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Season In Review 2022-23

General

2022-23 Season In Review

The 2022-23 season was a year of transition and triumph. The school year kicked off with the return of a legend who injected renewed energy into a proud program. It continued with memorable moments on the field, court and in the water – from the agonizing to the exhilarating. And it wound down with another NCAA title run for a program that continued to capture the imagination of fans across the islands and around the globe.

The 2022 calendar year also marked the 50th anniversary of Title IX and fittingly it was the females who took the forefront. Five of UH’s six programs that made the postseason were from the women’s side. Individually, UH’s final sporting event of the year saw a history-turning performance at the NCAA Women’s Track & Field Championships. 

Of course, success extended beyond the playing field. More than 130 student-athletes became UH graduates. And more than 300 earned scholar-athlete honors, displaying their worth would not be confined to just their sporting achievements.   

TEAM POSTSEASON

  • Men’s Volleyball - NCAA National Runner-up
  • Women’s Basketball - NCAA First Round
  • Women’s Volleyball - NCAA First Round
  • Beach Volleyball - NCAA First Round
  • Women’s Tennis - NCAA First Round
  • Women’s Sailing - ICSA National Semifinals
     

INDIVIDUAL POSTSEASON 

  • Women’s Swimming
    • Laticia Transom, NCAA Championships, 100 free (7th); 200 free (22nd); 200 (21st) & 400 (20th) free relay
    • Anna Friedrich, NCAA Championships, 200 (21st) & 400 (20th) free relay
    • Holly Nelson, NCAA Championships, 200 (21st) & 400 (20th) free relay
    • Gabrielle Scudamore, NCAA Championships, 200 (21st) & 400 (20th) free relay
  • Men's Tennis
    • Andre Ilagan, NCAA Singles Championship Round of 16
  • Women's Track & Field
    • Lilian Turban, NCAA Championship (High Jump - 4th)
    • Hallee Mohr, NCAA West Preliminaries (Discus - 27th)
    • Alyssa Mae Antolin, NCAA West Preliminaries (200m - 28th)

 

BIG WEST CHAMPIONS

  • Women’s Volleyball (Regular Season)
  • Women’s Basketball (Tournament)
  • Women’s Tennis (Regular Season and Tournament)
  • Men’s Volleyball (Regular Season and Tournament)

 

MPSF CHAMPIONS

  • Women’s Swimming & Diving

AWARDS & HONORS

 

NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR

  • Jakob Thelle, AVCA, Men's Volleyball

 

NATIONAL ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR

  • Milan Zarkovic, ACVA, Men's Volleyball

 

ALL-AMERICANS

 

Women's Volleyball

  • Amber Igiede - AVCA, Third Team

 

Women's Swimming

  • Laticia Transom - CSCAA, 100 free

 

Beach Volleyball

  • Kaylee Glagau - AVCA, First Team
  • Brooke Van Sickle - AVCA, First Team

 

Men's Volleyball

  • Jakob Thelle - AVCA, First Team
  • Dimitrios Mouchlias - AVCA, First Team
  • Guilherme Voss - AVCA, First Team
  • Spyros Chakas - AVCA, Second Team
  • Chaz Galloway - AVCA, Honorable Mention
  • Brett Sheward - AVCA, Honorable Mention

 

Water Polo

  • Bia Mantellato Dias, ACWPC, Second Team
  • Alba Bonamusa Boix, ACWPC, Honorable Mention
  • Emma van Rossum, ACWPC, Honorable Mention

 

Men's Tennis

  • Andre Ilagan, ITA

 

Track & Field

  • Lilian Turban, USTFCCCA

 

Baseball

  • Harrison Bodendorf, Freshman All-America, Collegiate Baseball

 

ALL-REGION

 

Women's Volleyball

  • Amber Igiede - AVCA, Pacific Northwest

 

SOFTBALL

  • Maya Nakamura - NFCA, West, Third Team

 

CONFERENCE TOP AWARDS

 

