Hawaii’s best athletes
honored
Tuli Peters of Kahuku is named to
All-WAC volleyball team and
Jazmin Pa'akaula of Kea‘au is
Metro-Atlantic player of the week
With the completion of fall sports comes all-star honors and postseason college tournaments all around the mainland -- in soccer, volleyball, football, cross country and men's water polo -- at many different levels.
Here's a sampling of news that student-athletes from Hawaii have made in the past week at mainland colleges:
» Fresno State sophomore Tuli Peters (Kahuku '03 of Laie) was selected second-team All-WAC volleyball by league coaches. Peters was second for the 14-12 Bulldogs in digs (3.70 per game), service aces (23), and points (327.5) and third in kills (2.83 per game). Peters was named WAC Player of the Week for Oct. 18-24.
Freshman Mounia Nihipali (Kamehameha '04 of Aiea) was third in digs (3.46 per game) for Fresno State.
» Fairfield (Connecticut) freshman Jazmin Pa'akaula (St. Joseph '04 of Kea'au) was named the Metro-Atlantic conference Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday.
That was a step up for Pa'akaula, who previously had been chosen Rookie of the Week by MAAC coaches five times this season.
Pa'akaula had 42 digs and 26 kills in two matches last week, including 24 digs against Manhattan. She is seventh in the MAAC with 4.24 digs per game and has the best serve-receive statistics for Fairfield.
She had 16 kills and 30 digs the week before against Iona.
Fairfield (21-9) has won 13 of its last 14 with three freshman starters from St. Joseph (the others are outside hitter Lindsey Lee of Kea'au and setter Ashley Hanohano of Hilo).
Lee leads Fairfield in kills (3.70 per game) and digs (4.34); Hanohano is second in assists (5.84 per game) and first in service aces with 38 in 114 games. Pa'akaula is second to Lee in kills with 3.35 per game and second in aces with 32.
Lee had an 18-kill, 18-dig game when Fairfield clinched the top seed in the MAAC Tournament by beating St. Peter's 3-1.
» The Menlo College (California) women's volleyball team won the CalPac Conference for the first time with a 18-0 record, but its postseason lasted only 94 minutes, as the Oaks were eliminated in four games by No. 1 Fresno Pacific on Tuesday in the first match of an NAIA regional.
Kari Shimomura (McKinley '02 of Kaimuki) had 14 kills and 25 digs, Christa Hewett (Kamehameha '04 of Pearl City) had 19 digs, Alyssa Chang (Maryknoll '04 of Tantalus) had 45 assists and Sanoe' Eselu (Moanalua '03 of Waipahu) had 13 kills for Menlo.
Eight of the 10 Hawaii players on the Menlo roster are freshmen or sophomores and the other two are juniors.
» Santa Clara switched from its usual 6-2 offense to 5-1 and junior setter Kristen Luxton (formerly Maryknoll) had a career-high 57 assists, as well as 10 digs and three blocks, in a four-game victory over San Francisco.
» Oregon sophomore Sarah Mason (St. Joseph '03 of Hilo) put down 15 kills for the ninth time this season and brought up 13 digs, although the Ducks were swept by Olympian Ogonna Nnamani and Stanford.
» The University of the Pacific (California) men's volleyball team, including Brian Zodrow (Saint Louis '01) and Bryson Metz (Kamehameha '01) are here for preseason exhibition matches against the University of Hawaii.
They played at the Stan Sheriff Center last night, are at Hilo tonight, Molokai tomorrow and Kauai on Saturday. The Tigers won a preseason tournament Nov. 6 at UC-Irvine.
CROSS COUNTRY
At NCAA regional meets last weekend, these were among the results:
» Duke freshman Tia Ferguson (Seabury Hall '04 of Kula) finished 12th to help Duke win the regional title and earn All-Southeast honors for herself.
» San Diego State junior Christal Cuadra (Maryknoll '02 of Manoa) finished 55th of 199 runners at the West Regional in Fresno, Calif.
Cuadra improved her 6K best time by 22 seconds to 22:00.
» Naval Academy sophomore Julie Jordan (Punahou '02 of Kaneohe) finished 81st of 162 runners at the Mid-Atlantic Regional at Penn State.
» Michigan sophomore Todd Iacovelli (Punahou '02 of Kailua) finished 88th in the Great Lakes Regional.
BASKETBALL
» Washington State freshman Derrick Low (Iolani '04 of Liliha), who broke a bone in his right foot on the second day of practice Oct. 17, is still on crutches.
He had hoped to be riding a stationary bike to keep in condition while his foot heals, but doctors say he is not ready for that yet.
» Eastern Kentucky sophomore Fatai Hala'api'api (Lahainaluna '03) has played at an even higher level than she left off last season.
Hala'api'api, who set a school record for blocked shots last season, blocked three in a season-opening exhibition game and also led her team in scoring with 16 points.
» UC-Santa Barbara senior Brandy Richardson (Kalaheo '01) grabbed 13 rebounds in the Gauchos' first exhibition game of the season.
Broken wrist puts
Lobendahn on sideline
A terrible season (1-9) for the team he co-captains got terrible personally for Washington linebacker Joe Lobendahn (Saint Louis '01 of Pearl City) on Saturday when he broke a wrist making a touchdown-saving tackle against California. Until then, Lobendahn was the third-leading tackler in the Pac-10. He became the fifth and final Washington co-captain injured this season, with four of them going down for good.
"There's a curse on us," Lobendahn told Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Dan Raley.
Lobendahn tore an anterior cruciate ligament in the second game last season and gained a medical redshirt season he can use next year.
It has been a little better for older brother Willy Lobendahn (Saint Louis '99) this season.
He missed the first four games with an injury, but came back to make second-team All-Central Conference at center for Virginia Union.
Washington linebacker Joe Lobendahn stretched to tackle Oregon tight end Tim Day in an Oct. 30 game.
» Occidental (Los Angeles) enters the NCAA Division III Tournament on Saturday against Willamette (Oregon) at home.
Junior cornerback Derek Turbin (Punahou '02 of Kahala) and junior wide receiver Ric Fukushima (Moanalua '02) start for Occidental, which won the Southern California (SCIAC) championship and has a record of 8-1.
Turbin is Oxy's leading tackler.
David Marsh (Punahou '02 of Kaimuki) is a backup linebacker and special-teams player for Occidental. Freshman John Morris (Punahou '04 of Mariner's Ridge), the 2003 ILH Offensive Player of the Year, is redshirting.
» Junior defensive end Brandon Tom (Kamehameha, of Kailua) was selected first-team All-Northwest Conference for Linfield (Oregon), which sailed through its fourth undefeated regular season in five years and is seeded No. 2 behind Mount Union in the NCAA III Tournament.
» Ten players from Hawaii are on the Linfield roster and three start.
Linfield (9-0) has clinched its 49th consecutive winning season, the national record for all college divisions.
