SPRINGVILLE, Utah — The University of Hawaii women’s golf team captured its first tournament title in 19 years by winning the Hobble Creek Fall Classic on Tuesday at the Hobble Creek Golf Course. The tournament was shortened to 36 holes
SPRINGVILLE, Utah — The University of Hawaii women’s golf team captured its first tournament title in 19 years by winning the Hobble Creek Fall Classic on Tuesday at the Hobble Creek Golf Course. The tournament was shortened to 36 holes after rain and lightning forced play to be halted.
The Rainbow Wahine won for the first time since capturing the 1996 Lady Bronc Classic. Junior Eimi Koga took home medalist honors in her first tournament as a Rainbow Wahine after transferring from Washington. Koga finished the tourney at 1-under 141 (70-71) while junior Raquel Ek tied for second at 1-over 143 (73-70).
Play was suspended on Monday while the golfers were in the middle of their second rounds. The teams were able to finish their round Tuesday morning before rain washed out the third and final round.
UH shot 583, eight shots better than defending tourney champion New Mexico State (591). Fellow Big West member Cal Poly placed third (598) followed by Santa Clara (602), Cal State Northridge (604), Weber State (606), Northern Arizona (611), Grand Canyon (613), Montana State (614), and Eastern Washington (616) to round out the Top 10.
“The girls are really happy, but I’m especially thrilled because they played really well,” head coach Lori Castillo said. “Eimi played solid the past two days. She’s been solid in practices leading up to the tournament. I’m really proud of Daezsa (Tomas). She’s playing well and her short-game was right on. Izzy (Leung) was hitting the ball well. Raquel’s play was very consistent, other than a couple hiccups, she was pretty flawless.”
Tomas, a Kauai High School alumna, finished seventh on the individual leaderboard with a total score of 147 (75-72), or 5 over par.
Rainbow Wahine volleyball’s Taylor given Player of the Week honors
LEXINGTON, Ky. — University of Hawaii women’s volleyball player Nikki Taylor (Honolulu, Oahu/Kaiser HS) was named Sports Impact/AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) National Player of the Week on Tuesday. The junior opposite helped to lead the Rainbow Wahine to a thrilling five-set upset of then No. 2 Florida while sweeping their three matches this past week in the Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Challenge at the Stan Sheriff Center.
It marks just the eighth time in program history that a player from Hawaii has garnered AVCA’s Player of the Week honors and she is the sixth different Rainbow Wahine to earn the accolade.
“This award is very humbling. God has presented our team and I with great opportunities and He gave me strength to take advantage of them,” Taylor said. “Volleyball is a sport where one player can’t win a game by themselves and that showed in our games this weekend. Everyone contributed and because of that I’m very excited to see how the rest of the season plays out.”
“This is a very prestigious award for Nikki who has worked very hard on her game this year,” said head coach Dave Shoji. “It also helps bring some attention to our win against a very good Florida team as well as our good start to the season.”
Earlier this week, Taylor became the first Rainbow Wahine to ever be voted conference Player of the Week for three consecutive weeks. She is only the third player in Big West history to accomplish the feat along with Pacific’s Dominique Benton-Bozman in 1995 and Long Beach State’s Antoinnette White in 1991. Taylor was also voted the Most Outstanding Player of the Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Challenge after averaging 4.75 kills, 2.25 digs, 1.33 blocks and 0.75 service aces per set to help the Rainbow Wahine take down San Diego State, No. 2 Florida and Eastern Washington for the tournament title. She hit .252 over the three matches while also recording 27 digs, 16 blocks and nine service aces.
Rainbow Warriors to host UC Davis at Aloha Stadium
HONOLULU — The University of Hawaii (1-1) football team returns to action back in the friendly confines of Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium on Saturday with a non-conference contest against Football Championship Subdivision foe UC Davis. The game will be televised locally and statewide on Oceanic Cable (Digital Ch. 255 and HD Ch. 1255) and Hawaiian Telcom (Ch. 969) Pay-Per-View.
The Rainbow Warriors will meet an FCS opponent for the second consecutive year, after defeating Northern Iowa at home in 2014, 27-24, topping their ninth-straight FCS opponent.
UH will face an opponent from the Big Sky Conference for the first time since playing the first series game against UC Davis in 2011. Defeating the Aggies 56-14 at Aloha Stadium, quarterback Bryant Moniz led the effort, tying an NCAA record with seven touchdown passes, while also setting a UH record on 424 first-half passing yards. The ‘Bows would go on to rack up 637 yards of total offense — with over 500 by air, scoring on their first seven possessions to build a 49-0 halftime lead. Meanwhile, the UH defense held UCD below 200 yards of total offense, blanking the Aggies in the first half. UH picked off one pass and collected two fumble recoveries to aid in the effort.
The ’Bows are 11-2 against opponents from the Big Sky.
UH and UC Davis (0-2) have only met the one occasion in the series.
The Rainbow Warriors are coming off a shutout loss at defending College Playoff Champion and current No. 1 Ohio State, 38-0.
