University of Hawaii middle blocker Gasman to U.S. NORCECA volleyball team

JAMM AQUINO/ APRIL 19

Hawaii senior middle blocker Patrick Gasman has been selected to Team USA’s roster for the NORCECA Championship Cup.

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Hawaii senior middle Patrick Gasman has been selected to Team USA’s 14-player roster for the upcoming NORCECA Championship Cup.

Gasman was Off the Block’s 2019 national blocker of the year and finished the season second in the country averaging 1.42 blocks per set. He and Loyola setter Garrett Zolg are the only active college men’s volleyball players on the team.

The assistant coach is Spencer McLachlin (Punahou), currently an assistant at UCLA.

The NORCECA Championship Cup begins Aug. 22 at the U.S. Olympic/Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The U.S. will face Puerto Rico, Cuba and Canada in the pool-play stage of the tournament.

AVPFirst clinics set for 6 islands

The Hawaii Tourism Authority has teamed with the Association of Volleyball Professionals and AVPFirst to offer 17 beach volleyball clinics on six islands starting Sunday.

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AVPFirst is the nonprofit youth program arm of the AVP Tour. Its Community Corner Clinics are free with registration available through the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii website: bgch.com.

The schedule has sessions at various sites on Maui, Aug. 19-21; Kauai, Aug. 24; Oahu, Aug. 26-30; Lanai, Sept. 7-8; Molokai, Sept. 14; and Hawaii Island, Sept. 14-15. Updates and site information are available at AVPFirst.org.

Among the clinicians are former pro players Kevin Wong and Lia Young Hunt as well as coaches and players from the Hawaii beach volleyball team.

The AVP Tour concludes its season with the Hawaii Open, Sept. 19-22, at Fort DeRussy Beach in Waikiki.

Rainbow Wahine soccer picked seventh

The Hawaii soccer team was tabbed to finish seventh by the Big West’s nine head coaches in the conference’s preseason poll released Thursday.

UH lost Big West offensive player of the year Raisa Strom-Okimoto and fellow first-teamer Leialoha Medeiros from last year’s fifth-place team. No Rainbow Wahine players were named to the preseason all-conference team.

The Wahine were picked to finish last in 2018 but went 4-4 in conference for their highest finish in seven Big West seasons to date.

UH men’s tennis coach Nelson retires

Sixteen-year Hawaii men’s tennis coach John Nelson has retired, UH announced on Thursday.

Nelson led UH to WAC tournament titles in back-to-back-to-back years (2008, ’09, ’10), and the 2014 Big West regular-season title.

In Nelson’s final spring season, two-time HHSAA singles champion Andre Ilagan, a Farrington alum, earned Big West freshman of the year. However, the Rainbow Warriors struggled to a 7-12 (1-4 BWC) record.

Ex-UH hoops coach Taylor gets head job

Former Hawaii basketball coach Benjy Taylor has been hired for his first head-coaching job since his interim season of 2014-15 in Manoa, as he prepares to take over the program at Tuskegee (Ala.) University, an NCAA Division II institution.

Taylor went 22-13 in his lone season helming the Rainbow Warriors in the wake of Gib Arnold’s firing. UH came within one victory of making the NCAA Tournament, falling to UC Irvine in the Big West championship game.

He assisted at Southeast Missouri State (2015-16) and Cal State Bakersfield (2016-19) in the years since.

Taylor tweeted Wednesday night: “Mahalo to all in the 808. You toughened me up and made me better and I’m ready for this! Forever Ohana the people of Hawaii.”