Santa Barbara Transfer to Hawaii

Photo Credit: The Channels (Ryan Collum)

The Warrior Volleyball team picked up another player for the program in the upcoming season. This one coming as a transfer in Jackson Wopat (Goleta, CA). He is recently coming from Santa Barbara City College where he graduated and played as an opposite at 6'5".

In his single season with the Vaqueros, Wopat played mostly as an opposite but played occasionally at outside hitter. For the season he was second on the team in blocks and aces and third in kills. He had a career high 12 kills twice and a career high of six blocks in a four set loss to Santa Monica. Overall the team went 9-10 and went 4-8 in conference.

Before coming to Santa Barbra CC, Wopat played his freshman season at UC San Diego where he signed as a middle blocker. He had limited playing time as he appeared in three sets in three matches all season where his only two kills came against Hawaii (1/24/14). That year the team went 2-26 with wins over Grand Canyon and Holy Names.

During his prep career, he was a middle blocker at Dos Pueblos HS where he also played basketball. In 2013, he was named All-CIF DII First Team as well as a All-Channel League First Team member. He averaged over 10 kills a game for a team that went to the CIF DII Southern Section Quarterfinals. In the club scene, he played for multiple teams but his most recent being with Santa Barbara Volleyball Club which is the same club that beach player Katie Spieler played on. Lastly he played with the USA High Performance team that competes in Des Moines, Iowa.

His last name may sound familiar as his older sister Carly was an All-American middle blocker for Stanford and played against Hawaii in Stan Sheriff Center during her senior season (2013). Their younger brother Eli has recently signed with Stanford and will attend this fall. The Wopat's have spent time in the state of Hawaii as they have family in the outer islands.

Wopat joins Austin Matautia (Ewa Beach, HI), Everett Schuett (Thousand Oaks, CA), Jack Reese (Pittsburgh, PA), Jackson Van Eekeren (Lisle, IL), Isaac Liva (Mililani, HI), and transfer Larry "Tui" Tuileta (Honolulu, HI) for the 2016-17 season. It is not known what position he is playing for the program, but look for it be either as an opposite or middle blocker. Also not known is what year of eligibility he is due to his Santa Barbara CC profile listing him as a freshman this past season.

Big congrats to both of my brothers! Jackson just graduated from SBCC and is transferring to the University of Hawaii to play volleyball and study global environmental sciences. Eli is graduating from Dos Pueblos High School and will play volleyball and study at Stanford University. Can't wait to visit both of them! #triplethreat #nosmiling #polaroid

A photo posted by Carly Anelalani Wopat (@carlywopat) on May 14, 2016 at 6:39pm PDT

Machado Added to Warrior Roster

Photo Credit: ScoringLive

In the last few weeks of the Hawaii Warrior volleyball season, the team added a new player in Kahiau Machado (Kaneohe, HI). He graduated from Kamehameha-Kapalama this past year and has recently joined the team. In the recent matches, he has been the player sitting in the upper stands tracking the speed of the serves. At 6'2" he will play as a libero but will redshirt this season.

 Photo Credit: Hawaii Athletics

Machado comes to the University of Hawaii where he will continue to be a Warrior. He led his high school team in kills his senior season as an outside hitter and made it to the quarterfinals of the HHSAA State Tournament. In his final match of the season he had 23 kills and hit .409 while collecting 21 digs in a five set match against third seeded Moanalua which features Warrior signee Austin Matautia. Accolades for the year include ILH All-Stars First Team and a Star Advertiser Fab 15 honoree at No. 8 in the rankings.

In the club scene Kahiau played for Ka Ulukoa Volleyball Club where he played an age group up. His team traveled to Reno, Nevada where they competed in the 2013 Boys Junior National Championships placing first in the 17 Open division. He was teammates with USC transfer Larry "Tui" Tuileta and many others who went to play college volleyball.

Local ILH/OIA All-Star Joins 2017 Warriors

Photo Credit: ScoringLive

Recruit Profile

The Warrior Volleyball team picked up a walk-on in the past few weeks with a commitment from Isaac Liva (Mililani, HI). He is a 6'5" opposite who played his last season of his high school career at Mililani HS and his club with Ku'ikahi Volleyball Club.

