Hawaii 5-0. The Rainbow Wahine had all five of their competition pairs honored by the Big West Conference on Tuesday, reaffirming their dominating play in beach volleyball.
Two-sport athlete Emily Maglio doubled up on major awards, named the Freshman of the Year as well as part of the Pairs Team of the Year with senior Katie Spieler. Spieler-Maglio also were named to the six-pairs first team, the second first-team honor this school year for Maglio; the Canadian was named to the first team as a middle blocker for the Hawaii indoor team last fall.
Joining Spieler-Maglio on the first team were the pair of Nikki Taylor and Lara Schreiber. It also is the second first-team honor for Taylor, a junior, who was the conference’s indoor player of the year.
Named to the second team were the SandBows pairs of Ari Homayun-Hannah Zalopany, Ginger Long-Mikayla Tucker and Hannah Rooks-Ka’iwi Schucht.
“It’s super awesome to see all our pairings honored,” said Jeff Hall, who was named Coach of the Year. “It’s a testament to them and all their hard work.
“For me, I’m humbled and blessed to have a great bunch of players and a great staff. I feel this is more of a staff recognition and it’s also due to Scott (former head coach Wong) and Michelle (former assistant Meyer), who started this. They can only give it to one person, but I’m sharing it with all my assistants and the former coaches.”
Hawaii left Tuesday afternoon for Gulf Shores, Ala., site of this week’s inaugural NCAA championship tournament. The SandBows (16-8), seeded fifth, open play Friday against fourth-seeded UCLA (19-6); the eight-team tournament concludes with Sunday’s final.
Gulf Shores hosted the first four sand championships, sponsored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Hall said he was interested in seeing what other differences there are now that the NCAA is in charge.
Hawaii already has experienced it with its travel. With the NCAA in charge of itineraries, UH left out of John Wayne International in Orange County since the team was staying in nearby Costa Mesa. The Wahine had expected to leave Tuesday night out of Los Angeles International and canceled a practice at Manhattan Beach.
Maglio and Spieler, however, did get a workout in at Manhattan Beach after Maglio was picked up from LAX on Tuesday morning. She had flown back to Honolulu to take a science lab final on Monday.
“It’s a lot of travel for her, but it was mandatory that she had to be there,” Hall said. “As for her award … it’s rare for a freshman to be at No. 1, but she’s proven that she can handle that level of competition. She has set herself up for a successful career and to be playing for Canada in the (2020) Olympics.”
Spieler-Maglio were 18-4 overall, 9-4 when playing at the No. 1 flight and 9-0 at No. 2.
The team was scheduled to fly into Pensacola, Fla., then drive about 40 miles southwest to Gulf Shores. Hawaii is expected to be the first team to arrive at the competition site, its hotel “about 50 steps to the courts,” Hall said.
