Hawaii volleyball: Rasmussen BWC’s POW, Wahine No. 20, Worsley brothers named to NORCECA team

Bailey Choy (7), Hanna Hellvig (17), and the rest of the Rainbow Wahine have their first ranking of the season, No. 20. / Photo by Andrew Lee, Special to the Star-Advertiser

Sorry for the late post on Jolie Rasmussen. Was out on errands.
From the Big West

Hawaii junior hitter Jolie Rasmussen was named the Big West Player of the Week on Monday. Rasmussen led Hawaii to a 3-0 start to the season including a pair of upsets over nationally ranked opponents.
The redshirt junior transfer from Oregon had a combined total of 57 kills, 17 digs, and 13 total blocks as UH went undefeated in the first week for the first time since 2015. She put down a team-high 19 kills in each game while hitting .347 overall.
She was named the Most Valuable Player in the 31st Hawaiian Airlines Classic. The Wahine won their 12th title in their signature event, first since 2013.
+++++

Coming off a win over No. 13 Washington for the Hawaiian Airlines Classic title Sunday, Hawaii earned a No. 20 ranking in this week’s AVCA Top 25 poll.

A little surprised so low but didn’t really know what to expect. Didn’t expect Washington to only drop three.

Notables:
1. Stanford (63 votes).
2. Nebraska (1)
16. Washington drops from 13.
20. Hawaii
25. San Diego drops from 21


___
Hawaii All-American setter Joe Worsley and libero Gage Worsley were among the 14 players named to the U.S. Men’s National Team that opened pool play today in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, at the NORCECA Continental Championship.
Also named to the team is setter Micah Ma’a (Punahou).
UPDATE: U.S. swept the Dominican Republic. Ma’a, the team captain, set. J.Worsley came into serve all three sets, one ace; G. Worsley at libero Set 3.
USAV announcement click here

COMMENTS

  1. jmy September 2, 2019 8:46 am

    20 is about what I expected…thought UW should have dropped lower, though…


  2. Big Island Volleyball Fan September 2, 2019 8:46 am

    Shouldn’t Hawaii have been ranked ahead of Washington? After all, UH won decisively in four sets, not in a close five-set game that could have gone either way. I guess that AVCA is treating it like a fluke, still considering Washington a better team.


  3. Maverick September 2, 2019 9:19 am

    Quite a few of the voters appear to have submitted their ballots prior to the end of the UH-UW match because they have UW ranked very high and UH unranked. That partly accounts for the observed results mentioned above.


  4. Warrior Lifer September 2, 2019 9:19 am

    It was mentioned on the other board that the voters for the polls had cast their votes in before the start of the UH vs Washington game. That seems to be the reason that UH is at 20, but if that were true then that’d be weird how Washington dropped 3 spots despite winning their first two against a ranked USD team and St John’s.


  5. Maverick September 2, 2019 9:35 am

    4. Don’t think that source is accurate. One poll voter has UH at 11 and UW at 18. No way that happens unless he voted after last night’s match. It was a mix of votes prior to and after UH’s win last night.


  6. bg September 2, 2019 9:37 am

    @ #4
    Great point about UW dropping…perhaps not all the votes had been sent in before the UW-UH game. Just speculating, but possibly, the more easterly voters were hitting the sack while the west coast voters may have stayed up to check the UW-UH game.


  7. Sheila September 2, 2019 9:47 am

    Good for wahine that Washington still remained high at 16 in polls. Good climb from 31 to 20 after one struggling W against low ranked opponent who played their A+ game. If Wahine keeps getting refined exponentially and building confidence in coming two weeks, and passes Baylor on Sept 22, will not be surprised to be top 10 at the end of season. Coaching staff has done an excellent job!


  8. Rabbit ears September 2, 2019 10:21 am

    Great start for the wahines. Not sure where Akana fits. Was she going to start before the health issues?


  9. darkfire35 September 2, 2019 11:01 am

    The Wahine are amaaaaaaazing! They didn’t play like they had just completed two 5 set matches back to back! Jolie said in an interview in the pre-game show for UW that it was going to take everyone mentally and physically to play up to their potentials and they did it. Several other Wahine mentioned the same thing about how preparing for the game required a focused mindset.
    It’s too bad Akana & Ross weren’t able to play. From the prelims, Robyn had mentioned the possibility of starting Akana. And some of those vids had Ross on a BIC. Maybe this coming week we’ll see some action from them. I’m soooo pumped at the potential this team has not only for this year, but just imagining what the Freshmen are going to be like by the next few years!!!
    Took a look at Army’s roster and they have 5 liberos and 4 setters and only 1 middle blocker! Almost sounds like Dave Shoji’s defensive posture from years back. Cool that there will be 2 local girls coming back to play in the SSC.
    GO BOWS!!!