With his one year as a Trojan, Liva led his team to the HHSAA State Tournament with a fourth place finish earning him a spot on the State All-Tournament Team. They were undefeated in the OIA West with a 10-0 record which progressed to Liva becoming the OIA West Player of the Year. His talent and statistics will most likely earn him another spot on the Hawaii State Fab 15.

Before his senior year at Mililani, he was a two-time Division II State Champion with Hawaii Baptist Academy. As an Eagle he was one of two go-to players which earned the team a Division II ILH title in 2015 and a runner-up spot in 2014. He was named ILH First Team All-Stars both seasons and the Most Outstanding Player spot in the State Tournament in 2015.

Liva's club career with Ku'ikahi Volleyball Club began in 2013 as his has played with them since. The first two years his team has qualified for the Open Division at the Boys Junior National Championships. His team will head to Dallas, Texas this summer for the BJNC in the Club Division. His club coach is his former HBA head coach Teoni Obrey.

During his high school career he played four years of basketball where he was a 2015 All-Hawaii Second Team and an ILH First Team at HBA and a 2016 OIA Western Division Second Team All-Star. He also was an one year football career in his senior year and was an All-Hawaii Division I Honorable Mention as a Defensive Linesman.

Isaac's older sister is former Mililani basketball and volleyball standout Sarah Liva who played two seasons at Portland State for volleyball but has transferred home to Hawaii Pacific University where she will play basketball.

He joins OIA rival Austin Matautia (Ewa Beach, CA), Everett Schuett (Thousand Oaks, CA), Jack Reese (Pittsburgh, PA), Jackson Van Eekeren (Lisle, IL), and USC transfer Larry "Tui" Tuileta (Honolulu, HI) for the 2017 Warrior team.

OIA Walk-On Commits to Bows

Recruit Profile

The Rainbow Wahine team picked up their third back row player for the upcoming 2016 season in recruit Rika Okino (Honolulu, Hawaii). She is a 5’5” libero who played her prep career at Kalani HS.

As a Falcon, Okino has played as either an outside hitter or setter and has started most of her career. She was awarded a few accolades during her high school career including OIA East First Team (2014), Second Team (2015), and Honorable Mention (2012). Her team advanced to the state tournament during her freshman season.

I currently can’t find what club she is playing for at the moment as she has changed teams in her last season. However, in her past she has played for Asics Rainbow Volleyball Club where she was the starting libero. She has been with Asics for five seasons and has participated in the USA Girls Junior National Championships all five years and has medaled with a bronze twice along with a place on the All-Tournament Team her 16s year.

She is the fifth player to commit to the indoor team joining Norene Iosia (Long Beach, CA), Kirsten Sibley (Moraga, CA), Emma Smith (Manhattan Beach), and McKenna Ross (Aliso Viejo, CA) and is the only local player in the class.

McKenna Ross Commits to her Dream School

Photo Credit: Laguna Beach Volleyball Club

Recruit Profile

The Rainbow Wahine 2016 recruiting class has picked up another player to add for the upcoming fall season. McKenna Ross (Aliso Viejo, CA) has committed to the University of Hawaii.

Ross is a 5'10" outside hitter, opposite, and defensive specialist. It is not fully know what position she will play but it can be assumed that she will be a back row player. [EDIT]: According to PrepVolleyball, she will be playing back row at Hawaii.

She plays her club volleyball with Laguna Beach Volleyball Club and is a member of the 18's MB team as she is in her sixth season with the club. They have qualified for the 2016 Girls 18s Junior National Championships which are taking place this upcoming weekend in Milwaukee. For this team she plays either as an outside hitter or as an opposite. This is the same club that Kendra Koelsch ('14), Kaela Goodman ('10), and Mita Uiato ('10) has played for.

Ross is a member of the Aliso Niguel HS team where she is the starting outside hitter. She has been on varsity for three seasons and this season she was second on her team in kills, only behind Stanford bound top five recruit Kathryn Plummer. The Wolverines had a 23-7 record overall and made it to the quarterfinals of the CIF DI-A Tournament.

McKenna's sister is a 2017 UCLA gymnastics recruit and is also a 2012 Olympic Gold Medalists by the name of Kyla Ross. Both were born in Honolulu, Hawaii but now reside in Aliso Viejo, California.

Her commitment came up recently (April 25) as her sister posted a congratulations for her committing to her dream school Hawaii through Instagram. However, the Laguna Beach Volleyball Club Facebook page posted her commitment (March 2nd) but has not shown her commitment on the team roster.