Conference Coaches of the Year 

  • Robyn Ah-Mow - Big West, Women’s Volleyball
  • Michael Stephens - MPSF, Women's Swimming and Diving
  • Jun Hernandez - Big West, Women's Tennis
  • Charlie Wade - Big West, Men's Volleyball

 

Conference Players of the Year 

  • Amber Igiede, Big West, Women's Volleyball
  • Laticia Transom (Swimmer) - MPSF, Women's Swimming and Diving
  • Kaylee Glagau & Brooke Van Sickle (Pair), Big West, Beach Volleyball
  • Jakob Thelle - Big West, Men's Volleyball
  • Bia Mantellato Dias - Big West, Women's Water Polo
     

Conference Freshmen of the Year 

  • Caylen Alexander - Big West, Volleyball
  • Holly Nelson - MPSF, Women's Swimming
  • Bia Mantellato Dias - Big West, Water Polo
  • Erik Anderson - PCCSC, Coed Sailing

 

POST SEASON AWARDS

  • Daejah Phillips, Big West Championship Most Valuable Player, Women's Basketball
  • Lily Wahinekapu, Big West Championship All-Tournament, Women's Basketball
  • Dimitrios Mouchlias, NCAA All-Tournament, Men's Volleyball
  • Jakob Thelle, Big West Championship Most Valuable Player; NCAA All-Tournament, Men's Volleyball
     

ACADEMIC AWARDS

 

CSC Academic All-America

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

CSC Academic All-District

 

Women's Soccer

  • Taylor Caporus
  • Maya Gonzalez
  • Lauren Marquez
  • Kylie McNamara
  • Krista Peterson
  • Kelci Sumida

 

Women's Volleyball

  • Kendra Ham
  • Amber Igiede
  • Tayli Ikenaga
  • Riley Wagoner

 

Football

  • Kyler Halvorsen
  • Noa Kamana
  • Fo'i Shaw
  • Eliki Tanuvasa
  • Logan Taylor

 

Men's Baksetball

  • Bernardo da Silva
  • Kamaka Hepa
  • Beon Riley

 

Women's Basketball

  • Olivia Davies
  • McKenna Haire
  • Meilani McBee
  • Kailin Spiller
  • Lily Wahinekapu

 

Men's Swimming & Diving

  • Makena Ginoza
  • Sawyer Kruse
  • Justin Lisoway
  • Ian Venter

 

Women's Swimming & Diving

  • Anna Friedrich
  • Kathryn Ivanov
  • Elma Lund
  • Laticia Transom

 

Men's Golf

  • Tyler Ogawa

 

Women's Golf

  • Mayumi Umezu
  • Hyeonji Kang

 

Men's Tennis

  • Axel Labrunie

 

Women's Tennis

  • Madison Kim
  • Satsuki Takamura

 

Beach Volleyball

  • Kaylee Glagau
  • Brooke Van Sickle

 

Men's Volleyball

  • Kana'i Akana
  • Jakob Thelle

 

Women's Water Polo

  • Emma van Rossum

 

Softball

  • Mya'Liah Bethea
  • Maya Nakamura
  • Rachel “Bueller” Sabourin

 

Baseball

  • Kyson Donahue
  • Cameron Hagan

 

Women's Track & Field

  • Anna Marx
  • Caelan Miller
  • Sophia Morgan
  • Tierra Sydnor
  • Lilian Turban

 

UH TOP AWARD

 

Jack Bonham Award   

  • Male: Jakob Thelle, Men's Volleyball
  • Female: Emma van Rossum, Women's Water Polo

 

HALL OF FAME

  • Harry Field - Polynesian Football Hall of Fame
  • Solomon Elimimian - Canadian Football League
     

EARNING DIPLOMAS

  • A total of 137 current and former student-athletes—41 in the fall and 96 in the spring—earned their degrees during the 2022-23 school year. (List of Fall Graduates  | List of Spring Graduates)
  • A total of 62 graduated from women's teams; 60 graduated from men's teams; and 15 earned their degrees on coed teams.

