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Hawaii moved up one spot and back to its preseason ranking in Monday’s AVCA Division I-II men’s volleyball Top 15.
The Rainbow Warriors (3-0) were at No. 3 in the preseason poll but dropped to No. 4 in the first poll on Jan. 7.
Defending national champion Long Beach State (5-0) remained a unanimous No. 1, with UC Irvine (5-0) up a spot to No. 2. Behind Hawaii were BYU (2-0) and Pepperdine (4-0). UCLA (4-1), which was No. 2 last week, fell to No. 6 after being swept by then-No. 12 Cal State Northridge.
Hawaii next hosts its alumni match on Jan. 25. The Warriors then host No. 9 Stanford (4-0) on Feb. 1 and 3.
Kanoa named Big West player of the week
Hawaii point guard Tia Kanoa was named the Big West women’s basketball player of the week after the senior led the Rainbow Wahine to an upset of two-time defending champion UC Davis on Saturday.
Kanoa scored 15 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished seven assists in the 65-60 victory for UH (5-10, 1-1 Big West). It was the first such career honor for the Kamehameha graduate and transfer from Arizona State. She shot 4-for-6 from the field (including 2-for-2 on 3s) and 5-for-6 at the line to register a new career scoring high. She also pulled down some timely offensive rebounds late as the Wahine rallied from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit.
“It’s incredible. I’m honored,” Kanoa said of becoming the first Wahine player to receive a weekly award this season. “I’m blessed to be in this position, to represent Hawaii, both my culture and my state and be able to represent my team like that.”
The Rainbow Wahine host another preseason favorite, Cal State Northridge (7-9, 1-1), at 7 p.m. Thursday, in their third straight one-game week.
Chaminade’s Castro, Dressler earn honors
Chaminade junior guard Destiny Castro and senior guard Grant Dressler earned weekly honors in basketball from the Pacific West Conference on Monday.
Castro was named the women’s basketball player of the week after becoming the first woman in Silverswords program history to score 40 points. The Guam native scored 40 in Chaminade’s 90-86 win at Holy Names, also setting another single-game program record with 15 field goals and tying another with seven steals.
Dressler, a transfer from Sacramento State, was named men’s defender of the week. He had a combined seven steals, 12 assists and eight defensive rebounds in No. 20 Chaminade’s road victories at Holy Names and Notre Dame de Namur, adding 39 points in the two wins.
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