She joins Norene Iosia (Long Beach, CA), Kirsten Sibley (Moraga, CA), and Emma Smith (Manhattan Beach, CA) for the Class of 2020 and the incoming freshman class this fall.

Welcome to Hawaii McKenna! (or Welcome Back)

*For more information on McKenna's highlight videos, accolades, and teams, check out her recruit profile linked at the top

I am so proud of my sister for committing to her dream school University of Hawaii to play… https://t.co/ZmYrYZcsl4

— Kyla Ross (@kyla_ross96) April 26, 2016

Howling Commits to Rainbow Wahine 2017 Team

Photo Credit: Venice HS (The Oarsman)

Recruit Profile

After a long wait of what other recruits will be added to the Class of 2017 for the indoor Wahine team, Sophia Howling (Los Angeles, CA) announced her commitment to the Rainbow Wahine. She announced her commitment through social media (via Twitter) today. Sophia will join Shaney Lipscomb (La Jolla, CA) as 2017 recruits.

Howling is a 6'2" middle blocker that plays for Actyve Volleyball that is based in Los Angeles, California. This is her second season playing for this club as it is a newer club on the rise. One of her assistant coaches who is also co-director of the club is Lainey Gera who was a national champion libero for UCLA in 2011. Her 17-1 Mizuno team is currently playing qualifiers in hope to make it to the open division at the GJNC in Indianapolis, Indiana.

As for her high school career, she plays for Venice HS where she is the kill leader for her team. Her back-to-back 300+ kill seasons earned her CIF DII Los Angeles Section First team in 2015 and Second team in 2014. As one of three captains in her junior year, she took her team to the finals of the   CLAS Tournament in one of their best seasons in school history.

Howling took a recruiting trip to Hawaii this past week. Before this she took unofficial visits to Arizona, Long Beach State, and UC Davis.

From a fan's perspective: "Sophia is an athletic and lengthy player which is great for her position. She currently enters the program as one of three middle blockers in 2017. I see her making an impact by giving depth at that position. Her hitting is greater than her blocking but she will have great coaches in college to help improve that. Looking forward to watching her progress before college."

Welcome to Hawaii Sophia!

*For more information on Sophia's highlight videos, accolades, and teams, check out her recruit profile linked at the top

Super excited to announce that I have committed to the University of Hawai'i to play d1 volleyball #gobows 💚🏐🌈 pic.twitter.com/tGqA7hTIdS

— sophia howling (@sophiaalynn) April 9, 2016

Warriors Welcome Home A Trojan

Photo Credit: Star Advertiser (Paul Honda)

| Star Advertiser | USC Profile |

The Warriors picked up an in season transfer from a former UH commit Larry "Tui" Tuileta (Honolulu, HI) yesterday. The 6'2" sophomore outside hitter will come back to Hawaii after spending his freshman year at USC. Tuileta was also a quarterback for the Trojans as well.

What really makes this transfer unique is that Tui has actually committed to the University of Hawaii in June 2013 of his junior year in high school to play football and volleyball on scholarship. However, in the few days before the NLIT signing day, there were rumors going around on how the football coach at USC offered him a walk-on position with the volleyball coach agreeing as well. Many fans were upset with this decision and the way he demonstrated it but now he is back to where he originally committed.

Photo Credit: USC Athletics

There are no official post saying why he left but it was a decision him and his family made together. Recently there were coaching changes on both the football and volleyball at USC which could be a factor along with a possibility of being close to family.

Tui spent one season as a reserve quarterback on the football team where he redshirted in 2014. He later did not return to the football team for the 2015 season as he trained in the fall with the volleyball team.

In his freshman season on the volleyball court, he was named to the MPSF All-Freshman team. Tui made an appearance in 26 matches with 12 starts collecting 173 kills while hitting .272, 118 digs, 20 blocks, and 7 aces. He had a career high 18 kills and 15 digs against BYU. When the Trojans played their two match conference series against UH in Hawaii, Tui had five kills and four digs.

Tuileta has many more accolades which may be too much to but we welcome Tui back home now as a Warrior!

Beach Transfer From Across Town

Photo Credit: Hawaii Pacific (Eric Alcanfara)

Hawaii Pacific Profile

The Beach Bows did not have to go far to pick up a transfer for the upcoming 2016 season. Brooke Garlick (Henderson, NV) is now a Rainbow Wahine after transferring to Hawaii from Hawaii Pacific. She will be a sophomore this upcoming season and will wear jersey No.12.