 

MAKING THE GRADE

  • 306 student-athletes made the Dean's List.
  • UH boasted 312 scholar-athletes who earned cumulative GPAs of 3.00 or higher by the end of the 2022-23 school year.
  • All but two of UH’s 21 programs (90%) had team cumulative GPAs of 3.00 or higher.

 

APR SCORES REMAIN STEADY

  • UH Athletics posted an all-sport Academic Performance Rate (APR) score of 980 during the 2021-22 academic year, marking the second straight year they posted that score.
  • Men’s golf and women’s tennis posted perfect single-year scores of 1,000.
  • Seven of the school’s 18 teams posted multiyear scores of 990 or higher while four programs equaled or set new all-time multiyear scores –men's golf (1,000), men's tennis (991), beach volleyball (995), and softball (994).
  • Six of the seven men's sports scored above their respective national averages while six of the 11 women's programs posted averages equal or above their national averages.
  • Eight teams posted perfect single-year scores of 1,000. Among the teams that posted perfect single-year scores included four men's sports – basketball, golf, swimming and diving, and tennis and four women's programs – beach volleyball, softball, tennis, and volleyball.

 

CONFERENCE ACADEMIC HONORS

  • A total of 128 student-athletes competing were recognized as academic all-conference. It's a list that encompasses18 sports and three conferences (Big West, Mountain West and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation). 

 

THE JENNY AWARD

  • Kylie McNamara of women's soccer and Justin Lisoway of men's swimming and diving repeated as the recipients of the 2022-23 Jenny Award. Lea Kruse of beach volleyball also garnered the award.
  • The Jenny Matsuda Award is given to the University of Hawai'i Athletic Department's top male and female scholar-athletes. "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 ACADEMIC TEAMS

  • Women’s Tennis. Women Soccer  - 3.64 Team GPA
  • Men’s Tennis - 3.26 Team GPA 

 

TOP SCHOLAR BY TEAM

  • Blake Hiraki, Baseball
  • Zoar Nedd., Men’s Basketball
  • Kallin Spiller, Women’s Basketball
  • Sarah Burton/Chandler Cowell/Lea Kruse, Beach Volleyball
  • Katherine Koch, Cheerleading
  • Keilah Wilkes. Women’s Cross Country
  • John Tuitupou, Football
  • James Whitworth, Men’s Golf
  • Hyeonji Kang, Women’s Golf
  • Teddy Knobel, Sailing
  • Kylie McNamara, Women’s Soccer
  • Amelia Fidge/Kayla Tierney, Softball
  • Justin Lisoway/Mario Surkovic, Men’s Swimming & Diving
  • Annika Donez, Women’s Swimming & Diving
  • Andre Ilagan, Men’s Tennis
  • Rita Pinto, Women’s Tennis
  • Rose Forshaw/Daniella Smith, Women’s Track & Field
  • Kana‘i Akana, Men’s Volleyball
  • Chandler Cowell, Women’s Volleyball
  • Raha Peiravani, Women’s Water Polo
Fall sports header

FOOTBALL

Brayden Schager - UH vs. UNLV (11-19-2022)
  • Head coach Timmy Chang completed his first season at his alma mater, guiding the Rainbow Warriors to a 3-10 season. His first career victory came against Duquesne in UH’s Homecoming Game.
  • UH placed eight members on the Mountain West’s all-conference teams, including a pair on the first team — OL Ilm Manning and TE Caleb Phillips.
  • OL Micah Vanterpool was picked to the all-MW second team while five others earned honorable mention – DL Blessman Ta’ala, RB Dedrick Parson, DL John Tuitupou, RB Tylan Hines, and DB Peter Manuma.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Team celebration vs. UCR
  • The Rainbow Wahine finished seventh in The Big West, one spot out of the conference tournament at 3-4-3 in league play and 6-6-6 overall.
  • Hawai‘i totaled 12 points in Big West play and were in the hunt for a spot in the conference tournament until the final match of the season, when UH fell to eventual NCAA Round of 16 team UC Irvine.
  • Four UH players earned postseason recognition from The Big West, led by Eliza Ammendolia on the first team. Jacey Jicha was named second-team all-conference while Amber Gilbert was named all-freshman and Krista Peterson received honorable mention recognition. 

