Rainbows picked No. 2
in WAC hoop poll

DENVER >> Defending champion Hawaii was picked to finish second in the Western Athletic Conference coaches' preseason poll.

Fresno State, which topped the regular season a year ago, received 88 points, including nine first-place votes, while the Rainbows got 66 points and the other first-place vote.

Tulsa was picked to finish third, followed in order by Texas-El Paso, Southern Methodist, Louisiana Tech, San Jose State, Nevada, Rice and Boise State.

Hawaii senior swingman Predrag Savovic was chosen to the All-WAC preseason first team, the only Rainbow player picked to either the first or second teams.

Fresno State senior center Melvin Ely was selected as the WAC preseason player of the year.

Fresno State junior forward Chris Jefferies, SMU senior guard Damon Hancock and Tulsa junior forward Kevin Johnson were also chosen to the WAC preseason first-team.

Hawaii men's volleyball alumni match Friday

With the Hawaii women's volleyball team out of town, the men's team will take the court at the Stan Sheriff Center on Friday for its alumni match.

The Makule alumni match starts at 5 p.m. and features two teams made up of UH alumni from 1959 through 1996.

The varsity squad will play against a team of alumni from 1996 to 2001 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for open seating.

HPU volleyball team drops to No. 9 in poll

The Hawaii Pacific volleyball team fell five spots to No. 9 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division II Top 25 poll.

The Sea Warriors (15-2, 9-2 Pacific West Conference) lost Brigham Young-Hawaii and beat Chaminade last week.

HPU is idle this week but plays crucial PacWest matches at BYUH on Oct. 26 and Oct. 27.

Salud beats Mamuaya with fifth-round TKO

Hawaii's Jesus Salud scored the 40th knockout of his career with a fifth-round technical knockout of Frangky Mamuaya of Indonesia at the Hilo Civic Auditorium last Friday.

Salud knocked Mamuaya down in the third and fourth rounds with right uppercuts before the final blow in the fifth.

Salud, 38, who weighed in at 125 pounds for the featherweight bout, is 63-11 in his 74 pro fights. Mamuaya dropped to 25-8-2.

"He was a pretty good opponent," Salud said. "He was game, and he took a lot of hits. Because I was staying on the outside and hitting him from there, I hardly got hit."

The 31-year-old, 12412-pound Mamuaya got up on the count of eight after he went down in the fifth round, and he wanted to keep on going. But he was badly hurt and the referee stopped the fight.

Salud said one of the reasons he fought in Hilo was to help promote some fighters.

It was his first fight in Hilo since he fought there as a member of the Police Activities League youth boxing program in the 1970s.

Salud, who is working as the public relations director for the new Hawaiian Islanders arenafootball2 team, plans to fight on Maui next month.

The site, opponent and date have not been determined yet.