Garlick played two seasons as a HPU Shark where she was a 6'1" outside hitter. Playing time was limited for her as her indoor career consisted of collecting six kills, two digs, and two blocks while she only played in 20 sets over both seasons.

While at HPU, she also played for their beach volleyball team. She played at the two's spot with Pomai Recca which featured matches against Hawaii. In a exhibition match against UH, she faced Olivia Urban and Katie Spieler but fell 2-0 with the scores 21-11, 21-10. Her stat line showed her with eight kills and 25 digs. Garlick and Recca also faced Hannah Rooks and London Chow in the Gold Bracket of a tournament where Rooks and Chow won 2-0 by the scores of 21-18, 21-17. She had six kills, five digs, one block, and an ace.

Playing beach volleyball is not as popular in the Nevada but she also had some experience in California. In 2013, she won a bronze medal in the AAU Summer Series 18U Division. She also earned a bid to USA Volleyball's Junior Beach Tour Championship from the Las Vegas Open.

She is the third player to join the Beach Bows for the 2016 season. Welcome Brooke!

San Diego Beach Bow Commits For 2018

Photo Credit: San Diego Tribune (Hayne Palmer IV)

Head coach Jeff Hall picked up a recruit for the Beach Bows in the 2018 class recently. Kylin Loker (Carlsbad, CA) committed to the University of Hawaii as Beach only player. Her commitment came in mid-December. 

Loker is a 5'11" volleyball player who comes from the San Diego area with a lot of beach volleyball experience. She plays in many tournaments with most of them being with older age girls. A few tournament she has won were with college bound players including 2016 Hawaii recruit Sydney Kidd (Carlsbad, CA) and 2017 Hawaii recruit Presley Forbes (Manhattan Beach, CA).

She currently attends Carlsbad HS which had its first year of high school beach volleyball. Her and partner Rachel Noble took the championship match of the Gold Division in the San Diego High School Beach Volleyball Championships this past spring. This all occurred as she played in the ones team as a freshman.

Her beach volleyball experience comes from her club team, Tamaracks Beach Volleyball Club. Loker was exposed to the University of Hawaii coaches through Get Noticed Beach Volleyball tournaments. Get Noticed is a program that runs clinics and tournaments that college coaches attend to look at recruits. Other Wahine that took part of this are 2016 recruits Regan Hurkett (Sedona, AZ), Chloe Luyties (San Diego, CA), Kidd, 2017 recruits Forbes and Ashley Stevens (Huntington Beach, CA).

Kylin is the first recruit for the 2018 class for any of the volleyball programs. Welcome to Hawaii Kylin!

Pennsylvania Middle Commits to 2017 Warrior Team

Reese hitting || Photo Credit (John Heller/Post-Gazette)

| Recruit Profile (Posted Soon) | Recruiting Video |

The Warrior volleyball team picked up its third recruit for the 2016-17 season. This commitment came from Jack Reese (Pittsburgh, PA). He verbally committed on October 30th.

Reese is a 6'7" middle blocker that currently attends Fox Chapel HS out of Pittsburgh. He has been a member of the varsity team for at least two seasons. This past season they advanced to the PIAA Class AAA's Boys Volleyball Championships where they fell in four. Reese had 10 kills and three blocks in the loss. Overall the team ended the season with a 19-2 record.

Jack also plays for Pittsburgh Volleyball Club where he is the starting middle blocker. This summer he was on the Pittsburgh 17 Black team that placed tied for 21st for the Club Division at the 2015 Boys Junior National Championships in Columbus, Ohio.

Ecstatic to announce the continuation of my volleyball career at the University of Hawaii!!🌴 #GoRainbowWarriors🌈🌈

— Jack Reese (@JackReese1) October 31, 2015

San Diego Middle Blocker For 2017 Wahine

Recruit Profile

The Rainbow Wahine Volleyball team just received their first commitment for the Class of 2017 in Shaney Lipscomb (San Diego, CA). She verbally committed on August 8th.

Lipscomb stands 6'1" and can play either middle blocker or as an opposite. She mainly plays as a middle for her La Jolla County Day HS team and plays both middle an opposite at Coast Volleyball Club. Coast is the same club that freshman Casey Castillo played for. Her club team competed in the 2015 Girls Junior National Championships in New Orleans, LA for the 16 Open Division and placed 19th.

