Hawaii to No. 12, Taylor three-peats, Kahakai Defensive POW

Hawaii up to 12. Surprisingly to me, Florida drops to fifth.

Wow Pacific is ranked? Can’t remember the last time they were in the polls. Good for them

Pacific is 8-1. They have matches against Stanford and Cal coming up. We’ll see how they do.

hawaii plays cal st bakersfield this week, who is 2-8. and highly likely to be 2-10 after this weekend, unless something goes horribly wrong on hawaii’s side of things. this will be ABSOLUTE KILLER on hawaii’s RPI. hawaii plays them twice too, so that poor record will be factored in twice as well.

the only saving grace would be if bakersfield goes into its WAC conference play and starts winning a lot of matches. if they have no more than 2-3 losses in conference, then they may be able to raise their win percentage to about .500. anything is better than their current win percentage. we need to be their biggest fans when they start WAC play … haha!

Congratulation to Ms. Diva “Taylor” for getting the weekly honor three weeks in a roll. Congratulation to Ms. Farrington “Savanah” for getting the weekly awards for the Big West this week. Keep up the good work girls and Lets Go Bows..

Taylor Keys Victory Over No. 2 Florida Named the Most Outstanding Player of the Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Challenge, Hawai‘i junior Nikki Taylor claimed Big West Women’s Volleyball Player of the Week honors for the third time in as many weeks. Taylor averaged 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 also hit .252 with a tournament-high 57 kills to go along with 27 digs, 16 blocks and nine service aces. The 6-3 opposite came up big in the five-set win over the second-ranked Gators. Taylor slammed a career-best 27 kills and added a season-high 17 digs in the win. She hammered the set-winning kill in set two to knot the match at a set apiece and then delivered the put away on match point. Taylor posted 11 kills and a season and game-high eight blocks in the sweep of the Aztecs. Against the Eagles, Taylor drilled a match-high 19 kills, nine of which came in the decisive fourth set, and had five stuffs at the net. She has led the Rainbow Wahine in kills in all nine matches this season. Taylor also tied her career-high three times with three service aces in each contest. Others nominated: Taylor Nelson (Cal Poly); Kyra Hill (Cal State Fullerton); Nele Barber (Long Beach State); Kaylin Squyres (UC Davis)

Kahakai Helps Spur Upset Of No. 2 Florida The leader in digs in three Hawai‘i victories, sophomore Savanah Kahakai (Kalihi, O’ahu, Hawai‘i/Farrington HS) collected Big West Women’s Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week honors. The libero/defensive specialist registered double-digit digs against San Diego State, No. 2 Florida and Eastern Washington. Her best effort came when it was needed most – Kahakai notched a career-high 19 digs in Hawaii’s five-set takedown of the Gators. Kahakai led UH in digs in all three matches, totaling 42 over the three matches at the Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Challenge. She had 13 digs against the Aztecs and 10 versus the Eagles. She also contributed in other ways, chipping in with eight assists and a service ace against Florida. Others nominated: Katherine Brouker (Cal Poly); Maddie Hubbell (UC Riverside); Phoebe Grunt (UC Santa Barbara) – See more at: http://www.bigwest.org//story.asp?story_id=18602#sthash.maSq7H2q.dpuf

Congrats to Nikki and Savannah!

Congratulations to Savannah and Nikki! Aloha Ron, missed you and the fruit platter at the potluck which took place after the EWU match. Kendra sat at our table, such a great kid with a easy going personality.

huge congrats to both amazing ladies!

22 Thanks for the link, Cindy. I gave the wrong impression with my wordings, I meant two local players from Hawaii born and raised.

Oh, and I forgot to congratulate Nikki Taylor for making Big West Player of the Week three times in a row. She should also make national player of the week tomorrow as well with such great stats and also helping UH to upset Florida. That was huge!

I hope Huff gets a lot of playing time this weekend. We really need to have more offensive weapons other than Magill and Taylor. Should Nikki ever get sick/injured/have an off night, there could go the season. Tai is too streaky, at this point. Maybe Mitchem or Maglio will begin to get more confidence and get more aggresive at the net. Florida had problems with ball control, but they could score seemingly from all positions anytime they had a halfway decent pass. We can’t have our offense so reliant on one or two players.

29. I agree. Also Sac State’s gym is 60 years old and seats barely a thousand fans. Even by Big West standards that’s tiny. They drew 731 fans per game for men’s basketball last season, and are averaging only 220 per match so far this year for their 10-1 women’s volleyball team. I think they need to build a real arena and put some people in it to be considered for Big West membership.

i actually wish UH would join the WCC. Pacific, Santa Clara, st Mary’s etc all decent schools

Despite the great win, Taylors stats aren’t nearly AVCA POW worth IMO. She’s playing like a first team AA though.

I don’t know if this the answer, but the Pac-12 only has affiliate members in wrestling (3 – Boise St, Cal Poly & Cal St Bakersfield) and one for men’s soccer (San Diego St.). There used to be 6 other affiliates in wrestling, but they departed over the years since 1990. Two schools were also affiliated in swimming & diving, but they departed in the 2014-15 season. I would venture a guess that the Pac-12 is not looking to expand their Women’s Volleyball beyond their full members. All twelve member schools field Women’s Volleyball teams. A bit of tidbit – Did you know that Idaho joined the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) in 1922, along with USC? In 1924 Montana and UCLA in 1928 Montana joined the PCC to bring membership to ten teams. The PCC disbanded in 1959 due to a “pay-for-play” scandal. But prior to 1959 four schools, Cal, UCLA, USC and Washington, got together in 1958 to form a new conference. Stanford joined a month later. The conference became known as the Big 5. It became the Big 6 after Washington State joined in 1962 and then the Pacific 8 (Pac-8) when Oregon and Oregon State joined in 1964. It became the Pacific 10 or Pac-10 when Arizona and Arizona State joined in 1978.

Now that was enlightning H-Man. Mahalo for the effort.

Congrats to Taylor and Kahakai. Kahakai’s award was a surprise.

41. Not to burst your bubble, but UH ranked #7 in the nation last year in blocks per set.

Congrats to Nikki and Savanah!!!

not all the tallest players are playing. We often have 6-1 Magill, TMO and Higgins in the front row. That has to be the shortest front row in the conference.

Congratulations to both girls.. Glad to see that they recognize the libero, it goes to show that in order to get an offense going you need a pass/dig… Good job to the whole team on a job well done…

Congrats to Savannah Kahakai on the award! She is looking like the player that we saw in the Spring Exhibition Match with Texas where I believe she had 25 digs and received high praises even from Texas Coaches. Go Savannah!