The undefeated Hawaii men’s volleyball team retained the same ranking in the first regular-season coaches poll as it had in the preseason rankings: No. 1.
The Rainbow Warriors (5-0) received 15 of 16 first-place votes in Monday’s American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Top 15. It was the fourth time that Hawaii earned the No. 1 ranking — the others were 1989, 1996 and 2003.
The preseason AVCA poll was established in 2007. This was the first time Hawaii, after finishing second nationally last May, was tabbed the preseason favorite.
Brigham Young (4-0) was at No. 2 and UCLA (3-0), with the last first-place vote, at No. 3. Three of the other five Big West teams were ranked in the top seven: UC Santa Barbara (3-0) at No. 4, Long Beach State (3-0) tied with Lewis (3-1) at No. 5, and UC Irvine (2-1) at No. 7.
On Saturday, Hawaii swept Grand Canyon for its 22nd consecutive home victory, in front of a season-high 3,350 at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Warriors have not dropped a set in their five matches.
The Warriors were scheduled to leave tonight for their first road trip of the season. They will play at Lewis on Friday in Romeoville, Ill., and at Loyola on Saturday in Chicago. The Ramblers (1-3) dropped a spot to No. 12 in Monday’s poll.
SandBows No. 5 in DiG poll
The Hawaii beach volleyball team was ranked No. 5 in the first DiG Magazine collegiate poll announced on Monday.
The Rainbow Wahine, 28-11 last season, were behind two-time defending national champion UCLA, LSU, Florida State and USC. The Bruins received 13 first-place votes, the Tigers three and the Seminoles two.
The SandBows finished fourth at the NCAA championship tournament last May, their fourth consecutive top-four finish. Hawaii opens the season with UCLA on Feb. 22 in the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic at Queen’s Beach. The field includes LSU and No. 18 Stanford.
The American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll is scheduled to be released Feb. 11.
UH Hilo defeats Notre Dame De Namur
The UH Hilo women’s basketball team won its fourth game at home, defeating Notre Dame De Namur 73-56 on Monday at the Civic Auditorium.
Allie Navarette scored 24 points and Kim Schmelz added 19 as the Vulcans improved to 5-8 overall and 4-5 in the Pacific West Conference.
Cheyenne Jankulovski led the Argonauts with 13 points as they dropped to 3-13 overall and 1-9.
UH Hilo goes on the road to face Azusa Pacific on Thursday.
Chaminade falls to Dominican
Chaminade’s women’s basketball team lost to Dominican 71-53 on Monday at McCabe Gym.
Breanna Nueku led the Silverswords in scoring with 15 points and Destiny Castro had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Chaminade fell to 3-13 overall and 3-7 in the PacWest. Jerusha Paine had 36 points to help the Penguins improve to 6-8 and 3-5 in the PacWest.
>> Chaminade’s Destiny Castro was named Pacific West Conference women’s basketball Defender of the Week on Monday. The senior guard finished with 12 steals and 10 rebounds in three games. She also finished with 76 points for the week. Castro ranks fifth nationally in steals with 3.53 per game.
>>Chaminade’s Isaac Amaral-Artharee was named PacWest men’s basketball Freshman of the Week on Monday.
Amaral-Artharee recorded 29 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals during the week of Jan. 6-12.
He is also second on the team in 3-pointers made with 22.
Baum named women’s Player of the Week
Hawaii Pacific’s Amy Baum was selected as the Pacific West Conference women’s basketball Player of the Week for the second time this season.
The sophomore guard recorded the first triple-double in Sharks’ history against Dominican this past Saturday.
In a total of three games, Baum averaged 17 points, 8.3 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 1.67 blocks and 3.3 steals while shooting 48.8% from the floor.
Oglivie named Gatorade Player of the Year
‘Iolani’s Elena Oglivie was named the 2019-20 Gatorade Hawaii Volleyball Player of the year, becoming the third Raiders player to be chosen for the award
The 5-foot-11 senior outside hitter recorded 259 kills with a .401 kill percentage and 190 digs this season to lead the Raiders to a 20-8 record.
Oglivie volunteered locally as a youth volleyball coach and referee and gave time to community service activities through her school’s I Club.
Oglivie has maintained a weighted 4.0 GPA and signed a National Letter of Intent to play volleyball at Stanford.
