Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
Evan Licht’s 18th and last kill may have dealt a final blow to the University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team’s playoff hopes.
Licht hit a blistering .433 as Cal Santa Barbara swept the Warriors 25-21, 25-20, 25-19 on Saturday night at Stan Sheriff Center.
With a second loss in as many nights to the Gauchos, Hawaii (8-14 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, 9-16) fell further behind in its bid to grab one of the league’s eight postseason spots. The Warriors remained in 10th place with two games remaining, both on the road.
Led by Sinisa Zarkovic’s seven kills, Hawaii was outhit .349-.132 on Senior Night. Jace Olsen added six.
In addition to Licht’s big match, Austin Kingi added nine kills on only 17 swings and five digs, while Miles Evans added seven kills for Cal Santa Barbara, (14-12, 10-10), which is tied for sixth in the MSPF with Cal Baptist, a team ineligible for postseason play.
Brook Sedore and JP Marks both finished with negative attack percentages for the Warriors, who honored their lone senior, Matthew Cheape, after the match.
They finish up April 12-13 at Cal San Diego.
Stanford (9-10) and Cal State Northridge (9-11) are eighth and ninth, respectively, in the league.
Softball
Hawaii 3, UC-Davis 1
Hawaii 6, UC-Davis 2
Loie Kesterson recorded her first collegiate victory with a five-hitter, and Leisha Liilii capped a four-run first inning with a three-run homer as the Rainbow Wahine swept a doubleheader and ran their winning streak to seven Saturday in Honolulu.
Kesterson walked two and struck out one, allowing a two-out, two-run single to Krista Bava in the second inning.
Before Liilii’s three-run blast, Kelly Majam led off the first with her 12th home run of the season. Liilii and Majam both went 2 for 4 for Hawaii (6-0 Big West, 28-7 overall).
Justine Vela took the loss for the Aggies (0-3, 13-17), allowing five runs on five hits in 3 1/3 innings. She struck out four and walked four.
At the plate, Amy Nunez had two hits.
In the first game, the Rainbow Wahine’s Kayla Wartner broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth with a run-scoring single. Wartner and Jazmine Zamora both went 2 for 3.
Kaia Parnaby (25-3) went the distance in the circle to get the win, allowing one run on four hits. She struck out six and walked one.
Leah Munden suffered the loss in a complete-game effort, giving up two runs on nine hits. She struck out four and walked one.
Water polo
Hawaii 9, Cal San Diego 6
Stanford 17, Hawaii 5
Monika Eggens netted her 14th hat trick of the season and the Rainbow Wahine got goals from five other players to beat the Tritons and split a pair of nonconference matches as home.
Hawaii (13-9) broke a 5-5 deadlock against the Tritons (14-11) in the final quarter on goals by Eggens and Caitly Lopes da Silva.
Danielle Lewis added two goals, Emily Carr, Paula Chillida Esforzado, and Amarens Genee also scored, and Amy Carlson made 11 saves.
A Stanford squad that includes three Olympic gold medalists proved too much to handle in the evening session. Maggie Steffens—the 2012 international Player of the Year — scored four times as Hawaii allowed a season high in goals.
The No. 2 Cardinal (22-1) led 9-3 at halftime en route to their 10th straight victory.
Genee scored twice for UH, and Esforzado, Lewis and Eggens had a goal apiece.
Men’s tennis
Hawaii 6, Cal Riverside 1
Dmytro Kovalyov, Hawaii’s lone senior, won in doubles but lost a marathon singles match as the Warriors prevailed on Senior Day in Honolulu.
All five wins for UH (5-9, 2-1 Big West) in singles play came in straight sets.
Julian Ruffin eked out third-set tiebreaker against Kovalyov for the Highlanders (2-15, 0-1).
Doubles
Jonathan Brooklyn/Dmytro Kovalyov (UH) def. Jimmy Roberts/Marcus Vizcarra (UCR), 8-1
Nils Schuhmann/Carter Lam (UH) def. Kevin Griffin/Julian Ruffin (UCR), 8-6
Jared Spiker/David Schuster (UH) vs. Luis Gastao/Calvin Ngo (UCR), 7-4,uf
Singles
Spiker (UH) def. Roberts (UCR) 6-1, 6-3
Brooklyn (UH) def. Gastao (UCR) 6-2, 6-4
Ruffin (UCR) def. Kovalyov (UH) 7-6, 5-7, 12-10
Okamoto (UH) def. Ngo (UCR) 7-6(3), 6-2
Schuhmann (UH) def. Vizcarra (UCR) 6-0, 6-3
Danilo Casanova (UH) def. Kelly Dickson (UCR) 6-1, 6-2
Track and field
Senior Amanda Alvarez broke her own school record with leap of 42 feet, 9.5 inches in the triple jump at the Stanford (Calif.) Invitational.
Alvarez set her previous mark last week. That record was good enough to rank second in the West Region and sixth in the country.
In the 100-meter finals, Zhane Santiago (14.32 seconds) was sixth and Alvarez (14.57) was eighth.
Also, Joanna Franke-Kuhn (173-2) placed fourth in the hammer throw, while freshman Charlinda Ioane threw a personal best 173-2 in the discus for eighth.