Hawaii women’s volleyball star middle blocker Amber Igiede was drafted by the Omaha Supernovas with the seventh overall pick in the first round of the inaugural draft of the Professional Volleyball Federation. The newly established league held its first draft on Monday in Atlanta, Ga.
Igiede was the first of five players drafted by the Supernovas in the five-round, league-wide draft for U.S. college volleyball players.
The 2023 Big West Championship Most Valuable Player helped lead the Rainbow Wahine to their fourth straight conference title. Igiede finished second among middle blockers in the NCAA with 540 total points with 4.62 points per set. She also led the Big West with 3.79 kills per set, hit .401, and scored 516.5 points at 4.7 points per set in the regular season. Igiede has the third most kills for a middle blocker in the NCAA active records list with 1,371 kills.
Igiede and the other four draftees will join the rest of the Supernovas in January to compete for 16 final roster spots. The final two roster spots will be reserved for college draftees. Omaha will host the Atlanta Vibe in the first Pro Volleyball Federation match at the CHI Health Center on Jan. 24, 2024.
Lang receives national invite
UH women’s volleyball setter Kate Lang received an invite to the USA Volleyball Women’s National Team Open Program held on Feb. 23-25 at the U.S. Olympics & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
The Rainbow Wahine junior has led the Big West in assists per set for the past three seasons. She averaged a career-best 10.50 assists per set in 2023. Lang also became the 10th player in UH history to record over 3,000 assists. She reached 3,137 career assists after leading the league with 1,229 total assists in 2023.
The program provides collegiate volleyball players a prime training opportunity while also helping the Women’s Collegiate National Team identify future members. It also helps the U21 Women’s National team evaluate age-eligible athletes.
Chaminade ranked 13th in final poll
The Chaminade women’s volleyball team finished the best season in program history ranked No. 13 in Monday’s final AVCA/Taraflex Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll.
The Silverswords have been ranked for 13 straight weeks, breaking their previous record of 11 straight ranked weeks in 2004 and 2005. The ’Swords won a team-record 30 matches in 2023 en route to earning the NCAA Division II West Regional top seed. Chaminade fell to eventual Division II national champion Cal State Los Angeles in the regional semifinals.