At La Jolla Country Day HS, she has been on varsity for two seasons. In her sophomore season, the team made it to the CIF San Diego Section 2014 Championships where they ended in the Quarterfinals. She led her team in kills, hitting percentage, and blocks. Two of those stats ranked her third in the conference.

After seeing her play in a few videos, I can see she will be a great player to come into the program. Her presence on the court is great as she has fast lateral movement and has a good snap on her swing. She is the aggressive type of player who knows how to celebrate a point. In her videos, besides her celebrating, you can hear her constantly calling for the ball which is a sign of a competitive player. Look to her to be a leader on the court in the future.

Welcome to Hawaii Shaney!

Congrats to #CoastVBC's Shaney Lipscomb on her commitment to the University of Hawaii! "Couldn't be more excited to announce my commitment to play volleyball at The University of Hawai'i❕ I'm so grateful for all the amazing coaches and trainers that helped me along the way. Can't wait to be a Rainbow in 2 years!! 🌈 😀" #CoastFamily #CoastGoesToCollege

A photo posted by COAST Volleyball Club (@coastvbc) on Aug 8, 2015 at 7:08pm PDT

Orange Coast Setter Transfers To Hawaii Warriors

Photo Credit: Orange Coast College

The 2016 Warrior Recruiting Class just got larger as Steven Duhoux (Newport Beach, CA) has transferred to the University of Hawaii. He previously played one season at Orange Coast College and one season at Irvine Valley College. Duhoux is a 6'3" setter who also played for Newport Beach HS and The HBC.

At Orange Coast College, he was one of nine players to move onto higher level schools and one of five to move onto Division I schools. As a Pirate he earned All-Pacific Coast Conference Second Team as he led the team in assists. They ended 16-6 overall and fell in the Semifinals of California Community College Athletic Association State Championships.

In his freshman season at Irvine Valley, he earned All-PCC Third team where he also led them in assists. That season they went 13-8 overall and lost to Orange Coast in the Semifinals of the CCCAA State Championships.

Steven joins the Warriors who look to have major depth at the setter position. AVCA All-America Honorable Mention Jenning Franciskovic returns for his junior season while Kekoa Pukahi comes off his redshirt season and Joe Worsley enters in his first year.

The pipeline of transfers from Orange Coast continues as it has produced a few Warriors like Harrison Carroll (2011-12), Harrison Phelps (2011-13), and Kainoa Mitchell (2013).

NorCal Outside Hitter Commits To 2016 Indoor Wahine

Photo Credit: Lamorinda Weekly

The 2016 Wahine recruiting class gained its third player with Kirsten Sibley (Moraga, CA) committing on June 6th to the indoor team. She joins Norene Iosia (Long Beach, CA) and Emma Smith (Manhattan Beach, CA).

Sibley is a 6'2" outside hitter from Northern California and competes for Vision Volleyball Club. Her club team recently competed in the 2015 Girls Junior National Championships in New Orleans, Louisiana. They placed tied for 5th out of 36 teams in the 17 Open Division.

She attends Campolindo HS which is the same high school as incoming Warrior Joe Worsley (Moraga, CA). Sibley is a three year varsity player who holds a 84-25 overall record. Her team was first in the Diablo Foothill League all three seasons coming in with a 35-1 league record.

Looking forward to her coming in the fall of 2016. Welcome Kirsten!

Moanalua Libero Commits to Warriors

Photo Credit: ScoringLive

Garrison Gabriel has committed to the University of Hawaii Men's Volleyball team this week. Gabriel is a 5'11" libero from Moanalua HS and plays for Hawaii Elite Southside Volleyball Club.

Garrison is the son of former University of Hawaii quarterback Garrett Gabriel (1987-1990) who currently holds several records for the school.

Before playing for the Na Menehune in his senior season, he transferred from Maryknoll HS where he spent three years on the varsity team as a libero or setter. One reason for his transfer was to play for a team that can reach his goal of making it to the state tournament which is where Moanalua is currently heading as the are dominating the OIA.

Gabriel has previously practiced with Ka Ulukoa (15s) and played with Ku'ikahi (16s and 17s) before switching to Hawaii Elite. He currently plays on the same team as other Hawaii commits Colton Cowell ('15) and Austin Matautia ('16). Matautia is also on the same high school team as well. Other connections to UH are their club director and previous school head coach Sean Carney (former Warrior setter '05-'09) and assistant coach Gabby Matautia (current Warrior staff member).

