Hawaii makes its first road trip of the year this week packing a No. 14 ranking and taking the conference’s reigning player of the week in volleyball.
After helping the Rainbow Wahine (9-4) to two wins over Pepperdine, senior opposite Nikki Taylor was named the Big West Player of the Week for the second time this season and ninth time in her career on Monday. The Kaiser High product averaged 3.86 kills, 2.7 digs, 0.86 blocks and 1.57 aces per set in the two victories against the Waves.
The 2015 Big West Player of the Year had 13 kills and 11 digs in Friday’s sweep of the Waves, her third double-double of the season, as well as a career-high seven aces. On Saturday, she had 14 kills, eight digs, five blocks and four aces in the 3-1 win.
Taylor moved up to No. 16 on Hawaii’s career list with 1,137 kills, a team-high 146 coming this season after she missed the first three matches of the year. Taylor leads the conference with 25 aces.
Also on Monday, Hawaii moved up a place to No. 14 in the AVCA Top 25 poll, a ranking the Wahine had two weeks ago.
The Big Ten had the top three teams, led by unanimous No. 1 Nebraska (9-0). The defending national champion received all 64 first-place votes.
Minnesota (8-1) moved up a spot, while Wisconsin (8-1), after upsetting previous No. 2 Texas last weekend, jumped to No. 3. Washington (10-0) moved up two places to fourth, the Longhorns (8-2) down three to No. 5 and Florida up a spot to No. 6.
Rounding out the top 10 were San Diego (8-2), Kansas (11-1), UCLA (9-1) and Purdue (10-1).
All of Hawaii’s losses have been to teams currently ranked in the Top 25 in Wisconsin, UCLA, Washington and new No. 23 Kansas State (11-2).
The Wahine open defense of their Big West title at UC Santa Barbara (9-4) on Friday, then play at Cal Poly (7-4) on Saturday.
UH’s Steiner receives
Big West soccer honor
Hawaii soccer forward Addie Steiner was named the Big West Offensive Player of the Week on Monday for her pair of goals in a win at Air Force on Sept. 13.
Steiner, a senior transfer from Northwestern and native of Prairie Village, Kan., scored twice on first-half assists from Raisa Strom-Okimoto in UH’s 2-1 victory in Colorado Springs, launching UH (7-1-1) to its best record through nine games in program history.
Steiner is tied with Strom-Okimoto for the team goals lead at four. She is the second UH player to receive the weekly offensive award since UH joined the Big West in 2012; Tiana Fujimoto was the first, in 2012.
Also Monday, the Wahine were rated 57th among 334 Division I teams in the NCAA’s first RPI release this season. That was second among Big West teams (UC Santa Barbara, 42nd).
