Hawaii Warrior World

Expanded coverage of all things volleyball, including notes, observations and analysis on the Rainbow Wahine, Rainbow Warriors, SandBows and Team USA.

About the blog host

Cindy Luis covers University of Hawaii volleyball for the Star-Advertiser. She began her career as a sports journalist in Hawaii in 1981 with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and was the sports editor, assistant sports editor, columnist and beat writer during a 31-year span before the paper became the Star-Advertiser. She graduated from UCLA in 1977 with a B.A. in Communication Studies.

Latest news

Stan Sheriff Center: Memories of the 2019 Hawaii men’s volleyball team

By Cindy Luis on October 17, 2019

What the Hawaii men’s volleyball team of 2019 was able to do — with its program-record 28 victories and NCAA-record 74 consecutive sets-won — will be hard to replicate. So, too, will be the noise level on April 20 for the Big West tournament championship match against Long Beach State at the Stan Sheriff Center. I was the beat writer for UH men’s basketball for a number of seasons, including 1997-98 for what most consider the program’s signature victory, the […]

Hawaii women’s volleyball: Top 25 scores & schedule

By Cindy Luis on October 17, 2019

Wednesday’s results No. 5 Nebraska def. No. 20 Purdue, 25-21, 25-16, 23-25, 25-15 No. 13 Florida def. South Carolina, 25-17, 25-19, 25-19 No. 16 Kentucky def. Tennessee, 25-23, 25-17, 30-28 No. 23 Louisville def. Notre Dame, 22-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 15-10 Thursday’s match No. 14 Colorado State def. Boise State, 21-25, 25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 15-8

Stan Sheriff Center: Memories of the Yuval Katz Hawaii men’s volleyball era

By Cindy Luis on October 16, 2019

Some teams stand out more than others when it comes to memories and the Yuval Katz-led Warriors of 1995-96 are among the most memorable. It was the perfect storm of the brand-new arena meeting charismatic players who kept winning … a lot. Some of the myths surrounding the Warriors seem too good to be true but some of them are. Aaron Wilton did end up in a laundry cart, under towels, and was pushed past fans who waited out in […]

Stan Sheriff Center: Memories of Hawaii volleyball’s Shoji becoming the all-time winningest coach

By Cindy Luis on October 14, 2019

There were so many milestones in Dave Shoji’s illustrious 42-season career that Hawaii didn’t do a big celebration for most. Except for perhaps the 1,000th victory, the climb up the coaching wins list almost was treated as a footnote, an “oh by the way” congratulatory announcement at the end a match that marked another century number. Some of it might have been what some considered the bachi of 1992 where there was a cake for what was supposed to be […]

Hawaii women’s volleyball: Dig Pink Friday, RPI at 9, No. 22 in poll, no weekly honors

By Cindy Luis on October 14, 2019

Just learned that Friday’s match vs. UC Riverside is designated Dig Pink for breast cancer awareness ++++++ Big West honors went to Player of the Week: Lauren Matias, UC Davis (McKenns Ross nominated) Freshman of Week: Julia Crawford, Fullerton (Amber Igiede nominated) Defensive POW: Lea Ungar, Cal Poly (Norene Iosia nominated) Hawaii moved up in the RPI and dropped in the AVCA coaches poll this week. In the RPI, Hawaii is up from No. 14 to 9. Wahine opponents in […]

Hawaii women’s volleyball: Memories of Michigan State loss

By Cindy Luis on October 12, 2019

Coming in at No. 8 on our Stan Sheriff Center Top 10 countdown was the upset by Michigan State of then undefeated Hawaii at home in the 1995 regional final. My memory might be a little shaky on some of the details but this is what I recall. The Wahine were so close to making it to Springfield, Mass., birthplace of volleyball and being part of the centennial celebration. The Warriors volleyball team had been there in May as part […]

Hawaii women’s volleyball: SWEEP No. 19 Hawaii 3, UCSB 0, T25 results

By Cindy Luis on October 12, 2019

Our breaking news story Freshman hitter Hanna Hellvig put down 14 kills and senior hitter McKenna Ross added 12 as No. 19 Hawaii rebounded from being swept on Friday at Cal Poly with a 25-20, 25-22, 25-19 sweep of UC Santa Barbara in a Big West volleyball match today in Goleta, Calif. Senior setter-hitter Norene Iosia added her 10th double-double of the season with 16 assists and 14 digs for the Rainbow Wahine (14-3, 4-2), winning at UCSB for the […]

Hawaii women’s volleyball: Cal Poly 3, No. 19 Hawaii 0; T25 results

By Cindy Luis on October 11, 2019

Set 3: Cal Poly wins 25-15 5:44. Never was close 5:35: Hawaii has pulled to 16-10. TO Cal Poly 5:32: Cal Poly rolling. It’s 16-6. TO Hawaii 5:26: Tiffany Westerberg in for Sky Williams Hanna Hellvig with two errors. Cal Poly up 10-5. TO UH Set 2: Poly wins 26-24 5:13: Poly finishes it off on three kills by Dvoracek and a block of Braelyn Akana. 5:12: Hawaii was up 24-22. Cal Poly ties it at 24-24 5:09: Two kills […]

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