By BILL O’REAR
Tribune-Herald sports editor
Corey Kozuma fired a 68 in the afternoon round, including a hole-in-one, to lift the University of Hawaii at Hilo into second place after the first day of the Western Washington Invitational on Monday in Bellingham, Wash.
Host Western Washington led in team scoring with a 568 total. The Vulcans (296-282) were second at 578 and British Columbia third at 580.
Kozuma, a junior out of Iolani Schools on Oahu, had a 70 in the morning round before shooting his 68 in the afternoon for a 138 total. The hole-in-one, his first as a collegiate player and second overall, came on the 18th hole while using a 5 iron.
“It was a solid strike,” Kozuma said. “It went on the line just like I hoped for and I saw the ball land. I knew it was on the green, but the tee is elevated and I didn’t know it went in until I got closer and saw all the people cheering. It feel really good.”
“Corey played really well in the afternoon,” UHH head coach Earl Tamiya said. “As a team, we didn’t play very good in the morning session. But we came back to play really good in the afternoon. If we can maintain that level of play tomorrow (today), we should be OK.”
Sophomore Jaime Hall (75-71) followed Kozuma with a 146 total, but struggled with the putter. Hall was joined at 146 by junior teammate Chris Shimomura (73-73). Sophomore Dalen Yamauchi (78-70) was next at 148 and freshman Kyeton Littel (79-75) was at 154.
Tamiya also noted that playing conditions on Monday “were good, with cool but comfortable weather.”
Rounding out team scoring were Grand Canyon and Sonoma State at 584, followed by St. Martin’s (586), Dixie State (589), Simon Fraser (591), Concordia (598), Academy of Art (619), Northwest Nazarene (620) and California Baptist (622).
Notes: The Vulcans will remain in the Pacific Northwest and next play in the GolfWeek Division II Fall Invitational on Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at the Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore. … Kozuma’s first ace came as a junior golfer while competing in a junior qualifier at Turtle Bay. He holed No. 11 on the scenic course.
Volleyball
Junior Patty Snel had 14 kills with only two errors in 35 attempts and freshman Bria Morgan added 26 kills in 72 swings to lead the University of Hawaii at Hilo to a 25-17, 25-17, 23-25, 25-17 win over Holy Names University on Monday night.
The Pacific West Conference women’s volleyball match was played in Oakland, Calif., the home of new-league member Holy Names.
The Vulcans, under head coach Tino Reyes, improved to 2-8 overall and 2-2 in PacWest play. The Hawks slipped to 3-9 and 2-2, respectively.
“We played OK,” Reyes said. “But Holy Names is kind like us, a little undermanned. However, it’s nice to win our first road game.
“Now, we’ve got to learn to be a little more consistent and not have the girls fall asleep on us.”
The Vulcans play at Dominican University (4-6, 2-0) in a PacWest match today in San Rafael, Calif.
“Hopefully we can win some more matches on this road trip and show that we’ve turned the corner,” Reyes said.
After tonight, UHH plays at Academy of Art University (3-10, 0-4) on Friday in San Francisco; Notre Dame de Namur (1-11, 0-3) on Saturday in Belmont, Calif.; and closes the five match PacWest road trip on Oct. 2 at Fresno Pacific University (11-1, 3-0) in Fresno.