He is the ninth member of the 2015-16 class to commit to the University of Hawaii.

Sand Bow Commit From San Diego

Sydney Kidd who is a 5'5" sand player has committed to the University of Hawaii. Kidd currently attends La Costa Canyon HS and plays for San Diego Beach Volleyball Club.

She recently took an unofficial recently to the islands and has committed. Because of her height, she aspires to be like current Sand Bow Katie Spieler. Kidd will return to Hawaii in the summer to participate in the Pan Pacific Tournament hosted at Queen's Beach. Her and her partner have earned a bid to the Junior Olympic Tournament as well.

Sydney becomes the sixth player to commit to Hawaii in the 2016 class for sand volleyball.

Big day for me today! Just committed to playing for University of Hawaii Sand Volleyball. Go SandBows!
Posted by Sydney Kidd Beach Volleyball on Friday, April 17, 2015

Congrats to SD Beach Athlete Sydney Kidd for committing today to the University of Hawaii to play Sand Volleyball on 2016!! So happy for you going to play fro your dream school! #dreamschool #sdbeach #hawaii #hawaiibows #gobows #gosdbeach #beachvolleyball #collegeprep #sdbeachcollegeprep

A photo posted by San Diego Beach Vb Club (@sdbeachvbc) on Apr 17, 2015 at 9:34pm PDT

Warriors Get Top Maui Hitter

Colton Cowell | Photo Credit (Maui News)

Another top local kid has verbally committed to the University of Hawaii this week. Coming from Maui is Colton Cowell who is a 6'1" outside hitter from the 2015 class. He attends King Kekaulike HS and plays for Hawaii Elite Southside.

Cowell who is an excellent beach player has moved to Maui from California where he previously attended Mira Coast HS year in his freshman year where he currently still has family.

Colton teamed up this year with 2016 UH commit Austin Matautia (and current club teammate) in the Hawaii Sand Volleyball Festival and earned first place. Other accomplishments by him were 2014 Prep Sand Volleyball Champions, fourth place in the 2014 State Boy's Volleyball Tournament, and 2014 MIL Player of the Year.

He joins seven other players in the Class of 2015 that Charlie Wade may bring in a total of ten new players next season. Besides Hawaii, he was recruited by Cal Baptist, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Cruz.

Coaching Change Lands Wahine A New Recruit

After weeks of speculation through forums and blogs of a new player added to the Rainbow Wahine Volleyball team, the answer was revealed today through social media. Natasha Burns (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) who is a 6'5" middle blocker has committed to Hawaii according to her twitter.

Burns previously signed with the University of West Virginia but after the departing head coach, a few current and future players left the team. Three players have transferred out of the program and are heading to Pac-12 schools while Burns decommitted and chose to be a Rainbow Wahine. Before signing to be a Mountaineer, she was recruited by schools like Central Florida, Georgia Southern, and Seattle. She currently is at St. Mary's Catholic HS and plays for Defensa Volleyball Club.

| West Virginia Signing Press Release | Natasha Burns Commitment (Twitter) |

Warrior Weekend Recap (April 10-11) + Commitment

Warriors Successful on Senior Night Weekend

The Warrior Volleyball team dominated the two match home series against the Stanford Cardinal (10-16, 7-13) with consecutive sweeps on Friday and Saturday night. Hawaii outblocked their opponent 28.5-7.5 over the two matches and hit .364 as a team. 

The victories by the Warriors earned them a record of 23-3, 18-2 and they continue their 16-match winning streak. The longest winning streak in program is 19 matches which occurred in 2004. 

Next two match series will take place in Provo, Utah where they will face No.6 ranked BYU. These two matches will factor into the seeding of the MPSF Tournament matches. Both teams have clinched spots in the tournament with the Warriors hosting their quarterfinals game. No.4 ranked UC Irvine is currently second place and is half a match behind Hawaii. So the Warriors need to win both matches in Provo to guarantee the No.1 seed in the tournament along the possibility of hosting the semifinals and finals as well. One or two losses by Hawaii will automatically make them the No.2 seed as UC Irvine has the tie-breaker advantage with a 2-1 series victory over the Bows. 

