University of Hawaii senior Brooke Van Sickle was among four players with Hawaii ties named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s all-region teams on Tuesday.
Van Sickle made the AVCA All-Pacific North Region team and Rainbow Wahine teammate Amber Igiede was an honorable mention selection after helping lead UH (22-8) to the Big West title.
Van Sickle was named the Big West Player of the Year last week after leading the conference with 4.47 points per set. She led the Wahine and finished second in the conference with 3.73 kills per set and tied for second in the Big West with 0.37 aces per set (38 total). She was also second on the team in digs (324) and third in blocks (63). Van Sickle is the lone player outside of the Pac-12 named to the 14-player all-region team.
Igiede, a sophomore, hit a team-high .386 and led the Wahine with 131 total blocks, including 23 solo, and was named honorable mention for a second straight year.
Stanford libero Elena Oglivie, an ‘Iolani graduate, was also named to the All-Pacific North team. Oglivie led the Cardinal and ranked third in the Pac-12 with 4.38 digs per set.
Texas setter Jhenna Gabriel made the All-Southwest Region team. The Maryknoll graduate averages 9.54 assists per set for a Longhorns attack that leads the nation with a .347 hitting percentage. Texas, the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, faces No. 15 seed Washington in a regional semifinal match on Thursday in Austin, Texas.
Brown to retire as UH diving coach
Mike Brown will retire at the end of the year after 22 years as coach of the University of Hawaii diving teams, the school announced Tuesday.
Brown coached two national champions at UH and served as co-coach along with his wife, Anita Rossing. Since 2000, Brown has won 23 conference coach of the year awards (16 women’s awards and seven with the men’s team) spanning UH’s membership in three leagues.
“Considering a lot of factors including my health, I definitely feel that now is the best time for me to step down from coaching and retire,” Brown said in a release. “I hate to leave the UH Diving team right now because Anita Rossing and I have recruited and developed an outstanding team of divers, and I have always wanted to finish what I have started. But the maturity and talent of the current divers could allow them to flourish in the current atmosphere.”
Brown is the second-longest-tenured coach in the UH athletic department, trailing only sailing coach Andy Johnson. He coached QiongJie Huang to the 1-meter springboard national championship in 2005. Emma Friesen won the 1-meter title in 2008.
Brown has spent 40 years in coaching and was a part of 14 national championship teams and a three-time National Diving Coach of the Year at Texas prior to moving to Hawaii. He was inducted into the Hawaii Swimming Hall of Fame in 2015.