Latest news

Warriors land nose tackle

By Stephen Tsai on April 14, 2015

Nose tackle Nikko Taylor of Riverside City College told the Star-Advertiser he has accepted a football scholarship from the Warriors. This is what it means: > Fills a need: Three guys who played nose last year — Moses Samia, Marcus Malepeai and Calen Friel — graduated the past December. Kory Rasmussen and Penitito Faalologo have taken most of the snaps at nose this spring. > Big body: Taylor is 6 feet, 300 pounds and capable of benching more than 400 […]

Football: Monday’s practice

By Stephen Tsai on April 13, 2015

Max Wittek took the majority of snaps in 7-on-7, team and red-zone drills today, but there still is no announced starter at quarterback. The rotation went like this: Wittek, Ikaika Woolsey, Wittek, Beau Reilly. Repeat. The QBs had their moments as the offense continues to improve. * * * * * Keelan Ewaliko, who missed a week because of a staph-like infection, resumed practicing today. He’s grouped at right wideout, along with Ammon Barker. Left wideout Marcus did not practice […]

Senior moments

By Stephen Tsai on April 12, 2015

The father of All-America middle Taylor Averill sang the national anthem and Hawaii Pono‘i. More than 7,000 attended senior night to watch the top-ranked Warriors win their 16th in a row. Opposite attacker Brook Sedore proposed to his girlfriend, Keola Kahaulelio, a former Rainbow Wahine water polo player. All in all, it was a good night for volleyball and UH. “This is more of what we envisioned when I came back six years ago,” Charlie Wade said of the largest […]

Spreading the aloha

By Stephen Tsai on April 11, 2015

Our family friend and excellent chef Dean Mishima started a small diner in Kaneohe several years ago. He had steady — but not overwhelming — business. Then he was featured on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” Dean even sported a bleached haircut to match host Guy Fieri’s. Dean moved to the old Zippy’s location in Kaneohe, and now Dean’s Drive-Inn is booming. Even though the long-time customers wait in line longer, they’re all happy. Dean’s a great guy. […]

Match day: Stanford

By Stephen Tsai on April 10, 2015

Because UC Irvine can’t stop winning, the volleyball Warriors probably need to win out to earn the regular-season title and No. 1 seed in the MPSF playoffs. The Warriors have four regular-season matches remaining, starting tonight against Stanford in the Stan Sheriff Center. UH (16-2) and UCI (17-3) are in a virtual tie for first place, although the Anteaters hold the tie-breaker. A side story to the UH-Stanford match is Spencer McLachlin, the Warriors’ assistant coach in charge of scouting […]

Say something!

By Stephen Tsai on April 9, 2015

There is more to the story, right? There has to be more to the story. When a guy navigates a program from self-sanctions to 22 victories — one away from a berth in the Big Dance — and then becomes unemployed, there has to be story, right? Benjy Taylor seems like a nice guy and, obviously, he has love for the program and his players. When former coach Riley Wallace was hospitalized on Maui, Taylor showed up with a gift […]

UH plan: 200 free playoff tickets to students

By Stephen Tsai on April 8, 2015

As part of student fees, UH-Manoa students do not have to pay for tickets to UH sporting events. The exception is the playoffs, which have restrictions on what are termed “comps.” That means students would have to be charged a nominal admission fee. In response, the top-ranked volleyball Warriors are working on a plan to pay for 200 tickets to be distributed — for free — to the first 200 UH-Manoa students in line for the April 25 quarterfinals in […]

Staff transactions

By Stephen Tsai on April 7, 2015

Whoops. We forgot to mention these offseason transactions: > Spencer Hagan, a grad assistant the past year after graduating from California, is an assistant coach at UC Davis. > Donovan Raiola, who was helpful as an intern working with UH’s offensive line last season, accepted a GA’s position at Notre Dame. > Brad Vonnahme, a GA who assisted the defense last season, followed Kevin Clune to Utah State. His new title is special teams/defensive administrative assistant. > Justin Clapp, a […]