It’ll be a different look for Hawaii in 2017 as there will be no Dave Shoji on the bench for them. In early February, he made his decision to retire as head coach and the university selected former UH All-American Robyn Ah Mow-Santos to take his position. She will begin a new era for the Rainbow Wahine when they open the season with three home tournaments as released on their schedule.
Six NCAA tournament teams from 2016 will take a trip to Honolulu to play at the Stan Sheriff Center in front of one of the nation’s best crowds. Those teams are Baylor, BYU, Marquette, San Diego, UCLA, and Utah. Each of these teams return a handful of talented players along with top recruiting classes which will be a test for this Hawaii team. Also featured are teams like Nevada, Northern Arizona (twice), South Dakota, and Western Carolina.
UCLA returns to the islands as they have annually played each other in the preseason. This year will break the tie-breaker as their series record is 37-all. Hawaii has yet to face Marquette or Western Carolina and has not seen Utah since 2004.
This upcoming season Hawaii has scheduled 12 Top 100 RPI teams with six of them in the Top 50. Five of their conference opponents RPI range from 144-288.
The RPI game has always been the Achilles’ Heel for the Rainbow Wahine as their RPI is never high enough at the end of the regular season to allow them to host the first and second round. Home court advantage is huge for them as their thousands of fans support them which means hosting is always the goal. Even with good RPI teams in the preseason, the teams in conference is what bring them down since their record and quality of wins are not good enough compared to the other conferences.
This season will be considered a rebuilding year for the Bows as they not only lose Shoji but two starters along with two other impact reserves. All-American opposite Nikki Taylor and All-Big West outside/middle Annie Mitchem took a majority of the swings on the pins which is something will need to be replaced. Tayler Higgins, who set this to the Elite Eight in 2015, played a back-up role in 2016 and has graduated with Taylor, Mitchem, and defensive specialist Katiana Ponce. The other reserve Emma Smith played a role in the passing and defense department but has transferred closer to home and found a spot at Cal.
To start the rebuild, they will add a Top 30 recruiting class ranked by PrepVolleyball that includes middles Sophia Howling and Skyler Williams, opposite Shaney Lipscomb, outside/opposite Arden Misraje, and libero Janelle Gong.
Ah Mow-Santos will look to the veteran players in seniors libero Savanah Kahakai and middle Emily Maglio along with sophomore setter Norene Iosia to take charge of this team as they look to defend their conference title.
Spectrum Sports will televise Wahine volleyball (only to those local) but streams available for non-Hawaii residents (with Spectrum Sports subscription).
TEXACO RAINBOW WAHINE INVITATIONAL
AUG 25 (FRI) 7:00 P.M.
VS MARQUETTE
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
AUG 26 (SAT) 7:00 P.M.
VS UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
AUG 27 (SUN) 5:00 P.M.
VS UCLA
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
HAWAIIAN AIRLINES RAINBOW WAHINE CLASSIC
AUG 31 (THU) 7:00 P.M.
VS WESTERN CAROLINA
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
SEP 1 (FRI) 7:00 P.M.
VS SOUTH DAKOTA
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
SEP 3 (SUN) 4:00 P.M.
VS UTAH
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
OUTRIGGER RESORTS VOLLEYBALL CHALLENGE
SEP 7 (THU) 7:00 P.M.
VS BYU
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
SEP 8 (FRI) 7:00 P.M.
VS BAYLOR
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
SEP 9 (SAT) 7:00 P.M.
VS NEVADA
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
SEP 15 (FRI) 7:00 P.M.
VS NORTHERN ARIZONA
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
SEP 16 (SAT) 5:00 P.M.
VS ALUMNAE GAME
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
SEP 16 (SAT) 7:00 P.M.
VS NORTHERN ARIZONA
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
SEP 22 (FRI) 7:00 P.M.
VS UC IRVINE (BWC)
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
SEP 23 (SAT) 7:00 P.M.
VS UC DAVIS (BWC)
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
SEP 29 (FRI) 4:00 P.M. HT
AT CAL STATE FULLERTON (BWC)
FULLERTON, CA
SEP 30 (SAT) 4:00 P.M. HT
AT UC RIVERSIDE (BWC)
RIVERSIDE, CA
OCT 6 (FRI) 7:00 P.M.
VS UC SANTA BARBARA (BWC)
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
OCT 7 (SAT) 7:00 P.M.
VS CAL POLY (BWC)
HONOLULU, O’AHU STAN SHERIFF CENTER
OCT 13 (FRI) 4:00 P.M. HT
AT LONG BEACH STATE (BWC)
LONG BEACH, CA
OCT 14 (SAT) 4:00 P.M. HT
AT CSUN (BWC)
NORTHRIDGE, CA
OCT 20 (FRI) 7:00 P.M.
VS UC RIVERSIDE (BWC)
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
OCT 21 (SAT) 7:00 P.M.
VS CAL STATE FULLERTON (BWC)
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
OCT 27 (FRI) 4:00 P.M. HT
AT CAL POLY (BWC)
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA
OCT 28 (SAT) 4:00 P.M. HT
AT UC SANTA BARBARA (BWC)
SANTA BARBARA, CA
NOV 3 (FRI) 7:00 P.M.
VS CSUN (BWC)
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
NOV 4 (SAT) 7:00 P.M.
VS LONG BEACH STATE (BWC)
HONOLULU, O’AHU – STAN SHERIFF CENTER
NOV 16 (THU) 5:00 P.M. HT
AT UC DAVIS (BWC)
DAVIS, CA
NOV 18 (SAT) 5:00 P.M. HT
AT UC IRVINE (BWC)
IRVINE, CA
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