SandBows capture Heineken Hawaii Invitational

The St. Patrick’s Day parade on Kalakaua Avenue had nothing on the party that the No. 6 Hawaii beach volleyball team threw itself on the adjacent sands on Sunday. The Rainbow Wahine defeated No. 11 Cal 3-2 for the Heineken Hawaii Invitational championship, the second time in as many days that the SandBows were able to turn back the Golden Bears with a win at Flight 4.

Freshman Kylin Loker was a part of both victories, pairing with freshman Pani Napoleon on Saturday and, on Sunday, teaming with senior Hi‘ilawe Huddleston. Loker’s kill gave Hawaii its third match point at 16-15 and her putback of an overpass completed the 21-15, 17-21, 17-15 win over Madison Dueck-Alexia Inman.

“I was just thinking put it in, get it down,” said Loker, named the tournament’s most outstanding player. “It was so fun to have ‘Lawe as a partner. We knew that it was (tied) 2-2 and it came down to us.

“That feeling is amazing. And to have it twice in a weekend, to have that pressure as a freshman … it’s nerve-wracking but amazing at the same time.”

Cal (10-3) had tied the match minutes earlier on Court 1 when Jordan Polo-Mima Mirkovic turned back Emily Maglio-Amy Ozee 21-15, 19-21, 15-11, the final point on Mirkovic’s block of Maglio. All eyes turned to Court 4, where Hawaii had taken what would be the first of three match points at 14-13.

The Golden Bears hung tough, tying at 14 and 15. Each time, kills by Loker gave Hawaii the lead and, finally, the win.

“I’m so proud of Kylin — that is hard to do what she did as a freshman,” SandBows coach Jeff Hall said. “She was in the two biggest, toughest matches of the weekend and she pulled them out.

“Cal is obviously a worthy opponent. It could have gone either way. We were lucky we stepped up in a big moment. We’ve got some work to do, which is good to do.”

Hawaii gets right back at it today, hosting Nebraska (10-6) at the Ching Complex courts on campus. The Cornhuskers have lost five straight, including 4-1 to Boise State in Sunday’s third-place match. Nebraska has a 1 p.m. dual with Boise State (6-5) today at Ching.

Senior Ari Homayun can become the fourth SandBow to reach 100 victories with a win today. On Sunday she became the program’s all-time leader in dual-match wins (96), passing Ka‘iwi Schucht (94), picking up straight-set victories at Flight 2 with Julia Scoles.

“We knew today was going to be tough. Give props to Cal, they came out even harder than (Saturday),” said Homayun, who is 12-1 this season. “I’m glad we got the last say on that.”

The No. 1 flight featured two award winners. Cal’s Mirkovic was named best attacker and Hawaii’s Maglio best blocker. Also honored were Boise State’s Janell Walley (best defender) and Nebraska’s Kenzie Knuckles (aloha spirit).

The SandBows will spend the rest of spring break in Arizona — first in Phoenix against Grand Canyon on Thursday, then in Tempe, with matches against No. 5 Pepperdine and Arizona State on Friday and No. 2 USC and Arizona State on Saturday.