Seki opens 2 strokes
off pace at Publinx golf

Hawaii's Jim Seki carded a 1-over 72 yesterday and was tied with seven others for 10th place after the first round of stroke play at the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in San Antonio.

Seki was two strokes behind the leaders: Kyle Willmann of Edmond, Okla.; Matt Cohn of La Jolla, Calif.; Nick Cassini of Athens, Ga.; Tom Johnson of Fair Oaks, Calif.; and James Vargas of Miami.

Also competing from Hawaii are Jarett Hamamoto (79), Royden Heirakuji (79), Eric Fong (80), Chris Igawa (86) and Guy Yamamoto (87).

Play continues today at the 7,005-yard Pecan Valley Golf Club course.

The 156-player field will be cut to 64 for match play after today.

LaBarre leaves Warriors to go on church mission

University of Hawaii middle blocker Maulia LaBarre will not be on the Warrior roster the next two years.

LaBarre submitted his paperwork last week for his church mission and is waiting for his placement from the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

LaBarre hopes to leave in August or September so that his return will not be in the middle of the school semester. He contemplated the decision during the season but did not officially decide until the end of the school year.

"It was something in my life I wanted to do even before I got into volleyball," LaBarre said. "Coach is all for it. If I go now, at least I'm not real tied down. I can just go, come back and have school to finish."

LaBarre was a backup last season for Dejan Miladinovic and Brenton Davis.

Setter Terry Rasch, a 6-foot-3 walk-on that coaches hoped would challenge starter Kimo Tuyay, will not be at UH this fall. Rasch did not take the Scholastic Aptitude Test before leaving for his two year mission. He will take it this fall and could arrive in Hawaii in January.

UH could also add two more walk-ons this fall.

Outside hitters Brian Nordberg of Cederburg, Wisconsin and Matthew Bender of Tucson, Ariz. will be visiting UH in August.

Nordberg is a 6-5 outside hitter who may transfer from UC Santa Barbara while the 6-3 Bender is a graduated senior who is still deciding where to attend college.

Phengsavath to defend OCC golf title this week

Joe Phengsavath returns to defend his title when the 38th Oahu Country Club Men's Invitational golf tournament begins play Thursday.

Also entered in the field are former champions Wendell Kop (1986, 1989) and Brandan Kop (1998).

The 72-player championship flight also includes 2000 Manoa Cup champion Randy Shibuya and recent Rainbow Open winner Parker McLachlin.

The 54-hole championship flight continues on Friday and finishes Sunday.

There are 24 golfers in the Senior (55-64) and 16 in the Super Senior (64-older) flights which will compete over 36 holes Thursday and Friday.

Play begins at 7 a.m. daily.