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Rainbow Wahine drop in volleyball poll

Lose three matches, fall three spots.

That's what happened to the Hawaii volleyball team. The Rainbow Wahine (2-3) slipped from their preseason No. 4 ranking to No. 7 in yesterday's first CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 poll of the regular season.

All of the Wahine's losses have come to teams now ranked ahead of them: No. 1 Nebraska, No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 Penn State, the latter of which defeated Hawaii twice in a seven-day span. The Huskers (4-0) remained atop the poll with 1,498 points and 58 of the 60 first-place votes.

Washington (4-0), which plays UH on Sept. 16 and 17, stayed at No. 2 and got the remaining two first-place votes and 1,427 points.

» Taina Savage slammed 14 kills to lead UH-Hilo (7-4) to a 30-21, 30-15, 30-19 win over St. Martin's College yesterday in Lacey, Wash.

Lajola wins at U.S. Open Junior tourney

Dennis Lajola of Aiea defeated Sho Aida of Japan 6-3, 6-1 n the first round of the U.S. Open Junior Tennis Championship. Lajola next faces fifth-seeded Alex Kuznetzov in the second round.

Lajola will also team with Nathaniel Schnugg to play the second-seeded duo of Carsten Ball and Thiemo de Bakker in the first round of the doubles draw.

» Wei Yu Su defeated Malino Oda 6-4, 6-3 yesterday to win the men's open title at the Kapalua Open Tennis Championship. Michiyo Kato beat Kailan Sera 7-5, 6-1 in the women's final.

Oda teamed with Brian Thomas to win the men's doubles title with a 7-6 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-2 victory over Su and Jay Grollman. Pamela Cooke and Lelani Magee defeated Brooke Gannon and Kimmie Ouchi 6-0, 6-3 in the women's doubles final.

Bruins rout Seasiders in water polo

David Piestch scored three goals to lead the top-ranked UCLA water polo team to a 16-6 win over Brigham Young-Hawaii yesterday in Laie. James Jacobson scored three goals for BYUH.

Irons claims ASP event in Japan

Kauai's Andy Irons edged Kelly Slater in the finals of the Quicksilver Pro Japan on Sunday at Hebara Beach in Chiba, Japan.

Irons posted 19.43 points to Slater's 18.06 in the final of the Association of Surfing Professionals Men's World Tour event.