  10. Rodney Okita September 2, 2019 11:03 am

    Watched all the games!! Wahines are scary cause they havednt even reached the tip of the iceberg in regards to their potential!! All of the players such as Jolie/Hanna tec. deserve all off the accolades that they are given but my unsung gal is Riley! Sure she doesn’t have the numbers stats wise but she does all off the little things that are not kept as stats! For example her passing is really the thing that starts the offensive play!! Her passing ability is accurate&she will get her 5 or 6 kills a game!


  11. mauna September 2, 2019 11:16 am

    What’s up with the stats on the UH website? Numerous errors.


  12. Ashley September 2, 2019 11:22 am

    Do you they still do Big West weekly honors???


  13. vballfreak808 September 2, 2019 11:42 am

    Congrats to Jolie! Big West Player of the Week!


  14. seenya citizen September 2, 2019 11:58 am

    When I walked in the arena last night, I was hoping the Wahine could at least win one game against a Goliath of a team which always gave us grief. When they won the match, I am sure I was not the only one pinching myself and trying to believe what I just saw. The blocking was awesome and made the Huskie hitters rethink their shots. If they had passed better in set 3, they could have swept, but beggars cant be choosers.


  15. H-Man September 2, 2019 12:44 pm

    Congrats to Jolie Rasmussen, Big West’s POW. The win over the Huskies was huge. I went to the match hoping the Wahine would put up a fight. Instead, they rather dominated. Who woulda thought? Thinking back to warmups, the Husky players were really quietly watching the Wahine. They didn’t seem to have the swagger of a team that has totally owned the Wahine over the past 8 years or so.


  16. islandman September 2, 2019 12:45 pm

    11. ..For example, in the UH website Box Score for the St John’s game, Skyler does not appear in the “Individual” listing of players.
    In the Cumulative Season Stats, she is listed as playing in 2 sets, but she played in 10 sets.
    However, her number of Kills and Blocks look okay.
    ——————————————————————————
    Igiede is listed as playing in 7 sets but she played in 11.
    Jolie is listed as playing 12 but she played in 14.
    This throws off stats like Kills and Blocks per Set.


  17. blunite September 2, 2019 12:51 pm

    Making the “dance” is the goal; which we can control. The ranking is pro forma after beating 2 ranked teams, but realistically speaking the poll is biased towards the power 5 conferences. The point is moot if UH wins their conference.


  18. jm2375 September 2, 2019 1:05 pm

    Great weekend for the Wahine.

    Congrats to the Worsley brothers on their selection to the NORCECA Continental Championship roster. Gage is one of 2 current college players.


  19. Connor September 2, 2019 1:28 pm

    When is the time we had such a smart OH as Rasmussen? Bombs, dink’s, soft off the hands, great angles. Danielson Hartong? Nikki was more pure power.


  20. Warrior Dave September 2, 2019 2:44 pm

    I’m not getting upset about rankings till much later in the season. Hoping our Wahine uses this as motivation. As for Akana and Ross, hope they will bring even more talent to the court.


  21. Cindy Luis September 2, 2019 3:57 pm

    thanks all. as mentioned in main box. was out doing errands and didn’t get to Rasmussen’s honor til now.
    The new stats program is the problem. Have been told that the Big Ten is already deciding not to use it. It’s recommended by the NCAA but not mandatory.
    will see how long UH stays with it.


  22. Uncle Fester September 2, 2019 11:07 pm

    10. I agree. Wagoner is my first draft choice from the team. She could be the glue of the team. I will not, however, get ahead of the team. Just enjoy a pleasantly surprising first week. Polls are meaningless; win the conference and take it from there.


  23. islandman September 3, 2019 5:54 am

    Ryan Tsuji said polls are important, for example they put the Hawaii name out there for potential recruits.


  24. iGrokSpock September 3, 2019 8:34 am

    What a great weekend for the Wahine volleyballers! I wonder if Coach Robyn showed them the Pumba Williams video?


  25. DJ September 3, 2019 9:06 am

    Congrats Jolie on being named NPOW! Go Bows!

    https://www.avca.org/awards/players-of-the-week/sports-importsavca-division-i-women-player-of-the-week.html


  26. mauna September 3, 2019 9:32 am

    Congratulations Jolie, the AVCA player of the week!


  27. Andy September 3, 2019 9:37 am

    9. Agree with you about the Wahine’s energy. In Set 4, even though UH was in it’s 14th set in three nights, it was UW that was showing signs of being gassed – hitting long, missing assignments, even allowing a dig-kill. A testament to UH’s off-site season conditioning add opposed to players trying to play themselves into shape.


  28. Cindy Luis September 3, 2019 9:56 am

    https://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=50893
    25-26. thanks. there’s a new thread up about Rasmussen up


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