Hawaii running back Mike Bass will likely miss his third consecutive game tomorrow due to a right knee sprain. Bass did not practice yesterday. Thursday is normally the cut-off day for players who do not practice. Bass likely to
Defense has been money
miss third game
Division II notebookBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comMichael Brewster, however, did practice, and seems to have recovered well from an ankle sprain suffered in last Saturday's victory against Nevada.
Thero Mitchell has started every game for the Warriors, and will likely do so again tomorrow when the Warriors host Tulsa. Brewster, John West, Josh Galeai and Pesefea Fiaseu took reps with the first team this week.
"They've all worked hard and it was good to see them all get in the game last week," Jones said. "We'll see how things are Saturday."
Midpoint honors: Junior safety Hyrum Peters was chosen a midseason honorable mention All-American by CNN/SI.com yesterday.
Peters leads the nation with three interception touchdown returns.
"He's very instinctive and he's a great kid," coach June Jones said. "He's being rewarded because he works hard and studies hard on tape."
Recruiting trail: Hawaii is still in the hunt for Wes Jefferson (6-foot-2, 232 pounds), one of the nation's top five high school prospects at linebacker. Jefferson, who has 68 tackles and six sacks in helping Brandywine (Md.) Gwynn Park to a 5-0 start, said Miami and Maryland are the only two visits he has set.
"I'm still looking at a lot of others," Jefferson told Insiders.com. "I'm looking at Notre Dame. Surprisingly, I'm looking at Hawaii and it's not because of the location. They are well coached. June Jones has NFL coaching experience. I'm also looking at Penn State, Virginia, and Ohio State."
Oh, brother: UH defensive lineman Houston Ala said a rumor that his brother, Brandon Ala, is unhappy at Washington and wants to transfer to Hawaii is a total fabrication.
"I talk to him every week and he's happy there," Houston Ala said. "They're redshirting him, but he's fine with that."
Short yardage: Heavy rains overnight forced postponement of yesterday's practice to the afternoon. ... Scout-team standout Garrett Dearing was carted to the trainer's room after suffering a right knee sprain. ... Linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa and Fiaseu connected in one of the more violent collisions of practice this year. Both got up under their own power. ... Tulsa arrived yesterday afternoon and was scheduled to practice at Aloha Stadium.
BACK TO TOP |
This is the last thing NCAA Division II volleyball needs; Brigham Young-Hawaii getting even stronger. Casebolt set in helping
Seasiders stay at No. 1By Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.comJust when it seemed parity would finally strike the Pacific West Conference, Seasiders regular setter Kaala Lo went down with a back injury. It figured to bring the Seasiders back to the pack, until freshman Crystal Casebolt stepped in and put up numbers to rival Lo's nation-best 13.73 assists per game. Lo, a sophomore, is still listed as the best setter in the nation, but is day-to-day with her back problem and has no timetable for her return.
Casebolt got her first action in the Seasiders' loss to Hawaii-Hilo, and all she did was dish out a season-high 60 assists -- beating Lo's mark by five -- in the five-game affair.
Since then, she has put up 56 assists on Hawaii Pacific and kept the BYUH machine rolling along to the top spot in the regional rankings.
And that No. 1 position is an important one, as the team on top when the polls close Nov. 17 will get the No. 1 seed in the regional tournament and the right to host the event.
The Seasiders last hosted the regional in 1999, when they won a national championship.
BYUH and Cal State San Bernardino have played one common opponent. The Seasiders beat No. 6 Cal State Los Angeles in early September, while the Coyotes' only loss came in the form of a sweep against the Golden Eagles last Friday.
Although BYUH currently has the edge, the race between the two is far from over.
The Coyotes have 11 games left in the regular season, five of them against teams ranked in the AVCA's Top 25. The Seasiders have nine matches left with only three of them against nationally ranked teams.
Unlike the Coyotes, the Seasiders are still in the thick of their conference race.
BYUH beat HPU in a home-and-home last weekend to take a one-game lead with four to play. But the Sea Warriors were under the belief that only one of the games was a conference matchup, and say that their record is 4-1 instead of 4-2.
Both schools called the matter a "miscommunication" and expect HPU athletic director Russell Dung's copy of a facsimile that outlined that one of the games was a conference match to hold up in front of conference commissioner Woody Hahn. Hahn is expected to make a ruling this week.
Madness delayed: Of the four schools, only Hawaii-Hilo and Chaminade held a midnight madness for basketball this year, but BYUH is holding a celebration tonight at 7 in the Cannon Activities Center. HPU is planning a Halloween celebration.
In the Hawaii-Hilo event, Kyle Bartholomew won the dunk contest and West Hawthorne hit 14 of 20 shots to win the 3-point affair. Bartholomew scored 14 points in the scrimmage, nailing four treys. Chaminade only had a scrimmage and a dunk contest, which was won by Kashif Reyes narrowly over Jason Walters.
Game 3: Although Chaminade is 7-2 and on the verge of being ranked, tomorrow's water polo match at Brigham Young-Hawaii is as close to a must-win as it has had in the past two years. The Seasiders lead the five-game series 2-0 and can close it out at home. The Silverswords have played the Seasiders close in the first two games, losing 11-8 and 6-5.
Showdown: Hawaii Pacific's women will get another chance at the University of Hawaii cross country team tomorrow, as both square off in the UH Sprint series at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course.
It will be the first race in which both men and women take off from the start line together.