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

 

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Celebration vs. LSU, NCAA 1st Round
  • Advanced to its 29th-straight and 40th-overall NCAA Tournament.
  • Finished 2022 with a 22-6 overall and 19-1 Big West record to win its third-straight Big West title (11th BW title overall & seventh since rejoining the league in 2012). It marked UH's 26 overall conference title.
  • Had a season-long and a Big West-best 12-match win streak (longest since 2019) snapped with an NCAA First round loss to LSU. 

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

 

CROSS COUNTRY

BigWave_WEB_090322
  • The Rainbow Wahine kicked off the season by winning the Big Wave Invitational at Kahuku Golf Course on O‘ahu’s North Shore as senior Caelen Miller paced the way for her first career victory.
  • Miller turned in a stellar season as she recorded top times for the ‘Bows in five of the six meets during the 2022 campaign
  • UH placed eighth overall in the Big West Championships, with Miller finishing at 26th overall, the highest individual finish for a ‘Bow since 2016.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

winter sports header

MEN'S BASKETBALL

McClanahan dribble
  • UH finished 22-11 overall, posting a 20-win season for the first time since 2015-16 and for the 10th time in program history.
  • It also marked UH’s sixth straight winning season, the second longest streak in program history.
  • The ‘Bows captured the inaugural Patty Mills North Shore Classic while making its first-ever appearance at the Cannon Activities Center in Laie, O‘ahu.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Big West Champs Team Photo
  • The ‘Bows erased a 15-point second-half deficit, their largest of the season, to rally past UC Santa Barbara for the Big West Tournament title. 
  • It marked the first time in program history the ‘Bows have won back-to-back tournament titles. 
  • The ‘Bows earned the second straight NCAA bid and received a No. 14 seed. UH traveled to Baton Rouge, La., falling to eventual national champion LSU in a first-round matchup. 

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING

Team - Men's Swimming & Diving Intrasquad Meet
  • Junior Mackaby Pennington won two MPSF diving championships, winning the 1-meter and 3-meter competition.
  • Pennington and fellow men’s diver Juan Gonzalez each sit in the top 10 at UH in all three diving events.
  • Set two program relay records at the MPSF Championships (400 free relay, 800 free relay).

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING

Group Green & White Meet
  • Claimed the seventh MPSF title in program history and sixth in the last seven years.
  • Dominated at the MPSF Championships, finishing with 773.5 points, winning nine of the 18 events at the meet.
  • The highest-finishing non-Power 5 school at the NCAA Championships, scoring 11.5 points to come in 31st.

 

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

Spring sports header

MEN'S GOLF

Josh Hayashida Big West Championship
  • In the second year of the Scott Simpon era, the team posted its lowest scoring average in program history (291.0) while its par-3 scoring and par-5 scoring were also program-bests.
  • Team posted 10 rounds of par or better, which was the second-most in a single-season in program history.
  • Blaze Akana (72.37) and Atsuya Oishi (72.40) recorded the second- and third-best scoring averages in relation to par in program history.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WOMEN'S GOLF

Mayumi Umezu Anuenue Classic
  • Hyeonji Kang was named first-team all-Big West while Mayumi Umezu earned second-team honors. Both were named to College SportsCommunicators All-District Team.
  • Kang recorded the lowest scoring average in program history (73.83) and posted three Top 10 finishes, including a tie for second at the Cowgirl Classic with a 2-over 218 total.
  • Team’s scoring average of 303.8 was the fourth-lowest in program history.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

