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The Hawaii women’s volleyball team has filled its spring break later this month with trips to Hawaii Island and the mainland, sandwiching a spring match with defending Big 12 champion Texas.
The Rainbow Wahine will hold two youth clinics, two open practices and an intrasquad scrimmage at the Hawaii Hilo gym. On Saturday, March 16, the clinic begins at 10:30 a.m.
On Sunday, March 17, the first youth clinic is for grades 4-8 and begins at 9 a.m. The second clinic is for grades 9-12 and starts at 10:30 a.m. Sunday’s practice is at 4 p.m. followed by an intrasquad scrimmage at 5 p.m. Autograph sessions follow Saturday’s practice and Sunday’s scrimmage.
On March 22, Hawaii will host Texas at the Stan Sheriff Center at 7 p.m. Tickets will go on sale Monday. Prices are $6 (ages 4-high school), $9 for seniors (65-and-older) and $11 (adults).
The Longhorns finished 23-5 last season and were eliminated by BYU in the NCAA regional final in Provo. The loss snapped a 13-match win streak.
The Wahine then will travel to Pepperdine for the Waves’ spring tournament on March 30. Also competing are USC and Point Loma.
UH softball routs St. Bonaventure
Hawaii junior Callee Heen drove in five runs in her first two plate appearances and senior Nicole Lopez added a home run to help power the Rainbow Wahine softball team to an 11-2 win over St. Bonaventure in the Outrigger Resorts Spring Fling Tournament on Wednesday.
Heen delivered a three-run double in the bottom of the first inning and a two-run single in the second and UH (13-4) led 8-0 after two innings at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. Lopez went 3-for-3 and hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, tying Heen for the team lead with her sixth homer of the season.
UH senior Brittany Hitchcock (5-3) tied a season high with nine strikeouts and earned a five-inning complete-game victory.
The Wahine face California today at 6 p.m. at RWSS.
Penn makes UFC return in May
Hilo’s B.J. Penn will return to the octagon to fight Clay Guida at UFC 237 on May 11 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion confirmed the news via his website on Wednesday.
The 40-year-old UFC Hall of Famer was submitted for the first time in 31 professional fights by Ryan Hall in December to suffer his sixth consecutive loss.
Including a draw to Jon Fitch, Penn (16-13-2, 12-12-2 UFC) has failed to win in his last seven fights.
No fighter has ever lost seven straight fights in the UFC.
Guida (34-18, 14-12) was submitted by Charles Oliveira in his last fight in June 2018.
Silverswords named to PacWest first team
Chaminade’s Grant Dressler and Tyler Cartaino were named to the All-PacWest men’s basketball first team, which was announced Wednesday.
Dressler, a senior guard, finished second in the conference in scoring with 19.1 points per game. He was also second in 3-point percentage, hitting 43.7 percent of his attempts.
Cartaino, a junior forward, posted averages of 17.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, while leading the PacWest in field-goal percentage (59.3 percent).
Chaminade’s Erik Scheive and Hawaii Hilo’s Larry Bush were named to the second team, while Hawaii Hilo’s James Griffin and Hawaii Pacific’s Jonathan Janssen were named to the third team.
Baum earns PacWest freshman honor
Hawaii Pacific guard Amy Baum was named the PacWest Freshman of the Year as conference honors were handed out on Wednesday.
Baum, who was also named to the PacWest third team, averaged 9.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.
Chaminade’s Destiny Castro was named to the first team, as was Hawaii Pacific’s Breanna Mackenzie and Hawaii Hilo’s Allie Navarette.
Castro, a junior guard, was second in the conference in scoring, averaging 20 points per game, while leading the PacWest with 3.3 steals per game.
Mackenzie, a senior guard, averaged 14.1 points per game, and added 6.5 rebounds per game to lead the Sharks.
Navarette, a sophomore center, averaged a double-double with 19.8 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. She was third in the conference in scoring while leading the PacWest in rebounding.
HPU’s Samantha Lambrigtsen and Alysha Marcucci were named to the third team.
Chaminade, HPU remain in final West polls
The Chaminade men’s basketball team dropped one spot in the final regular season NCAA West Region rankings released Wednesday.
The Silverswords (22-6, 16-6 PacWest) came in at sixth after being fifth last week. The top five teams are Saint Martin’s, Point Loma, Seattle Pacific, Cal Poly Pomona and UC San Diego.
HPU remained at No. 10 in the women’s rankings. The Sharks (20-8, 18-4) are behind UC San Diego, Alaska Anchorage, Northwest Nazarene, Azusa Pacific, Cal Poly Pomona, Humboldt State, Simon Fraser, Dominican and Cal State San Marcos.
Hilo flattens Notre Dame de Namur
The Hawaii Hilo softball team turned in a pair of dominant performances, sweeping a doubleheader with Notre Dame de Namur 10-2 and 9-0 in Hilo.
The Vulcans (9-3, 4-0 PacWest) hit three home runs in the first game, then watched as reliever Leah Gonzales tossed 4 2⁄3 perfect innings in relief to earn the win. In the second game, Isabelle Mejia took advantage of her excellent run support to toss a five-inning no-hitter. The Argonauts remain winless on the season at 0-19, 0-16 in the conference.
>> The Hawaii Pacific softball team (15-9, 9-1 PacWest) split its doubleheader with Holy Names (3-8, 2-4), dropping the first game 13-1 before rebounding to win 9-1.
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