LIHU‘E — The No. 10/11 University of Hawai‘i softball team (11-1) swept Tuesday’s doubleheader at UC Riverside (3-8), 2-0 and 9-1 in six innings. Pitchers Stephanie Ricketts and Kaia Parnaby both fired one-hitters against the Highlanders at the Amy S.
LIHU‘E — The No. 10/11 University of Hawai‘i softball team (11-1) swept Tuesday’s doubleheader at UC Riverside (3-8), 2-0 and 9-1 in six innings. Pitchers Stephanie Ricketts and Kaia Parnaby both fired one-hitters against the Highlanders at the Amy S. Harrison Field, states a release from the UH athletic department.
Hawai‘i 2, UC Riverside 0
Ricketts (6-1) fired a one-hit, shutout and earned her sixth complete game win of the season. She took a no-hitter through the first 5.2 innings and faced just two batters over the minimum (23) with six strikeouts and two walks.
The Rainbow Wahine started the game with back-to-back singles by Kelly Majam and Jessica Iwata. Melissa Gonzalez then hit into a fielder’s choice to short, but the flip to second was wild and trickled into the outfield allowing Majam to hustle home for the early 1-0 lead.
Hawai‘i added a run in the top of the fifth when Iwata stole second base, but the catcher tried to pick off Majam at third on the play. The throw ricocheted and rolled towards the third base fence, allowing Majam to sprint home for her second run of the game.
Jordyn McDonald suffered the loss, dropping her record to 1-3. McDonald threw 7.0 innings, scattered eight hits and allowed two runs with no walks and seven strikeouts.
Hawai‘i 9, UC Riverside 1
(6 innings)
Parnaby (4-0) fired a six-inning one-hitter against UCR in the second game. She took a no-hitter through 3.2 innings and retired the last seven batters in a row. Parnaby struck out eight while walking two.
The ‘Bows jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Majam led off with a walk and moved to third on an Iwata double with one out. Gonzalez then knocked both runs in with a single to left-center.
Hawai‘i erupted for four runs in the top of the third. Iwata launched a one-out, solo home run to center field, her seventh homer of UH’s roadtrip.
Sharla Kliebenstein later launched a two-run home run over the left-center field fence to push UH’s lead to 6-0 heading to the bottom of the third.
Leading 6-1, The ‘Bows tacked on two more runs in the fifth. Gonzalez and Kliebenstein started the inning with two singles to short. A fielding error by the shortstop loaded the bases for Sarah Robinson who drove in pinch runner, Tara Anguiano with a grounder to short. On the play the shortstop flipped to third to force out Kliebenstein. Jocelyn Enrique hit a hard grounder to short for an RBI single to drive in pinch runner Brynne Buchanan to give UH an 8-1 lead.
UC Riverside’s Casey Suda went the distance in the loss. She drops to 0-1 this season after giving up nine runs on 13 hits with two walks and no strikeouts.
The Rainbow Wahine now head down to the Palm Springs area to play in the Cathedral City Classic, Thursday through Saturday, where the ‘Bows will face No. 6/6 Oklahoma, No. 18/22 Nebraska, Syracuse and Virginia.
Men’s volleyball topped
by UC Irvine in 4 sets
LIHU‘E — Despite explosive performances by its outside hitters, the University of Hawai‘i men’s volleyball team surrendered late leads in a four-set loss to UC Irvine, Tuesday, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at the Bren Events Center. Set scores were 27-25, 20-25, 25-23, 28-26.
One night earlier it was the Anteaters (10-8, 7-5 MPSF) whose big three outside hitters combined for 57 kills on .434 hitting in a four-set win. But on Tuesday, UH’s Jonas Umlauft (25 kills), Steven Hunt (16), and Joshua Walker (14) combined for 55 of the team’s 64 kills and hit an amazing .511 with only seven errors in 94 swings.
However, the Warriors (6-9, 4-6) blew leads in all three sets they lost. In Set 1, UH led 24-22 and lost the lead after UCI’s Jeremy Dejno served consecutive aces which propelled the Anteaters to a 27-25 victory.
After tying the match with a Set 2 victory, the Warriors jumped all over UCI in the third set, leading 22-15. However, the Anteaters rallied with Anthony Spittle at the service line bringing UCI to within 22-21. Umlauft’s kill ended the 6-0 run but the Anteaters finished the set with four straight points with Jordan DuFault at the service line.
Hawai‘i again surrendered a late lead in Set 4. After an Umlauft kill gave UH a 21-17 lead, the Anteaters tied it with a four-point run. A Walker block and Umlauft kill gave UH set points at 24-22 but UCI tied it with an ace by DuFault. Cory Yoder got hot late with three straight kills to end it.
Umlauft finished with a match-high 25 kills, with only two errors in 40 attempts for a .575 hitting percentage. Hunt slammed 16 kills with three errors in 25 attempts while Walker had 14 kills and two errors in 29 attempts.
As a team, UH hit .470 compared to .347 for UCI. The Warriors also out-blocked the Anteaters, 12-3.5. After committing 20 errors at the service line Monday, UCI corrected that problem posting 13 aces and only 10 errors on Tuesday.
Carson Clark led the Anteaters with 20 kills. DuFault and Kevin Carroll each had four aces while Dejno and Scott Kevorken had two a piece.
The Warriors return to Honolulu for a pair of MPSF series with Pepperdine (March 4-5) and Pacific (March 11-12).
Men’s tennis notches
first win of season
LIHU‘E — The No. 43 University of Hawai‘i men’s tennis team picked up its first win of the spring season with a 5-2 decision over San Diego State, Tuesday afternoon at the Aztec Tennis Center. The Rainbow Warriors improved to 1-3 on the year.
After losing its first three matches against highly-ranked opponents, the Rainbow Warriors finally broke through with a road win over the No. 54 Aztecs (1-7). UH dropped the doubles point, but powered past SDSU in singles play with wins on five of six courts.
Senior Dennis Lajola proved dominant at the No. 1 court, taking down Giovanni Vaglietti by a convincing 6-1, 6-0 score. Jeremy Tweedt also won in straight sets at the No. 3 court, while Leo Rosenberg (No. 2), Jonathan Brooklyn (No. 4) and Danilo Casanova (No. 5) outlasted their opponents in three sets apiece.
Next up for UH is a match at No. 42 San Diego on Thursda. First serve is at 1:30 p.m. PT (11:30 a.m. HT).
Game stories provided by UH athletic department.
