, is 6-1. Iran, which lost twice when the teams played last month in Los Angeles, improved to 3-4.

Seahawks’ Bennett to host health fest

Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett and his wife, Pele, will host the second annual OCEAN Health Fest at Saint Louis School on June 27.

The Bennett Foundation organized the family health event to battle childhood obesity in Hawaii and provide affordable alternatives for healthy meals. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bennett will also host football camps at Kahuku High School on June 25 and at the University of Hawaii Athletics Complex on June 26.

There will be a third clinic for football coaches called Hawk Tackling at the UH campus on June 28. To register for these events, visit thebennettfoundation.org.