2021-22 Season in Review

2021-22 Season In Review

The 2021-22 season was a monumental one in Manoa. It was a year of return, renewal, and ultimately reward. It started with three sports - including a conference title-winning women’s volleyball squad - marching back from a two-year hiatus. “Coming Home” became a reality for the Rainbow Warrior football team. New coaches put a winning stamp on their respective programs. And UH’s loyal and patient fans once again filled the stands to cheer on their beloved ‘Bows.

And there was plenty to cheer about. More than a half dozen individual and team conference titles and a repeat national title capped what was a banner year for the Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine. The massive success was reflected by UH’s highest-ever finish in the Big West Commissioner's Cup (2nd). Record-breaking success and recognition also occurred in the classroom. Any way you cut it, the 2021-22 season will go down as one of the most accomplished ever on the UH Manoa campus.

TEAM POSTSEASON

  • Men’s Volleyball - NCAA National Champions
  • Women’s Volleyball - NCAA Second Round
  • Beach Volleyball - NCAA First Round
  • Women’s Basketball - NCAA First Round
  • Women’s Sailing - ICSA National Semifinals
  • Coed Sailing - ICSA National Semifinals
  • Football - EasyPost Hawai‘i Bowl
     

INDIVIDUAL POSTSEASON 

  • Men's Tennis
    • Andre Ilagan, NCAA Singles Championship 1st Round
  • Women's Track & Field
    • Lilian Turban, NCAA West Preliminaries (High Jump - 22nd)
    • Hallee Layman, NCAA West Preliminaries (Discus - 32nd)

 

BIG WEST CHAMPIONS

  • Women’s Volleyball (Regular Season)
  • Women’s Basketball (Regular Season and Tournament)
  • Men’s Volleyball (Tournament)
  • Women’s Golf  (Co-Champions)
  • Women's Water Polo (Regular Season)

 

ALL-AMERICANS

Women's Volleyball 

  • AVCA All-America
    •  Brooke Van Sickle - Honorable Mention

 

Men's Volleyball

  • AVCA All-America
    • Jakob Thelle - First Team 
    • Spyros Chakas - Second Team
    • Guilhereme Voss - Second Team
    • Dimitrios Mouchlias - Honorable Mention 

 

Beach Volleyball 

  • AVCA All-America
    • Kaylee Glagau - First Team 
    • Brooke Van Sickle -  First Team

 

Water Polo

  • ACWPC All-America
    • Elyse Lemay-Lavoie - Second Team
    • Morgan McDowall - Third Team
    • Lara Luka - Honorable Mention


ALL-REGION 

Women's Volleyball

  • AVCA, Pacific North Region
    • Brooke Van Sickle - First Team
    • Amber Igiede - Honorable mention


CONFERENCE TOP AWARDS

Big West Conference Coaches of the Year 

  • Robyn Ah-Mow - Women’s Volleyball
  • Laura Beeman - Women's Basketball
  • Charlie Wade - Men's Volleyball (Co-Coach)
  • Evan Silberstein - Beach Volleyball (Co-Coach)

 

Big West Players of the Year 

  • Brooke Van Sickle, Women’ Volleyball (Offensive POY)
  • Amy Atwell, Women’s Basketball
  • Kaylee Glagau & Brooke Van Sickle, Beach Volleyball (Pair of the Year)
  • Andre Illagan, Men’s Tennis
  • Nawai Kaupe, Softball (Defensive POY)
  • Jakob Thelle, Men’s Volleyball
  • Alyssa Mae Antolin, Track & Field (Co-Track AOY)
     

Freshmen of the Year 

  • Kathryn Ivanov - Women's Swimming & Diving  (MPSF)
  • Morgan McDowell - Water Polo (Big West)

 

POST SEASON AWARDS

  • Amy Atwell, Big West Tournament MVP - Women's Basketball
  • Jakob Thelle, Big West Tournament MVP; NCAA All-Tournament - Men's Volleyball
  • Spyros Chakas, NCAA Championship MVP - Men’s Volleyball
  • Dimitrios Mouchlias, NCAA All-Tournament - Men’s Volleyball
     

