LEXINGTON, Ky.  – The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced its 2019 AVCA Top Flight Award winners with a trio of University of Hawai'i pairs earning recognition. In its second year, the awards program is designed to recognize excellence in beach volleyball from all over the country and across all flights.
 
The AVCA Top Flight award was conceived to reward hard work and consistent play regardless of roster position. In order for a pair to be eligible for the award, two athletes must compete in at least 15 matches together and at a specific flight number. Should that pair win at least 75 percent of their matches – regardless of the overall result of the dual – they achieve "Top Flight" status.
 
The duo of Morgan Martin and Pani Napoleon (21-1) sport the second best win percentage in the nation at the No. 3 flight,. Meanwhile UH's No. 1 pair of Emily Maglio and Amy Ozee (20-6) and the No. 2 pair of  Ari Homayun and Julia Scoles (19-4) also achieved top flight status while ranking in the top 10 in win percentage.
 
UH (26-7) is currently in Gulf Shores, Ala., getting ready for the 2019 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship. The No.7 seed SandBows open up against No. 2 seed UCLA (31-3) on Friday at 6:00 a.m. HT in a match televised on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN3.