3 Hawaii pairs recognized for excellence in U.S. collegiate beach volleyball
Three beach volleyball pairs from Hawaii were named American Volleyball Coaches Association Top Flight Award winners today, a program that recognizes success regardless of flight or overall team success.
The Rainbow Wahine duo of Morgan Martin-Pani Napoleon (21-1) had the second-best winning percentage at the No. 3, behind Arizona’s Madison Rigdon-Natalie Anselmo (17-0) flight. Ari Homayun-Julia Scoles (19-4) was sixth at Flight 2 and Emily Maglio-Amy Ozee (20-6) was tied for eighth at Flight 1.
Last season, all five Hawaii pairs earned Top Flight awards.
In order for a pair to be eligible for the award, two athletes must compete in at least 15 matches together and at a specific flight number. Should that pair win at least 75 percent of their matches —regardless of the overall team result of the dual — they achieve “Top Flight” status.
Seventh-seeded Hawaii (26-7) is in Gulf Shores, Ala., for the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship The SandBows open up against No. 2 seed UCLA (31-3) on Friday at 6 a.m. Hawaii Time in a match televised on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN3.