MEN'S TENNIS

Andre
  • Since being named the men’s tennis head coach, Joel Kusnierz has led the Rainbow Warriors to four-straight winning seasons. In 2022-23 the Warriors finished with an 11-9 overall record.
  • Hawai‘i finished 4th in the Big West with a 3-3 record.
  • In the BW Championship semifinals, UH recorded an epic, come-from-behind win over Cal Poly. Down 1-3, No. 1 Andre Ilagan’s three-set victory sparked the comeback with a three-set win and No. 2  Axel Labrunie and No. 4 Guillaume Tattevin closed out the match edging out the Mustangs, 4-3.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WOMEN'S TENNIS

WTEN BW Champions 2023
  • Finished the 2022-23 season with an overall record of 14-8 while going 8-1 in The Big West.
  • Became the first team in program history to win both the Big West regular season and BW Championship tournament title in the same year.
  • Advanced to the NCAA Tennis Team Championships for the third time in program history [2012 (WAC), ‘18 (BW), and ‘23(BW)].

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Huddleston Spike
  • The Rainbow Wahine made a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year and for the sixth time overall with an at-large bid.
  • The BeachBows finished the year with a 27-9  record, concluding its season with a loss to No. 6 seed  Loyola Marymount in the NCAA Round of 16. 
  • UH climbed to as high as eighth in the national rankings before finishing 10th in the final AVCA poll. It was the BeachBows first top 10 finish since 2020.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

WATER POLO

Olivia Kistler
  • UH finished the season 21-6 overall, notching the program’s 10th season of 20 or more wins and its highest win total since the 2018 season.
  • The Rainbow Wahine finished runner-up to UC Irvine in the regular season title and advanced to the title match of the Big West Conference Championship for the fifth straight time, falling to the UCI, 10-9, in overtime.
  • The Rainbow Wahine were ranked as high as fourth nationally before finishing the season at No. 6 in the final CWPA Poll. 

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Big West Tourney team shot
  • Hawai‘i (29-3) appeared in its fourth consecutive NCAA title match, becoming the first school since UCLA, who made six straight appearances from 1993-98. UH’s bid for a third consecutive NCAA title fell short with a four-set loss to UCLA.
  • UH’s 29 wins this season were the most in program history while its 26 regular season win which was also a program-high.
  • Setter Jakob Thelle was named the AVCA Player of the Year, becoming the school’s fifth-ever recipient and second in the last three seasons. He also repeated as Big West Player of the Year, marking the fourth straight year a Rainbow Warrior received the award.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

SOFTBALL

Mya'Liah Bethea swing
  • The Rainbow Wahine finished the 2023 season with a 30-23 overall for its second-straight winning season. It is just the sixth winning season for UH since 2013.
  • Finished in a tie for fifth place in the Big West with a 13-14 record.
  • UH recorded 30 wins for the 25th time in program history, the first time since 2019.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

SAILING

  • The coed team captured three regattas and finished in the top three in all but two of their nine regattas on the season.
  • UH beat out nearly a dozen other schools to capture the Peter Wenner Rainbow Invite for the seventh straight time on their home waters of Keehi Lagoon. 
  • In an unprecedented weekend in mid-March, the University of Hawaii coed sailing program entered two separate regattas and captured both of them.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

BASEBALL

Team vs. UCSB
  • Hawai‘i posted its second straight winning season in Big West play - marking the second time ever UH has finished above .500 since joining the conference, both under head coach Rich Hill.
  • Finished the season on a nine-game home winning streak and 19-7 overall at Les Murakami Stadium - the best home record since 1998.
  • Hit the most home runs (36) in a season for a Hawai‘i team since 2010 and scored the most runs per game (6.3) since 2007.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

TRACK & FIELD

Caitlin_Simmons_BenBrownInvite
  • The Rainbow Wahine recorded 23 finishes in Idoor where student-athletes wrote their names in the UH record book with top-10 results
  • Three all-time records were broken in 2023 for the outdoor program.
  • Sophomore Lilian Turban recorded a phenomenal run during the 2023 season as she won seven consecutive high jump events throughout the season and was an All-American by finishing fourth in the NCAAs.

|  COMPLETE SEASON REVIEW  |

#GOBOWS