Hawaii Grown: College Athletics
Al Chase
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Narkon, Waialae, Watson honored
Liz Narkon (St. Francis '02), a senior outside hitter for the Western New Mexico Mustangs, has been named to the NCAA Division II All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference first team.
Dara Waialae (Kalani '05), a sophomore setter for the Mesa State Mavericks, and Meghan Watson (Kalaheo '03) a senior opposite/defensive specialist for Western New Mexico, were third-team selections.
Narkon was second on the team with 353 kills (3.10 a game), dug 280 balls and had 44 blocks (8 solo, 36 assisted).
Melanie Tang (Maryknoll '02), a senior setter/defensive specialist was second in digs (404) and aces (31) for the 26-7 Mustangs.
Watson put down 283 kills (2.44 a game) and was third in digs (369).
Freshman Jennifer Perry (St. Francis '06) had 191 assists as the Mustangs' backup setter and contributed 29 digs.
Mesa State advanced to the championship match of the Southwest Regional, but lost to West Texas A&M 27-30, 30-26, 30-19, 22-30, 15-7.
Waialae led the Mavericks in two categories with 1,301 assists (10.92 a game) and 35 aces. She also had 282 digs in 119 games.
Lauren Powley (Seabury Hall '03) was second in kills for Mesa State with 221 (2.07 a game). The senior middle blocker also was second in total blocks with 91 (24 solo, 67 assisted).
Jessica Bird (Kamehameha '05), a sophomore middle blocker, led the Mavericks with 93 blocked shots (23 solo, 70 assisted) and had 243 kills (1.98 a game).
In other volleyball news:
» Megan Burton (Iolani '06) completed her first collegiate season for the St. Mary's Gaels by being named to the West Coast Conference freshman team. The 6-foot-2 middle blocker started 19 of 25 matches for the 11-14 Gaels. She had 115 kills, was fourth on the team with 93 blocks (17 solo, 76 assisted), served 15 aces and had 28 digs.
She will be joined in the fall by former Iolani teammate, setter Kapua Kamana'o, who signed a letter of intent with St. Mary's.
» Kelli Grobe (Iolani), a 5-foot-11 sophomore outside hitter, played in 34 of Princeton's 84 games. She had 48 kills, nine assists, 12 digs and 14 blocks for the 21-3 Tigers.
» Chelsea Ching (Iolani) saw action in 43 of Azusa Pacific's 130 games. The freshman middle blocker had 25 kills, 21 digs and six blocks for the 22-13 Cougars who finished the season No. 11 in the NAIA rankings.
» Kristin Koochi (Iolani '03) played in 113 matches (355 games) during her four-year career with the Nevada-Las Vegas women's volleyball team. The senior libero had her best season digging this past fall with 173 of her career total of 570.
Koochi, who is majoring in kinesiology, was second on the team with 393 assists, helping the Rebels compile a 20-10 record, the second most victories in the program's history.
» Leigh Sumida (Iolani '06), a freshman defensive specialist, had 65 digs, 12 aces and three kills in 38 games for the 16-7 Puget Sound Loggers, who finished third in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference.
» Noel Pahio (Christian Academy '03) played in 101 of the Trinity Christian College (Palos Heights, Ill.) Trolls' 121 games. The junior defensive specialist dug 198 balls and contributed 28 aces for the 9-26 Trolls.
» Morgen Sullivan (Mid-Pacific '06), a freshman middle blocker for the Colorado School of Mines, played in 33 of 105 games for the Orediggers. She had 33 kills, 16 assists, 44 digs and 14 blocks.
MPSF rosters dotted with isle players
Scot Kane (Kamehameha '06) is redshirting this season at Pacific. He is listed at libero and "his defense is good and his passing is improving daily," UOP coach Joe Wortmann said. "He's a very coachable student-athlete, is very respectful and is a pleasure to have on the team.
» Also redshirting this season is Kory Matsukado, a freshman libero for Long Beach State. He played three years for Kamehameha before transferring to Rancho Bernardo (Calif.) High for his senior season.
» Freshman hitter Will Ehrman (Punahou '06) leads UC San Diego in kills (3.91 kpg) and aces (4). He had a career-high 22 kills in the Tritons' upset of USC last week and nine kills and seven digs in UCSD's sweep of Hope International earlier this week, the first time since 2004 that the Tritons have won two in a row.
Redshirting for UCSD is freshman opposite Matt Brown (Punahou '06).
» Sophomore libero Brent Asuka (Iolani '05), the national newcomer of the year last season, is leading top-ranked UC Irvine in digs (2.18).
» Junior hitter Isaac Kneubuhl (Kamehameha '03) is one of just two players at Cal State Northridge to start every match and play every game this season. He leads the Matadors in kills (84) and reception percentage (.957), is third in kill average (3.11 kpg) and digs (1.15 dpg) and shares team-high honors in aces (5).
» Freshman setter Kawika Shoji (Iolani '06) is averaging 10.30 assists for Stanford. He also had a solo block in a 0-3 loss last week to BYU.
» Senior hitter Jon Grobe (Iolani '02) has started all five matches for Pepperdine, and had 10 kills and 13 digs in the 3-2 win at UCLA Wednesday. He leads the Waves in digs and is third in kills.
Sophomore hitter Eric Liebert (Punahou '04) has played in two games with no statistics.
Others are making marks at NAIA schools:
» Junior hitter Corey Spence (Seabury Hall '04) is averaging 1.5 kills for Cal Baptist, the top-ranked team in the NAIA. He is also second on the team in digs (21).
» Freshman defensive specialist Micah Tokuda (Hawaii Baptist '05) played in just one match for the Lancers, serving twice.
» Half of the Missouri Valley College 12-player roster is from Hawaii. Leading the Vikings are junior hitter Adam Tuifagu (Kamehameha '04), senior libero Justin Himori (Mililani '03) and senior setter Christopher Kaneko (Pearl City '03).
Others on the varsity team for the NAIA power are sophomore hitter/libero Jarrett Fujita (Saint Louis '05), sophomore hitter Kepono Marquez (Kohala '05) and senior opposite Kapena Wong (Pearl City '03).
On the junior varsity are sophomore libero Blake Gutierres (Kohala '05), junior setter Drew Fernandez (Kohala '04), sophomore opposite Austin Zavala (Moanalua '05) and freshman middle Arthur Fanene (Waipahu '06).
» Graceland University, a MAMVIC rival of Missouri Valley, also rivals the Vikings with the number of Hawaii products (6) on its roster.
The Yellowjackets' starting setter for the third consecutive year is junior Ainoa Miyashiro (Kamehameha '04). Also returning are senior hitters Clint Torres (Leilehua '02) and Al Dupont (Pearl City '02).
Also on the roster for the Lemoni, Iowa, school are junior defensive specialist Ian Woodward (Maryknoll '03), sophomore hitter Ronson Olaso (Kamehameha '05) and freshman defensive specialist Noah Casaquit (Moanalua).