After consecutive wins, the University of Hawaii team celebrated the final regular season home matches for their seven seniors (Brook Sedore, Taylor Averill, Davis Holt, Scott Hartley, Garrett Komisarek, Alex Jones, Ryan Leung). Each player was honored with their plaque and leis given by friends and family. There was an extra bonus to the night as Sedore pulled out a ring as part of a proposal to his girlfriend, former Rainbow Wahine Water Polo player Keola Kahaulelio. And she said yes, as the crowd gave them a standing ovation.

| Night 1 Recap | Night 2 Recap | Senior Night Highlights | Senior Night Messages | Senior Last Words |

Ben Vaught | Photo Credit (ScoringLive)

Warrior Recruits Compete Near New Home

Incoming 2015-16 Warrior recruits Ben Vaught and James Anastassiades were in town competing in the 2015 Clash of the Titans Tournament hosted by Punahou. They competed with their Huntington Beach HS team which finished 2-0 in the tournament with victories over Punahou and Hawaii Baptist Academy. The Oilers are the No.1 ranked team in the country and have a 88 match winning streak.

Both are also teammates for the HBC (Huntington Beach Volleyball Club) who are one of the top club teams in the country. Vaught is a 6'4" left-handed opposite hitter and Anastassiades is a 6'4" outside hitter who moved to the U.S. this year from Cypress.

| Huntington Beach vs. Punahou (Youtube) | Huntington Beach vs. HBA (Youtube) | Recap (ScoringLive) |

Austin Matautia | Photo Credit (ScoringLive)

Moanalua Junior Commits to Hawaii

Known as one of the best players currently in the state of Hawaii, Austin Matautia has committed to the Warrior Volleyball team. He is a 6'4" outside hitter who has been heavily recruited by nationally ranked teams in the country like Lewis, Loyola-Chicago, UC Irvine, and BYU. His sister Gabby is on the University of Hawaii men's team staff as well as the assistant coach to his club team.

Matautia has received accolades such as 2014 OIA-East Player of the Year and Boys Junior National Champion MVP for two years.

He currently plays for Hawaii Elite Southside 18's who received an Open Bid to the 2015 Boys Junior National Championships in Columbus, Ohio in July.

Matautia verbally committed to UH after watching Hawaii defeat Stanford on Friday night. Austin is the second member of the 2016-17 Warrior recruiting class joining Everett Schuett (California).

| Matautia Commits to UH (HawaiiPrepWorld) | Austin Matautia Recruiting Website |

Honors, Commitments, and USA

Fey Selected to Men's Junior National Team

Photo Credit: Hawaii Athletics

| UH Release | USA Volleyball Release |

Rising sophomore outside hitter Kupono Fey (Honolulu, HI) was recently selected to the U.S. Men's Junior National Team. They will be coached by Bill Ferguson who is the head coach at USC. Fey is one of 21 members chosen and one of ten players who played one collegiate season. The team will be cut down to 12 players and participate in the NORCECA Under-21 Continental Championships in El Salvador from July 28-August 3. Other Hawaii local product on the team is upcoming Stanford freshman libero Evan Enriques (Pahala, HI).

Warrior Walk-On Commitment

(Photo Credit: USA Volleyball) Gonsalves #1 and Spiral Volleyball Club

From posters on the Men's Board on VolleyTalk, Saige Gonsalves (Chandler, AZ) will walk on to the University of Hawaii. Gonsalves is a 5'10" libero from Hamilton HS and plays for Sprial Volleyball Club. Recently, Spiral Volleyball Club finished 1st in the 18 Open Division of the Boys Junior National Championships. He was the starting libero for his club team and high school.

Boys High School All-Americans

| 2014 High School All-Americans |

Volleyball Magazine has announced their 2014 Boys High School All-American list and incoming freshmen Luke Owens (Kailua, HI) and Kekoa Pukahi (Carlsbad, CA) were named Honorable Mention. Former UH decommit Larry "Tui" Tuileta (Honolulu, HI) was named Player of the Year and Evan Enriques (Pahala, HI) was named First Team.

Wahine Recruiting Class Honored

| Top Recruiting Classes |

The Rainbow Wahine recruiting class was named Honorable Mention by Volleyball Magazine. Hawaii's recruiting class consists of seven freshmen and one transfer. The Top 10 teams all came from the Pac-12, Big Ten, or SEC. The only other Big West team named was Long Beach State who was also listed under Honorable Mention.