Posted on: Wednesday, May 2, 2007
HOMEGROWN REPORT
Ex-Raiders eye volleyball title aloha from the bruins
By Leila Wai and Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writers
Two 'Iolani graduates are on teams contending for the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship this weekend.
Pepperdine senior outside hitter Jon Grobe, a 2002 alum, and UC Irvine sophomore libero Brent Asuka, a 2005 graduate, are playing.
Top-seeded Pepperdine (26-2) plays fourth-seeded Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (22-7) and second-seeded UC Irvine (27-5) plays third-seed Penn State (22-7) tomorrow.
The two teams faced off in the MPSF Championship game, with UC Irvine winning 27-30, 24-30, 30-28, 30-28, 16-14, Saturday.
Grobe averages 2.41 kills per game with a .254 hitting percentage, 1.71 digs and 0.66 blocks per game. Asuka averages a team-high 2.21 digs per game (223 digs).
MORE MEN'S VOLLEYBALL
New Jersey Institute of Technology freshman outside hitter Charles Bell (Kahuku '06) averaged 2.13 kills, 1.21 digs and 0.45 blocks per game in 84 games this season.
NJIT advanced to the EIVA playoffs for the first time since 2000 and its record of 19-10 was the program's best showing since 1999.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Menlo (Atherton, Calif.) junior guard/forward Kepua Lee (Moanalua '04) was named the school's co-Female Athlete of the Year at the school's annual awards ceremony April 25.
Lee received the Don Baikie co-Female Athlete of the Year award after earning California Pacific Conference Player of the Year honors for the second straight year.
Lee's marks for points in a season (518) and points per game (19.2) are Menlo single-season records. She holds career records for points (1,364), field goals made (552) and attempted (1,293), free throws made (222) and attempted (327), and total rebounds (578).
Lee also earned the Richard F. O'Brien award, given to a student from each class who best exemplifies the true spirit of the Menlo campus through all-around excellence.
BASEBALL
Cal State Northridge senior second baseman Jonathan Sakurai ('Aiea '03) batted 6 for 14, including his first home run of the season, over the weekend against UC Santa Barbara. He is second on the team in batting at .295 and leads the team with 17 steals.
Navy senior third baseman Michael Garcia (Kalaheo '02) went 7 for 12 with four runs and a steal in a four-game series split against Bucknell over the weekend. He leads the team in batting at .361 and is second in runs with 40.
San Jose State senior outfielder Chris Balatico (Mililani '03) batted 6 for 12 against Louisiana Tech over the weekend. He is batting .302 on the season.
Penn State sophomore infielder Landon Nakata (Punahou '05) batted 4 for 8 with his first steal over the weekend against Indiana. He is batting .308 as a reserve.
Hawai'i's trio at Southern Utah had a monster weekend in sweeping a four-game series from Oakland over the weekend. Sophomore infielder/outfielder Keli'i Zablan (Saint Louis '05) batted 8 for 18 with seven runs, nine RBIs, two home runs, a triple and three steals; sophomore third baseman Chester Wilson (Saint Louis '05) batted 10 for 17 with seven runs, 11 RBIs, three home runs and three doubles; and first baseman/DH Bucky Aona (Punahou '06) went 8 for 16 with five runs, three RBIs, a double and home run. Aona leads the team in batting at .347.
Creighton junior infielder Michael Lam (Punahou '04) batted 4 for 13 to help his team sweep a three-game series from Northern Colorado over the weekend.
Brigham Young first baseman Kasey Ko (Punahou '06) went 3 for 4 in a 7-4 victory over Air Force on Friday.
TRACK AND FIELD
Southern California sophomore Donovan Lim (Punahou '05) won the high jump in a dual meet against UCLA on Saturday.
Lim jumped 6 feet, 8 inches.
SOFTBALL
Seattle University sophomore catcher Kaha Weir (Punahou '05) batted 6 for 6 with two doubles and hit her third home run of the season in a doubleheader with Central Washington on Sunday.
Seattle won the first game 6-3 but lost the second, 10-5.
Scripps (Claremont, Calif.) freshman outfielder Nicole Nakata (Roosevelt '06) has played in 28 of 39 games, with 25 starts, with a .931 fielding percentage.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
UC Irvine, with junior Jessica Broadfoot (Punahou '04) and sophomore Heidi Kaloi (Kamehameha '05), earned a trip to the NCAA Championships for the first time.
UCI earned the Big West's first-ever women's tennis at-large selection as the Anteaters join Long Beach State in the postseason.
Broadfoot was named a Big West Conference honorable mention selection.
Cleveland State senior Sarah Galon (Leilehua '03) earned all-Horizon League honors for the fourth straight year.
Galon was 25-11 at No. 1 singles (18-6 in dual matches) and 18-16 in doubles play.
Galon also earned the league's Herb Foster Sportsmanship award for the second straight year.
Occidental senior Kelly Hasegawa (Hilo), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps senior Jessica Nagasako (Baldwin) and Redlands freshman Paige Sumida (Waiakea '06) were named to the first team SCIAC.
Redlands sophomore Kaleena Wakamatsu (Baldwin '05) was named to the second team.
Nagasako (11-10 in singles and 15-9 in doubles) is the second CMS women to be first team all-SCIAC four times.
Sumida was 5-4 at No. 1 singles and 5-3 at No. 1 doubles.
Wakamatsu was 5-3 at No. 2 or No. 3 singles and 7-1 at No. 2 doubles record.
WOMEN'S GOLF
New Mexico State senior Lehua Wise (Kaua'i '03) was chosen as an at-large individual for the West Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
Arizona sophomore Amanda Wilson (Waiakea '05), Stanford sophomore Mari Chun (Kamehameha '05) and Idaho junior Kelly Nakashima (Baldwin '04) all qualified for the tournament with their respective teams.
Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com and Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.
