Hawaii picked up a spot in the national men’s volleyball poll on Monday as well as a weekly conference award.
Sophomore middle Patrick Gasman was named the Big West’s defensive player of the week after helping the Rainbow Warriors to two sweeps over UC San Diego last week. It was the first weekly award of Gasman’s career and the third for Hawaii this season.
Gasman was in on nine of the team’s 17 blocks, with five on Friday to go along with five kills and an ace, and four blocks with three kills on Saturday. He was instrumental in the Warriors holding the Tritons to .070 hitting for the series, including .013 on Saturday.
Hawaii (15-6, 3-3 BWC) takes a new ranking — No. 6 in the AVCA Top 15 — on the road for matches at No. 11 UC Santa Barbara (10-9, 3-3) on Friday and Saturday. Remaining the unanimous No. 1 is Long Beach State (21-0, 6-0), the Warriors’ opponent next week in their final regular-season home matches.
Wahine pair earn BWC accolade
The No. 3 Hawaii beach volleyball team matched its ranking by receiving its third conference honor in four weeks on Monday when sophomore Morgan Martin and freshman Lea Monkhouse were named the Big West pairs team of the week.
Martin/Monkhouse helped the Rainbow Wahine (23-3) extend their school-record 18-match winning streak when going 5-0 at last week’s Big West Challenge. The duo pulled out three-set wins over Cal Poly and Long Beach State in running their Flight 2 record to 7-0.
While the SandBows remained at No. 3 in Monday’s AVCA Top 20, there was some shuffling above and below Hawaii. UCLA (24-3) and Pepperdine (18-3) swapped the top two spots after the Bruins’ 4-1 victory over the Waves last week.
No. 5 Cal Poly (19-3) and No. 6 Long Beach State (18-3) also traded places after the Mustangs finished second to the SandBows at last week’s Big West Challenge. After Hawaii handed the 49ers their first loss in 16 matches with a 5-0 sweep, Cal Poly edged The Beach 3-2 on Sunday. USC (17-7) remained at No. 4.
Weston-Webb reaches semifinals
Hawaii’s Tatiana Weston-Webb won her quarterfinal heat at the Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach today in Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia.
Weston-Webb defeated Australia’s Nikki Van Dijk 14.50 to 10.73. Hawaii’s Carissa Moore lost to Brazil’s Silvana Lima 14.27 to 12.53 in the quarterfinals.
In the men’s Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, Hawaii’s Ezekiel Lau advanced to the quarterfinals.
In the third round, Lau beat fellow Hawaii surfer John John Florence 13.07 to 9.76. In the fourth round, Lau defeated Portugal’s Frederico Morais 12.57 to 11.16.9.
Hilo’s Steering honored by PacWest
Hawaii Hilo first baseman Phillip Steering was named the PacWest baseball player of the week for the second time this season, the conference announced Monday.
Steering, a senior from Lakewood, Calif., hit four home runs in a four-game series against Dixie State. He drove in eight runs, scored seven runs, hit two doubles and drew three walks as the Vulcans went 1-3 in the series.
Steering also won the award the week of Feb. 19.
Vulcans’ Giuliato wins weekly tennis award
Hawaii Hilo freshman Alessandro Giuliato has been named the PacWest tennis player of the week, the conference announced Monday.
Giuliato, of South Maurizio, Italy, went 4-0 in singles and partnered with Vaclav Slezak to beat Azusa Pacific’s Oliver Frank and Christian Schmid, the top doubles team in the nation, by a score of 8-7 (4).
UH coed sailors finish runner-up
The University of Hawaii coed sailing team finished second at the St. Francis Invite, which concluded Sunday off Stanford, Calif.
The Rainbows held a seven-point advantage heading into the final two races, but Stanford won both events to finish with 151 points in the 17-team regatta. UH finished with 162.
UH’s Michael Pacholski and Kelly Sojka captured the B division with 60 points. Cuyler Zimmerman, Patrick Wilkinson, Sophie Deming and Danielle Ahir finished with 102 points in the A division.
