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

Hawaii volleyball: UC Irvine 3, Concordia 1; SandBows sign transfer

By Cindy Luis on February 6, 2020

No. 4 UCI (6-3) def. No. 14 Concordia (5-5), 24-26, 25-18, 25-21, 25-20 Set 4: UCI wins 25-20 5:49: UCI pulling away at 20-14. TO CUI. Eagles’ serve-receive very suspect. Anteaters with 16 blocks. 5:40: UCI up 7-2. TO Eagles. Set 3: UC Irvine wins 25-21 5:24: Concordia made things interesting, closing to 21-20. TO UCI. Anteaters come back with two kills by Stadick. It’s 23-20. TO Eagles. Set 2 UCI wins 25-18 4:55: Anteaters close it out 25-18. Stadick […]

Hawaii men’s volleyball: Alfee Reft named new associate head coach at San Diego

By Cindy Luis on February 5, 2020

Congratulations to Alfred “Alfee” Reft, who was announced as the new associate head coach at San Diego today. He replaces Brent Hilliard who took the head coaching job at San Diego State. Hilliard replaces former Wahine All-American Deitre Collins whose contract was not renewed after last season. Reft was an All-America libero at Hawaii (2004-06), first team in 2005 and second team in 2006. Reft was the Asics/Volleyball Magazine Defensive Player of the Year in 2005 after totaling 272 digs […]

Hawaii men’s volleyball: Rainbow Warriors stay No. 1

By Cindy Luis on February 3, 2020

Hawaii (9-0) stayed at No. 1 in this week’s AVCA Top 15 poll, with 11 first-place votes after not playing last week. BYU (10-0), at No. 2, received the other five votes. UCSB (6-2) is at No. 3. UC Irvine (5-3) traded places with Long Beach State (5-1) at 4 and 5. UCLA (5-3) lost to Princeton but beat the Beach. The Bruins went up a spot to No. 7. #AVCA Top-15: 1. Hawai'i2. BYU3. UC Santa Barbara4. UC Irvine5. […]

Hawaii men’s volleyball: Saturday results, Beach no longer undefeated, 45-match home streak ended by UCLA

By Cindy Luis on February 1, 2020

Only Hawaii and BYU remain undefeated after this weekend No. 2 BYU def. No. 3 UC Santa Barbara, 23-25, 25-22, 20-25, 28-26, 15-11 No. 8 UCLA def. No. 4 Long Beach State 25-23, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23 Matautia 1-4-13. Bruins with 19 SEs, Beach with 21 Biggest difference UCLA 13-3 edge in blocks Beach’s 45-match home winning streak is done Impressive No. 5 UC Irvine def. USC, 25-22, 25-14, 13-25, 27-25. USC led 24-22 and 25-24. Couldn’t force a fifth No. […]

Hawaii men’s volleyball: No Warriors advance in OTB voting, match results

By Cindy Luis on January 31, 2020

Well there’s always February … and March … and April BYU’s Gabi Garcia Fernandez and David Gardini, NJIT’s Luca Berger and Rogque Nido, Long Beach State’s Mason Briggs and Penn State’s Cole Bogner all advanced to the championship round of the Off the Block National Player of the Month. Berger, Briggs, Fernandez, Gardini and Nido all won their opening-round ballots to reach the finals, Bogner received the most votes among the runner-ups on all the ballots. Online voting for the […]

Hawaii men’s volleyball: 3 Rainbow Warriors up for Off The Block awards

By Cindy Luis on January 29, 2020

Rado Parapunov (opposite), Gage Worsley (libero) and Patrick Gasman (middle) are on the ballots for Off the Block national players of the month. It’s a two-round tournament with the winners decided through online voting on the OTB website. Finalists in the first round are placed into one of five ballots based on their position. The five winners on the position ballots will advance to the championship round, along with the runner-up who received the most votes. The online poll for […]

Hawaii beach volleyball: New additions from indoor

By Cindy Luis on January 28, 2020

Haven’t had a chance to check in with beach since they started practice a few days ago. Will be heading out Thursday. Joining the SandBows officially from the indoor team Brooke Van Sickle, Jolie Rasmussen, Hanna Hellvig, Kamalei Krug, Janelle Gong, Riley Wagoner. Back for a third season, this time full time, Norene Iosia. have mentioned prior that UCI’s Harlee Kekauoha has transferred to play at UH.

Hawaii men’s volleyball: State Sen., UH alumnus Kai Kahele reflects on unlikely journey

By Cindy Luis on January 27, 2020

Kai Kahele was very candid when sharing how he went from three high schools in three years when growing up in Hilo to a scholar-athlete at the University of Hawaii. How he was told by one high school coach that he’d never be a volleyball player to being voted the most inspirational player as as a senior for the Rainbow Warriors. On Sunday evening at the Stan Sheriff Center, the state senator accepted the program’s Pae Makaukau Recognition Award during […]

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