ACADEMIC AWARDS

 

NCAA Elite 90 Award

  • Kanai‘i Akana, Men’s Volleyball
     

CoSIDA Academic All-America

  • Jakob Thelle, Men’s Volleyball, First Team - At-Large
     

CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII

  • Jakob Thelle, Men’s Volleyball - At-Large
  • Andre Ilagan, Men’s Tennis - At-Large

 

UH TOP AWARD

Jack Bonham Award   

  • Male: Andre Ilagan, Men's Tennis 
  • Female: Amy Atwell, Women’s Basketball

 

HALL OF FAME

Polynesian Football Hall of Fame

  • Tommy Kaulukukui
     

EARNING DIPLOMAS

  • A total of 113 current and former student-athletes—24 in the fall and 89 in the spring—earned their degrees during the 2021-22 school year. (List of Fall Graduates  | List of Spring Graduates)
  • A total of 49 graduated from women's teams; 58 graduated from men's teams; and six earned their degrees on coed teams.

 

MAKING THE GRADE

  • 132 student-athletes made the Dean's List in Fall 2021.
  • 111 student-athletes were named to the Dean's List in Spring 2022.
  • 307 student-athletes had cumulative GPAs of 3.00 or higher.
  • Better than 90 percent of the student-athletes on the women's soccer, women's tennis and women's volleyball teams have cumulative GPAs of 3.00 or higher.
  • 19 of 21 sports have team cumulative GPAs of 3.00 or higher.
  • A total of 309 student-athletes earned scholar-athlete honors.

 

APR SCORES REMAIN STEADY

  • UH Athletics posted an all-sport Academic Performance Rate (APR) score of 980 during the 2020-21 academic year.
  • Eight of the school’s 18 teams posted perfect single-year scores of 1,000 including six women’s programs – basketball, golf, softball, soccer, swimming and diving, and tennis – and two men’s sports – golf and swimming and diving.
  • A record eight teams posted multiyear scores of 990 or higher while five programs equaled or set new all-time multiyear scores – baseball (983), men’s golf (1,000), men’s tennis (991), men’s volleyball (995), and women’s swimming (997).

 

CONFERENCE ACADEMIC HONORS

  • A total of 79 student-athletes competing in fall and winter sports were recognized as academic all-conference. It's a list that encompasses eight sports and three conferences (Big West, Mountain West and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation). The honorees for nearly a dozen spring sports have yet to be announced.

 

BIG WEST SCHOLAR-ATHLETE  OF THE YEAR

  • Men's volleyball’s Rado Parapunov and Brooke Van Sickle of the beach and indoor volleyball squads were named UH's representatives for the Big West's Scholar Athletes of the Year. It marked the fourth consecutive year a men's volleyball student-athlete earned the accolade.

 

THE JENNY AWARD

  • Kylie McNamara of women's soccer and Justin Lisoway of men's swimming and diving are the recipients of the 2021-22 Jenny Award. 
  • The Jenny Matsuda Award, given to the University of Hawai'i Athletic Department's top male and female scholar-athletes.THE JENNY AWARD. "The Jenny" is named for the former Department Chair of Student-Athlete Academic Services, who passed away in 2015. It is awarded to the top scholar-athletes with the highest cumulative grade point average and of the utmost character, standing for what Jennifer Matsuda dedicated her life to; the academic and personal success of student-athletes.

