Vulcans volleyball lands three All-PacWest honors
Three UH-Hilo women’s volleyball players were named on the Pacific West Conference’s All-PacWest second team — seniors Taylor Tullo, Isabella Hadaller and Tani Hoke.
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ALL-PACWEST AWARDS
NCAA West Region No. 1 seed Chaminade earned four of the six Pacific West Conference special awards and placed five players on the First Team to highlight the 2023 PacWest All-Conference Volleyball selections.
The 11 conference coaches voted on the awards. Chaminade was represented by Leilani Ama as the Setter and Freshman of the Year, Hula Crisostomo as the Libero of the Year and Lizanyela Lopez is the Newcomer of the Year. PacWest champion Point Loma has the Coach of the Year in Jonathan Scott and the Player of the Year is Concordia’s Kirra Schulz.
Chaminade will open the NCAA West Regional on November 30 against No. 8 seed San Francisco State, while No. 6 seed Point Loma will take on No. 3 Cal Poly Pomona. Times are TBA at the tournament in San Bernardino.
Jonathan Scott led the Sea Lions to their first PacWest title since joining the conference in 2012. Point Loma went 18-2 in league play, clinching the NCAA automatic qualifier two weeks before the end of the season and the title outright in the final week. They topped Chaminade twice and will head to San Bernardino with a 21-6 overall record. Scott, in his tenth season at Point Loma, had guided the Sea Lions to a pair of second place finishes and now their first outright crown. This is just PLNU’s second NCAA appearance and first since 2015. His career mark is 157-105.
Kirra Schulz put up big numbers all season long for Concordia and was rewarded for her work by the conference coaches as the Player of the Year. The 5-9 outside hitter had 444 kills on the season and 3.93 per set, both tops in the conference by a large margin. She is the first Concordia player to lead the PacWest in kills and the school’s first Player of the Year. She had a career-high 34 kills against Azusa Pacific and 28 more against the Cougars in their first meeting. The 34 kills is tied for the fourth highest total in PacWest history. The San Clemente native and Gonzaga transfer finished her three+ year career as a Golden Eagle with 1,169 kills and 1,024 digs.
Freshman setter Leilani Ama of Chaminade claimed two special awards—-Setter and Freshman of the Year. The 6-foot-1 Washington native (Spokane) averaged 9.19 assists per set and had 49 assists in a match four times. Ama had the top two three-set totals in the PacWest this year with 41 and 40 assists and she had a season-high 19 digs in a match against Point Loma. She started and played in all 115 sets for the Silverswords this season, who tallied a 29-3 record heading into the NCAA West Region tournament and had a 17-3 record in the PacWest.
Chaminade had representation in the middle as well with Lizanyela Lopez voted in as the Newcomer of the Year. The 6-foot-1 middle blocker, who was a First Team AVCA and NJCAA Division I All-American last season at Trinity Valley CC (Texas), didn’t list in the PacWest top 10 in any category but had the presence in the middle and the respect of the conference coaches to earn the newcomer award. The Lima, Peru native had stat highs of four solo blocks against Fresno Pacific and eight total blocks against Azusa Pacific. The junior is a member of the Peru National Team.
Another Chaminade newcomer is Hula Crisostomo, the PacWest Setter of the Year. Crisostomo, a grad transfer from the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP), led the PacWest by a significant number with 572 digs and 5.02 digs per set. She had the highest three-set totals in the conference with 25 and 24 digs and had a season-high 30 digs in a four-set match against Biola. She had a season-best four aces early in the season against Sonoma State. The 5-foot-1 Honolulu native (Moanalua HS) started one season at UTEP after an All-American career at New Mexico Military Institute.
Schulz, Ama, Crisostomo and Lopez were all also First Team selections. Chaminade’s Greta Corti and Ajack Malual give the Silverswords five total First Team members. Point Loma had three first team selections in Abaigail Nua, Anna Massari and Torina Hommes, Azusa Pacific had a pair in Annaka Jorgenson and Kyra Palmbush and Biola was represented by First Team selection Abby Brewster.
Jorgenson, a fifth-year outside hitter, is the PacWest’s first five-time all-conference honoree. She leaves the Cougar program with 1,551 kills, fifth best in PacWest history. Fresno Pacific’s Corinne Acosa, a Second Team choice, picked up her fourth All-PacWest honor while it was the third award for Schulz, Corti and Palmbush.
It was the second all-conference selection for Nua, Malual, Massari, Brewster ahd Hommes, ditto for Acadmey of Art’s Maya McClellan and Point Loma’s Grace Hicks.
