Kapalua family welcomes Pressel

Kapalua LPGA Classic tournament director Gary Planos couldn't have scripted it better after Morgan Pressel got her act together to shoot 8 under over the weekend to secure the inaugural women's golf event.

Morgan Pressel

  The touring pro for the famed Kapalua Resort edged Suzann Pettersen for her second LPGA Tour victory. She won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship to become the youngest women's golfer to win a major.

Planos was pleased with the tournament's first year, saying, “;We couldn't be happier with the final results. Morgan has represented us well this year and for her to win here is the perfect ending.”;

UH stays at No. 9 in volleyball poll

The Hawaii women's volleyball team remained at No. 9 in the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 poll released yesterday.

The Rainbow Wahine (15-3, 8-1 Western Athletic Conference) picked up two road victories last week.

Penn State remained the unanimous No. 1, receiving all 60 first-place votes. Nebraska and Texas stayed at Nos. 2 and 3, and Cal and Stanford traded places, with the Golden Bears moving up a spot to No. 4 and the Cardinal dropping to fifth.

Smith to coach Academy of Pacific

Former UH basketball player and coach Alika Smith has been hired as the new boys basketball coach at the Academy of the Pacific.

Smith was an assistant at Hawaii from 2005 to 2007 and at Hawaii-Hilo from 2001 to 2003. He played for UH from 1994 to 1997.

Asao, Suzuki qualify second

Norman-Ganin Asao and Lance Suzuki teamed up to shoot a 9-under par 62 and earn the second seed in the Nike Golf Concepts 4-ball Match Play Championship yesterday at Oahu Country Club.

Andrew Feldmann and Larry Stubblefield are the top seed due to their status as defending champions.

The tournament begins with the first two rounds today.

» UH golfer Robert Berton moved up to 53rd place in the second round of the Sycuan Collegiate Invitational in El Cajon, Calif., yesterday. Berton shot a 75 in the first round and came back to shoot a 70 in the second round in the afternoon.

The Warriors trail first-place San Diego State by 46 strokes and are in 18th out of 20 teams. The tournament concludes today.

Lajola falls in semis on mainland

UH tennis player Dennis Lajola lost to Omar Altmann of Pepperdine 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association West-South Championships yesterday in Malibu, Calif.

Lajola, who is No. 89 in the preseason ITA rankings, dropped to 6-2 for the season.

Hawaii's Fukuroku is player of week

Hawaii's Taryn Fukuroku is the WAC soccer player of the week for her performance against San Jose State last week.

Fukuroku, a forward, had a goal and an assist, including her first game-winning goal of the season in overtime to beat the Spartans 2-1 on Sunday.

PACWEST PLACE

Renfro's ace helps HPU to victory

Charlie Renfro shot an even-par 72 and carded a hole-in-one to lead Hawaii Pacific to a dual-match golf victory over Brigham Young-Hawaii yesterday at the Turtle Bay Palmer Course.

Renfro used a 7-iron for his ace at the 198-yard fourth hole en route to medalist honors.

The Sea Warriors beat the Seasiders 304 to 316.

Kevin Kunioka led BYUH with a 2-over 74.

» Hawaii-Hilo is in third place after two rounds of the Sonoma State Invitational at the Santa Rosa Golf and Country Club in California.

Zady Ari is at 4-under 140 for the Vulcans after his 4-under 68 yesterday. He's in eighth place, four shots behind the leader, Chico State's Kevin Horan, who is at 8-under 136.

Chico State, at 554, has a nine-stroke lead in the team competition. The Vulcans are six strokes behind second-place Sonoma State.