Savo has ‘good workout’
with Memphis Grizzlies

Hawaii all-American guard Predrag Savovic worked out with the Memphis Grizzlies yesterday, one of more than a dozen NBA teams that have shown interest in the Yugoslavian national.

"Savovic is dead-eye, a good shooter," said Grizzlies director of player personnel Tony Barone.

"It was a good workout," Savovic told the Rainbow coaches by phone yesterday. "It went well."

Savovic has dropped nearly 20 pounds and is a solid 212. He averaged 20.3 points this past season and finished his career as the school's all-time 3-point goal scorer.

Also working out with Memphis yesterday was University of Memphis guard Dajuan Wagner and St. Bonaventure guard J.R. Bremer.

Most NBA Draft prognosticators have Savovic going late in the first round or early in the second. ESPN.com's Chad Ford has Savovic as the Los Angeles Lakers' second pick, saying that Savovic is pushing Stanford's Casey Jacobsen as the best long-range-shooter in the draft.

Petersen promoted to UH assistant coach

Gavin Petersen has been promoted from team manager to assistant coach for the Hawaii women's basketball team.

The 25-year-old Petersen replaces Jon Newlee, who accepted the head coaching position at Idaho State last March. Petersen, the team manager the past three seasons, is a 1999 graduate of Hawaii Pacific and is currently working on his masters degree at UH.

Cougars pick Peterson to coach volleyball team

Brigham Young named Tom Peterson as the head of coach of the Cougars' men's volleyball program yesterday.

Peterson replaces Carl McGown who resigned at the end of April after 13 years at the helm. Under McGown the Cougars went from a club team to an NCAA championship winning team (1999, 2001).

It may seem like a daunting task to be McGown's successor but Peterson has won at the highest level too in collegiate volleyball. Before becoming the head coach at New Mexico in 2001, Peterson guided Penn State to a national title in 1994. And this isn't Peterson's first stint coaching the Cougars.

"Tom has been a winner wherever he's coached," BYU athletics director Val Hale said in a university release. "He has won a national championship and has built many programs from the ground up. Men's volleyball at BYU is an NCAA sport mainly due to Tom's efforts when he coached our club team in the '80s."

Peterson has played and coached under McGown. His undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees were all obtained from BYU.

Slater scores perfect run in Quicksilver Pro

TAVARUA & NAMOTU ISLANDS, Fiji >> Six-time world champion Kelly Slater upped the scoring ante in the Quiksilver Pro yesterday.

Slater, who earned a near-perfect best two-wave total of 19.25-points in round one, pushed the boundaries even further yesterday at Cloudbreak.

Against fellow Floridian Damien Hobgood in round three, Slater posted his and the event's second perfect 10 with uncanny tube riding skills, as well as a 9.5 -- for a combined 19.5 out of 20.

"I don't even know what to say," began Slater. "It's Cloudbreak. One of the perfect waves around the world and I was just in sync first heat and then again then. Luck came together for me.

"I got a 9.5 and didn't want to get caught up on the fact I already had a good score. I passed one wave up, but my next one was the real good wave. I got both those waves in the first 10 minutes, so I knew Damien could do the same thing."

Defending Quiksilver Pro champion Luke Egan of Australia faces Slater next.

Current world No. 1 Andy Irons of Hawaii was eliminated by Australian wildcard Troy Brooks. Irons was hampered by an elbow injury he suffered in a practice session earlier in the day.

2000 world champion Sunny Garcia knocked out fellow Hawaiian Shane Dorian. Kalani Robb was ousted by Brazilian Peterson Rosa.

"There's not too many Hawaiians on tour, so I don't really like to surf against them unless it's Andy in the finals, or later in the event," Garcia said.

"I needed a 7.36 and Shane went the first wave of the set, and the second actually ended up being a bit better.

Hawaii team takes third in national tournament

The Outrigger men's masters volleyball team (age 50 and over) from Hawaii placed third at the USA Adult Indoor Volleyball Championships in Dallas.

Outrigger beat Michiana Masters (Ft. Wayne, Ind.) 26-24, 25-20 but lost in the finals of the loser's bracket to King's Mountain Fog (Woodside, Calif.) 25-15, 19-25, 15-13.

Outrigger was 5-0 in pool play and 8-2 overall in the 29-team field.

UH soccer attendance ranked 10th in NCAA

The Hawaii women's soccer team was ranked 10th in NCAA Division I attendance this past season, according to figures released yesterday by UH.

The Wahine, the Western Athletic Conference runners-up, averaged 1,129 fans per match at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium. Hawaii played six home matches last fall, drawing a total of 6,277, 19th best in the country.

Hawaii opens this season against Alabama-Birmingham on Aug. 30 in the OHANA Hotels & Resorts No Ka Oi tournament.