Hawaii dropped two matches with No. 2 UCLA on Saturday, with a win over No. 7 Stanford in between to place second in the Heineken Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic at Queen’s Beach in Waikiki.
The 10th-ranked Rainbow Wahine began the morning by nearly pulling off a comeback against UCLA, going to three sets in the final three matches. But the Bruins’ No. 3 flight of Jadin Whitmarsh and Devon Newberry outlasted UH’s Jaime Santer and Megan Widener 19-21, 21-15, 16-14 for the clinching point in the 3-2 win to close the round-robin portion of the event.
The BeachBows’ No. 1 flight of Brooke Van Sickle and Kaylee Glagau earned a 21-19, 15-21, 15-13 win over Lexy Denaburg and Lea Monkhouse. UH’s No. 5 flight of Amirah Ali and Lea Kruse added a 21-14, 14-21, 15-9 win over UCLA’s Pani Napoleon and Marie Monserez.
In the semifinal round, Santer and Widener bounced back to deliver the clincher in UH’s 3-2 win over Stanford. The duo closed the third set on a 6-1 run to pull out a 21-17, 17-21, 15-12 win over Stanford’s Emmy Sharp and Maya Harvey and the BeachBows avenged Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Cardinal.
“For (Santer and Widener) to turn around and be the clincher this afternoon was heroic by them and really symbolic of the turnaround,” interim UH coach Evan Silberstein said.
The BeachBows had little time to recover before facing UCLA again in the final. UCLA’s No. 2 flight of Abby Van Winkle and Rileigh Powers rallied to three-set win over UH’s Kylin Loker and Riley Wagoner 18-21, 21-17, 15-8 to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. Newberry and Whitmarsh again provided the clincher against Santer and Widener at No. 3.
UH’s No. 5 flight of Anna Maidment and Sofia Russo provided the BeachBows’ point in UCLA’s 4-1 win.
“We got better, and at this time of the season that’s why we bring great competition out here to compete in this environment,” Silberstein said. “There’s definitely some fine-tuning we need to do, but at the end of this, I think we proved we’re back among an elite category in the country, playing right down to the wire with the No. 2 team in the country and coming back (with) a big win over Stanford. … I think it shows a lot of the resolve the athletes have.”
The BeachBows (2-3) next play at the Cactus Classic on Friday and Saturday in Tucson, Ariz.
Softball
Freshman pitchers power UH to softball title
Hawaii freshmen Chloe Borges and Brianna Lopez fired shutouts while allowing just three hits in 14 innings to lead the Rainbow Wahine softball team to the Outrigger Hawaii Invitational championship.
Borges struck out nine and limited Abilene Christian to two hits in a 5-0 win in the first game of the day at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. In the tournament final, Lopez retired the first 15 batters she faced in UH’s 2-0 win over Montana. The left-hander struck out six and walked none and took a perfect game into the sixth before giving up a leadoff double.
Borges was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Pitcher and UH second baseman Maya Nakamura earned Most Valuable Player honors.
UH third baseman Rachel Sabourin provided a two-run single against Abilene Christian and Dallas Millwood’s RBI double in the fourth inning gave UH the lead against Montana. Freshman catcher Izabella Martinez delivered RBI singles in both games.
Vulcans sweep Sharks in softball twinbill
The Hawaii Hilo softball team swept its doubleheader with in-state rival Hawaii Pacific on Saturday, winning 5-2 and 5-0 at Howard Okita Field to clinch the series.
Saturday’s doubleheader also marked the PacWest opener for both teams. In the first game, the Vulcans (4-2, 2-0 PacWest) jumped out to a four-run lead after the first inning, highlighted by a two-run double from Taisha Bratton. The Sharks (6-9, 0-2) got two runs with RBI singles in the fourth and fifth innings, but were unable to catch the Vulcans.
In the second game, the Vulcans again got out of the gates quickly, scoring three runs. Bratton again had a double that brought in a run, with Arissa Lugo bringing in two more off a single. UHH would add runs in the second and seventh innings, which proved to be more than enough support for freshman pitcher Alexis Lacy, who tossed a shutout in her first career start.
Water polo
UH water polo splits against ranked teams
No. 5 Hawaii held off No. 6 Michigan, then saw a comeback fall short against No. 1 UCLA in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational on Saturday in Irvine, Calif.
UH’s Libby Gault scored three goals and Elyse Lemay-Lavoie and Alba Bonamusa Boix added two each as the Rainbow Wahine earned their second win over Michigan this season in a 10-8 victory.
The Wahine then traded goals with UCLA before the Bruins opened up leads of 8-6 after the third quarter and 11-8 with 2:54 left in the fourth quarter. UH closed to within one with goals by Olivia Kistler and Paula Prats Rodriguez, but UCLA’s Ava Johnson put the game away with 29 seconds left.
Lucia Gomez de La Puente led UH with three goals, while UCLA’s Maddie Musselman finished with five.
