Hawaii’s duo of Amber Igiede and Brooke Van Sickle rebounded from an earlier loss to earn the clinching point for the 16th-ranked Rainbow Wahine in the finale of a beach volleyball series with No. 15 Long Beach State on Saturday at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex.
Igiede and Van Sickle were swept by LBSU’s Katie Kennedy and Nicci Reinking in their first meeting of the day at the No. 2 flight and The Beach went on to edge the BeachBows 3-2 in the first dual match of a doubleheader. LBSU’s Mari Molina and Tyler Spriggs pulled out a 21-19, 17-21, 15-10 win over Pani Napoleon and Jaime Santer at No. 1 to secure the win for The Beach.
Igiede and Van Sickle defeated Reinking and Kennedy 21-18, 21-17 in the second match to give UH a 3-1 lead. Molina and Spriggs won the final match of Hawaii’s 3-2 win.
UH’s No. 3 flight of Harlee Kekauoha and Kylin Loker swept both matches against LBSU’s Makenzie Griffin and Kenzie Holtz on Saturday to cap a 3-0 week.
UH (7-5) won two of three matches with The Beach (11-9) in its home opening series and next play host to No. 5 Cal Poly on Friday and Saturday on campus with a pairs tournament set for April 11.
Wahine sweep Long Beach State in water polo
Hawaii freshman Lucia Gomez de la Puenta scored three goals and assisted on four others and the eighth-ranked Rainbow Wahine water polo team completed a series sweep of No. 16 Long Beach State with a 9-5 win on Saturday at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.
Lara Luka and Carmen Baringo added two goals each for the Rainbow Wahine (3-1, 1-1 Big West) in the nonconference match after UH claimed a 10-5 win in a Big West match on Thursday. Gabriella Matafora-Adams led LBSU (0-7, 1-1) with two goals on Saturday.
Triple play douses Wahine hopes
A triple play snuffed a Hawaii rally and UC San Diego pulled away to claim a Big West softball series win with a 4-1 victory on Saturday at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
After dropping the series opener on Friday, the Tritons won the next two to hand the Rainbow Wahine (5-6, 5-3 BWC) their first series loss of the conference season.
UCSD jumped ahead on first baseman Sherriah Harrington’s two-run home run to left field with one out in the top of the first inning. UH’s Angelique Ramos doubled with two out in the bottom of the inning and scored on Nawai Kaupe’s single into center field.
Jetta Nannen gave up just one hit and one walk over the next five innings to keep the Wahine within a run. UH loaded the bases on three singles to start the bottom of the sixth inning. But the Tritons turned Maya Nakamura’s lineout into a triple play.
The Tritons added to their lead on Kaleigh Lane’s pinch-hit two-run single with two out in the top of the seventh.
UCSD starter Robyn Wampler got the win and Kaia Simpson earned a save with a scoreless seventh. Nannen (2-3) went the distance in the loss.