 

TOP SCHOLAR BY TEAM

  • Blake Hiraki, Baseball
  • Mate Colina and Zoar Nedd, Men's Basketball
  • Olivia Davies, Women's Basketball
  • Lea Kruse, Beach Volleyball
  • Katherine Koch, Cheerleading
  • Anna Kalabukhova, Sailing
  • Olivia Hill, Women's Cross Country
  • Eliki Tanuvasa, Football
  • Ratio Visuttipinate, Men's Golf
  • Hana Mirnik, Women's Golf
  • Kylie McNamara , Women's Soccer
  • Maya Nakamura, Softball
  • Justin Lisoway, Men's Swimming & Diving
  • Annika Donez, Women's Swimming & Diving
  • Blaz Seric, Men's Tennis
  • Léa Romain, Women's Tennis
  • Olivia Hill, Women's Track & Field
  • Kana'i Akana, Men’s Volleyball
  • Anna Kiraly, Women's Volleyball
  • Emma van Rossum, Women's Water Polo
Fall sports header

FOOTBALL

Khoury Bethley vs. Fresno State
  • UH finished with a 6-7 overall record and earned a bowl invitation for a program-record fourth consecutive year and fifth time in the last six seasons.
  • UH received an invitation to the EasyPost Hawai‘i Bowl for the 10th time in program history, however the game was canceled due to COVID concerns .
  • Linebacker Darius Muasau, and safety Khoury Bethley each earned a spot on the all-Mountain West first team.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WOMEN'S SOCCER

WSOC vs CP 9/30/21
  • UH battled throughout the season, accumulating eight points in conference play, finishing with a 2-5-2 Big West record and a 2-9-3 record overall.
  • Sophomore forward Kelci Sumida served as the team’s top-scoring threat, with five goals and 14 shots on goal.
  • UH tallied three Big West honors as sophomore midfielder Eliza Ammendolia joined Sumida on the all-Big West second team, and senior defender Natalie Daub was named an honorable mention.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

 

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

2021 Big West WVB Champs
  • UH finished the season 22-8 overall and captured it second consecutive Big West title with an 18-2 regular-season record.
  • Making its 39th all-time appearance, the Rainbow Wahine advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with an opening-round win over Mississippi State.
  • UH was led by Brooke Van Sickle who was named Big West Offensive Player of the Year, AVCA All-North Region and AVCA All-America honorable mention.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

 

CROSS COUNTRY

Cross Country at 2021 Big West Championships
  • UH placed first in the Big Wave Invitational and the Chaminade Invitational.
  • Sam North won Big West Cross Country Athlete of the Week for her performance at the Chaminade Invitational.
  • UH took eighth place finish at the Big West Championships and placed 34th at the NCAA West Region Championships.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

winter sports header

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Madut_BWCTourney_031022
  • UH posted a 17-11 mark and enjoyed a winning overall record for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons.
  • The ‘Bows went 10-5  in the Big West and clinched third-place for its best conference finish since 2015-16.
  • UH’s 6-0 league start was its best-ever since joining the Big West and tied the best start ever in conference play stretching back to WAC play in 1979-80.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

2022 Big West Women's Basketball Regular Season Champions
  • The 2021-22 squad became the first in program history to win both the conference regular season and tournament titles in the same season.
  • UH earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 and as the No. 15 seed traveled to Waco, Texas to take on No. 2 Baylor 
  • Amy Atwell was named the Big West Player of the Year and became just UH's second-ever WNBA draft pick after being selected by the Los Angeles Sparks. 

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING

Tomer_Goldfaden_WEB
  • UH scored a combined 576.50 points at the MPSF Championships, placing third overall.
  • The ‘Bows captured three first-place finishes at the MPSF Championships, including the 200 medley relay.
  • A total of eight ‘Bows were named to the conference first team, racking up a combined 38 awards between the first and second teams.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING

Immonen_2021
  • Finished second in the MPSF Championship with 700 total points, snapping a five-year streak of conference championships.
  • The ‘Bows claimed five event titles at the MPSF Championships, including the 200 medley relay championship.
  • Kathryn Ivanov was named MPSF Freshman Swimmer of the Year.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

Spring sports header

MEN'S GOLF

Pierce Braun 2022 Big West Championship
  • Scott Simpson, a 27-year PGA Tour veteran and U.S. Open champion, completed his first season as head coach of the Rainbow Warriors.
  • UH opened the Simpson era with a win at the HPU Sharks Shootout in ‘Aiea, O‘ahu.
  • The Warriors improved their 18-hole scoring average by 6.2 strokes compared to last year while three of the team's top scorers were freshman.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WOMEN'S GOLF

