Sky Williams gets Big West honor for No. 18 University of Hawaii Wahine volleyball

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Sky Williams

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Two-for-two. Six-for-six.

No. 18 Hawaii is as perfect with weekly honors and match results as its junior middle Sky Williams was against Sacramento State.

The Rainbow Wahine (6-0) had a second player earn a Big West volleyball award in as many weeks with Williams named the conference Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. The Bellflower, Calif., native was 9-for-9 in kills against the Hornets on Friday, part of her 32-kill output in last week’s Heineken Invitational.

Williams had a career-high 13 kills against Army and was in on 12 blocks over three matches as Hawaii improved to 6-0 for the first time since 2004. She hit .481 en route to the tournament’s Most Valuable Player honor and is second in the Big West in hitting percentage (.425) behind teammate Tiffany Westerberg (.471), a freshman middle.

Williams was nominated for the Player of the Week, an award that went to Wahine junior Jolie Rasmussen last week. UC Santa Barbara’s Lindsey Ruddins won her 10th career Player of the Week award on Monday, tying her with former Wahine All-American Nikki Taylor. Ruddins is one away from tying record holder Kylie Atherstone of Cal Poly.

Also on Monday, the Wahine moved up two spots in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25. Hawaii is one of 10 undefeated teams in the rankings.

Defending national champion Stanford (4-0) received all 64 first-place votes in staying No. 1. Nebraska (4-0), which survived a five-set scare from San Diego over the weekend, stayed at No. 2, followed by Texas (3-1).

The biggest jump was made by Baylor (5-0), which hosts Hawaii next week. The Bears stunned then-No. 4 Wisconsin in four on Friday, then swept then-No. 11 Marquette to move from No. 17 to No. 5.

Washington (4-1), which lost to Hawaii on Sept. 1, moved up four places to No. 12 after its 3-2 win over former No. 5 Illinois (2-2). The Fighting Illini fell to No. 14.

The only other Top 25 team currently on Hawaii’s schedule is Missouri (4-0), which the Wahine will play at next week’s Baylor Invitational. The Tigers, unranked last week, were at No. 21 Monday after going 3-0 in the Dayton Invitational, including a sweep of then-No. 14 Michigan.

Hawaii hosts the Outrigger Resorts Challenge beginning Thursday, playing West Virginia (4-2) in the second match. The 4:45 p.m. opener has UCLA (3-2) against Utah Valley (2-5). The Wahine face the Wolverines on Friday and the Bruins on Saturday. Hawaii’s annual rivalry with UCLA came to an end last year when Hurricane Lane forced the Bruins to cancel their trip. The schools had met every year since the Hawaii program’s inception in 1974.