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Hawaii Beat

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Wednesday, August 16, 2000

Aiea Junior Little
Leaguers win opener

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Star-Bulletin staff

Harrison Kuroda pitched a four-hitter and Aiea, held to just two hits, drew 10 walks on the way to a 6-0 victory over Guam in the first round of the Junior Little League World Series for 13- and 14-year-olds at Taylor, Mich., yesterday.

Tonight, the Hawaii team takes on Baxter Springs, Kan., a 9-2 first-round winner over Ramstein, Germany.

By Pierre Tostee, Special to the Star-Bulletin
Andy Irons of Kauai scores points with a floater on a
wave during his heat yesterday at the TC Lacanau
Pro at Grand Plage in France.

Garcia, Irons advance

Ratings leader Sunny Garcia of Hawaii began his European leg of surfing's World Championship Tour campaign by defeating Damien Hobgood of the USA and wildcard entrant Pablo Gutierrez of Spain in round one of the TC Lacanau (France) Pro meet yesterday in clean, 4-foot conditions at Grand Plage.

Garcia, 30, has led the way on the pro tour since winning the opening two events.

He extended his lead further with a second- place finish in last months' WCT event at Huntington Beach, Calif. He also won the 6-Star World Qualifying Series tournament the following week at Huntington.

Hawaii's Andy Irons had the highest single score of the opening round, 9.25 out of a possible 10 points.

Reigning world champion Mark Occhilupo placed second to fellow Australian Luke Hitchings yesterday, with Hawaii's Conan Hayes third.

BYUH, HPU ranked 1-2

The Brigham Young University at Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific University women's volleyball teams are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 preseason poll released yesterday.

Defending NCAAII champion BYUH, which finished 30-2 last season, received 615 points and 17 first-place votes in the preseason poll. HPU, the defending Pac-West Conference champ with a 25-3 record a year ago, got 576 points and six of the remaining eight first-place votes.

Northern Kentucky was third, with 534 points and the other two first-place ballots.

Vulcans' volleyball

The University of Hawaii at Hilo women's volleyball team launches Sharon Peterson's 23rd season as head coach with an Aug. 26 warm-up match against its alumnae at the UHH gymnasium.

The Vulcans, with seven new players joining five returnees, will play a 23-match schedule.

Season tickets are $40 for adults and $20 for boosters and students. Individual match tickets are $5 (adults) and $2 (senior citizens and students).

For more information, call 1-808-974-7606.

UH-Hilo meetings

The University of Hawaii at Hilo baseball and softball teams will hold informational meetings for interested full-time students in good academic standing Aug. 23.

The meetings are in room C-118 of the UHHAthletic Complex.

For more information, call baseball coach Joey Estrella at 1-808-974-7700 or softball coach Callen Perreira at 1-808-974-7703.

Former isle star to coach

Former Hawaii high school state singles champion Betsy Somerville Purpura has been named head women's tennis coach at Seton Hall University, it was announced yesterday.

Purpura won singles titles in 1983, '84 and '86 playing for Punahou and Hawaii School for Girls. She was an All-American at the University of Arizona in 1988. She captained the team for two seasons and earned the 1990 Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award, graduating from Arizona with a bachelor's degree in communications in 1990.

She competed on the women's professional tennis circuit worldwide, while participating in the French Open, Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open.

She served as the assistant women's tennis coach at the University of Hawaii for one season and earned her MBA in marketing from Fordham University in 1997.