Women's Golf Fresno State Classic Champions
  • UH shared the Big West Conference championship with Cal Poly for the program’s first-ever conference title and just missed out on its first NCAA Regional appearance since 2007.
  • The 'Bows recorded their highest national ranking (#78) in 15 years and posted its best scoring average in program history (298.3).
  • UH posted four team wins and two individual medalists.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

MEN'S TENNIS

Andre Ilagan vs. Cal Poly2 3-24-2022
  • Hawai'i finished with 12 wins, its most since recording 12 wins in 2010.
  • UH earned an ITA national ranking for the first time in a decade rising to as high as No. 64 
  • Andre Ilagan enjoyed a historic season, earning the highest ITA ranking (No. 11) ever by a UH player while becoming just the second Rainbow Warrior to earn a bid the the NCAA Singles Championship. 

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WOMEN'S TENNIS

Weinman day 1
  • The Rainbow Wahine finished the season with a 12-8 overall dual match record and a 7-2 conference record to finish third in the Big West regular season.
  • UH advanced to the Big West semifinal round for the sixth consecutive tournament after sweeping CSUN in the quarterfinal.
  • The 'Bows went on a seven-match win streak--which included six sweeps over their opponents. UH entered the ITA rankings for the first time in four years with its longest win streak since 2018 

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

WIdenr
  • The Rainbow Wahine returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years and made their fifth appearance overall with an at-large bid.
  • After being ranked as high as No. 8 nationally, UH finished the season 13th in the final AVCA poll with a 24-16 mark.
  • Kaylee Glagau and Brooke Van Sickle were named Big West Pair of the Year and to the AVCA All-America first team.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WATER POLO

team
  • The Rainbow Wahine finished the season 16-6 overall with a 6-0 record in the Big West Conference.
  • UH claimed their fifth overall Big West regular season title, and finished runner-up in the Big West  Conference Tournament.
  • Elyse Lemay-Lavoie and Morgan McDowall were named to the All-Big West first team.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL

2022 NCAA Champions
  • UH captured its second consecutive NCAA title with a straight-set victory over Long Beach State, May 7 in Los Angeles, Calif.
  • UH finished the season with a 27-5 record, which tied for the second most wins in a single-season in program history.
  • UH captured its second Big West Championship tournament title with a straight-set win over Long Beach State in Honolulu.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

SOFTBALL

Rossi home run
  • The Rainbow Wahine finished the season with a 23-19 overall record while finishing in third place in the Big West with a 17-10 conference record.
  • Hawai‘i won six conference series--including a trio of sweeps over CSUN, Cal State Bakersfield, and for the first time in program history, Cal State Fullerton.
  • Senior shortstop Nawai Kaupe was named Big West Defensive Player of the Year.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

SAILING

Rainbow Invite 2022
  • Both the coed and Rainbow Wahine advanced to the ICSA National Championship in New Orleans.
  • The coed squad captured four of nine regattas on the season, including three in the spring to earn an at-large bid
  • The Rainbow Wahine, who earned an automatic bid to nationals with a runner-up finish in the PCCSC Championship, finished no lower than third in all six of their regular-season women's events. 

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

BASEBALL

Hill_Miyao_2022
  • Under first-year head coach Rich Hill the Rainbow Warriors finished the year third in the Big West Conference,  the highest UH has ever finished since joining the conference.
  • Hawai‘i won 19 conference games, which included a span of seven-straight series wins and three sweeps.
  • Five Rainbow Warriors earned Big West Conference honors, headlined by Blaze Koali‘i Pontes who made the first team.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

TRACK & FIELD

Gordon
  • The Rainbow Wahine had eight athletes record times or marks inside the top-10 all-time in school history.
  • UH earned 10 medals at the Big West Championship and finished in second for its highest finish ever in a conference championship.
  • UH had nine athletes make the all-conference team in the Big West.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

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