Taylor takes top honor | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Nikki Taylor went up for a kill against Oregon State University on Sunday. The Wahine swept the Beavers 3-0 on the third day of the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational.

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Hawaii enjoyed its first day off in a week with a new honor and a new ranking.

Rainbow Wahine junior Nikki Taylor earned the first Big West Player of the Week award of the season after helping Hawaii open the season with three victories. The Kaiser High product had a tournament-best 52 kills as the Wahine won the Chevron Invitational for the ninth time in the 11-year history of the event.

Taylor finished with a combined 27 digs and a team-high 15 blocks in the victories over Idaho, Wichita State and Oregon State. It was the first overall weekly honor of her career; she was named the Defensive Player of the Week once last season.

Also on Monday, the Rainbow Wahine (3-0) moved one spot up in the AVCA Coaches Top 25, the first poll of Division I volleyball’s regular season. Helped by its first 3-0 start since 2012, Hawaii was ranked No. 17.

The Rainbow Wahine were preseason No. 18, the lowest ranking in the program’s history prior to the start of play. The poll began in 1982 and Hawaii has been ranked in 469 of the 480 weeks, behind only Nebraska and Stanford, the only programs to be ranked every week.

Hawaii hosts the Hawaiian Airlines Classic, running Friday through Sunday. In the field are No. 25 UCLA, American and Iowa.

The Bruins (1-1) dropped five spots from their preseason ranking after being swept by Loyola Marymount over the weekend.

The top five remained the same, led by No. 1 Penn State (3-0) with 54 first-place votes. The Nittany Lions are followed by Stanford (2-0, 8 votes), Texas (3-0, 1), Florida (2-0) and Nebraska (3-0, 1).

Making the biggest move was USC (3-0), jumping from 22nd to No. 8 after wins over then-No. 7 North Carolina and then-No. 11 BYU.

Two of Hawaii’s opponents over the weekend continued to receive votes: Wichita State (12) and Oregon State (4). Fellow Big West member Long Beach State (2-1) remained one spot outside the poll with 79 points.