• Wahine seeded third at NCAA’s • Hawaii 70, California 68 • UAB agrees to play in Hawaii Bowl Wahine seeded third at NCAA’s HONOLULU — The University of Hawaii will open play at the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament on
• Wahine seeded third at NCAA’s
• Hawaii 70, California 68
• UAB agrees to play in Hawaii Bowl
Wahine seeded third at NCAA’s
HONOLULU — The University of Hawaii will open play at the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament on the road Thursday.
The Rainbow Wahine, ranked first in USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Coaches Poll, will face unranked Colorado in Fort Collins, Colo., the NCAA announced Sunday.
The Rainbow Wahine are seeded third in this year’s tournament. Second-ranked Nebraska is the top seed, fourth-ranked Penn State is seeded second and fifth-ranked Minnesota is seeded fourth.
Hawaii is 28-0, while Colorado is 14-13. UH has won the tournament three times — in 1982, ’83 and ’87.
The top four seeds have been assigned to separate regionals. Hawaii is in the Green Bay, Wisconsin, Regional.
The Rainbow Wahine earned a berth in the national tournament by winning the Western Athletic Conference Tournament. Fellow WAC members Rice and Nevada received at-large bids.
Team pairings were determined by geographical proximity, with the exception that teams from the same conference aren’t paired during the first and second rounds, the NCAA said.
Hawaii 70, California 68
HONOLULU — Hawaii took a double-digit lead into the second half and then held on to edge California 70-68 for seventh place at the Rainbow Wahine Classic on Sunday.
It was the first victory of the season for the Rainbow Wahine (1-2), as well as for their new head coach, Jim Bolla.
The Golden Bears (1-3) managed to tie the score at 62-62 on a basket by Leigh Gregory with 3:36 left in the game. But Jade Abele hit a 3-point shot on Hawaii’s next possession to help quash California’s comeback bid.
Hawaii took the lead five minutes into the game, and never trailed the rest of the way. The Rainbow Wahine broke open the game in the first half by scoring 17 unanswered points to take a 15-point lead, 26-11. The UH defense frustrated Cal into 10 turnovers in the first 12 minutes of the game, while holding the Bears scoreless for nearly eight minutes.
UAB agrees to play in Hawaii Bowl
HONOLULU — Alabama-Birmingham has accepted an invitation to play in the Dec. 24 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, ESPN and bowl officials announced Sunday.
It will be the team’s first-ever trip to a postseason bowl. The announcement came after UAB’s 26-21 loss to Southern Mississippi on Saturday.
The Blazers (7-4, 5-3 in Conference USA), will meet an opponent still to be determined. The opponent will be Hawaii if the Rainbow Warriors beat Michigan State next Saturday night in a nationally televised game. Hawaii (6-5) kept its bowl hopes alive with a 49-41 victory over Northwestern on Saturday.
UAB began intercollegiate play in 1991, and has played at the Division I-A level only since 1996.
The Blazers’ offense has averaged more than 30 points per game this season. Junior quarterback Darrell Hackney has thrown for 2,653 yards, hitting 166 of 304 passes with 24 touchdowns and only seven interceptions.
The Hawaii Bowl game is scheduled for 7 p.m., EST, Christmas Eve, and will be telecast by ESPN from Aloha Stadium.
