The Air Force Academy will receive a Christmas Day invitation from Aloha Bowl officials tonight, contingent on the Falcons beating the Rice Owls this morning. Air Force a near lock
By Paul Arnett, Star-Bulletin
for Aloha Bowl berthWestern Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson confirmed last night that Air Force is headed to Hawaii and Wyoming will play in the Las Vegas Bowl.
"We feel like Air Force is a good fit for the Christmas Day doubleheader," Benson said. "We're happy a ranked Air Force team is spending the holidays in Hawaii."
Jeep Aloha Bowl officials didn't want to comment last night in case Air Force was upset by Rice. But they have said for the past month that a ranked Air Force team would be a welcome addition to the doubleheader.
The top four Pac-10 teams vying for two of the open spots are Southern California, Oregon, Washington and California. There are so many "ifs and buts" in the formula, bowl officials don't even want to speculate which two teams will make the trip.
A fourth team could come from the Big East or the Big 12. Local bowl officials would love to have Miami of Florida, but concede that's unlikely. They also are looking at Colorado and Nebraska from the Big 12.
ABC-TV is broadcasting the first game and would prefer an East-West matchup. It's likely Air Force will be in the second game, which will be televised on ESPN-TV, but nothing is final.
Should Air Force stumble, Aloha Bowl officials would take a look at Brigham Young University before making the announcement tonight.
Brigham Young-Hawaii, the nation's top-ranked NCAA Division II women's volleyball team, and No. 3 Hawaii Pacific tangle tonight at Bakersfield, Calif., for a berth in the national championship tournament at Kissimmee, Fla. BYUH, HPU meet again
No one except BYUH has been able to beat the Sea Warriors this season -- but the Seasiders have done it five times in as many meetings.
"Hopefully, the sixth time will be a charm," said HPU coach Tita Ahuna, whose 27-5 team almost missed a last shot at the Seasiders in the Pacific Regional, dropping the first two games of its Pacific Regional semifinal match against host Cal State Bakersfield last night.
But Debbie Sant'Anna, who had a match-high 20 kills, led the Sea Warriors back to a 12-15, 7-15, 15-12, 15-1, 15-7 victory.
BYUH (28-1) had no such trouble, advancing with a 15-2, 15-12, 15-9 victory over UC Riverside as Vanessa Valansi and Andrea Gomez each put down 11 kills.
Brandan Kop, the Manoa Cup and Hawaii State Match Play champion, will head the 12-man amateur team for the Gov. John Burns Challenge Cup between the state's top amateur and professional golfers Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at the Koolau Golf Club. Burns Challenge set
Kop will be joined by Damien Jamila, winner of the Hawaii State Amateur; Jim Seki, William Coelho, Chad Burrows, Jonathan Ota, John Lundgren, Larry Stubblefield, Del-Marc Fujita, Mark Chun, Regan Lee and Phil Anamizu.
The pros are Lance Suzuki, Henry Sieradzki, Greg Meyer, Johnny Rieger, Andrew Feldman, Michael Castillo, Beau Yokomoto, Ed Tischler, Jay Shannon, Kevin Ralbovsky, Dean Prince and Tommy Hines.
The amateurs won, 12-1/2 to 11-1/2 last year. The pros still lead the annual competition, 14-9, with one tie.
QB CLUB LINEUP: Hawaii Pacific athletic director and basketball coach Tony Sellitto, Hawaii basketball coach Riley Wallace and UH football coach Fred vonAppen will speak at Monday's luncheon meeting of the Honolulu Quarterback Club at the Pagoda Hotel.
Lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m., the program at noon. The public is invited.