By Cindy Luis

The Rainbow Wahine was crowned Miss Honolulu Saturday night. She gave a sweet and very emotional speech as tonight’s volleyball banquet. Even got to use her crown as a prop at the end. She’s vying for Miss Hawaii in June.

By Dave Reardon

Sources tell us Saddleback wide receiver Mike Tinoco, College of the Canyons defensive back Chris Black and Los Angeles Harbor defensive back Jeremy Bryant have all committed to UH.

>> Tinoco is listed at 6-2, 195.

>> Black, a cornerback, is listed at 5-11, 170, and having run a 4.52 40. At some point, he had an offer from Idaho State.

>> Bryant is also a corner. He’s listed at 5-10, 178, with a 4.48 40 to his credit. According to his scout.com bio, he suffered a torn ACL in 2006, but had a fine year in 2007 with four picks and 54 tacles. He was offered by Akron and visited Washington State.

By Dave Reardon

UH threw a curve at us and decided to announce the new defensive line coach a couple of days early.

He’s Dave Aranda, a Greg McMackin protege from his Texas Tech days.

Jason Kaneshiro profiled him in today’s Star-Bulletin.

By Cindy Luis

The Warriors rallied to win Game 1 30-25. Hawaii hit .432, just 2 errors, and had 3 service aces. Hawaii wins Game 2 30-24, another 3 aces. Walker with 8 kills, Schkud 7, Carney 6. Warriors have 8-3 edge in blocks, Grgas in on 6, Schkud 4.

By Cindy Luis

UCLA def. Pepperdine, 21-30, 30-20, 27-30, 30-28, 15-12

First time since 1998 the Waves have dropped consecutive league matches (and both were at home this week)

UC Irvine def. USC, 30-28, 30-26, 27-30, 30-24

CSU Northridge def. Pacific, 30-25, 30-20, 30-25

Stanford def. UC Santa Barbara, 30-28, 30-26, 30-26

BYU def. Cal Baptist, 30-25, 23-30, 30-19, 30-25

By Cindy Luis

You may have seen her at the parade or at men’s volleyball matches.Catherine Fowler, a 6-foot-2 sophomore middle has transfered from Arkansas to Hawaii and will have two years of eligibility. She contacted Hawaii “and that was the first time we heard of her,” Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. “She’ll give us depth and experience at that position.”Fowler played in 117 of the Lady Backs’ 122 games last season, averaging 1.22 blocks and 1.52 kills per game. She played sparingly her freshman year, averaging 0.71 kills and 0.90 blocks in just 31 games played.The Conway (Ark.) High product was ranked No. 26 in the PrepVolleyball.com Senior Aces list and was the Gatorade Player of the Year for Arkansas her senior year. Fowler was a member of the USA A2 Women’s Junior National Team and was a two-time all-state honoree.

By Dave Reardon

In addition to being a great boxing coach, Bruce Kawano is the general manager at Red Lion University, and Bruce reports that the Senior Bowl will be televised there since they have a dish and can get the NFL Network.

No cover charge. Game is 10 a.m. (I apologize for having that wrong in the paper the other day).

Other venues? Let us know.

By Cindy Luis

Hawaii wins Game 1 30-25. Interesting lineup. but Warriors are playing pretty well with it. Zemljak at setter, Carney at opposite, Walker and Schkud at OH, Grgas and Frank in the middle. Walker is raw but athletic. he’s going to be fun to watch.

By Cindy Luis

USC def. UCLA, 30-26, 30-24, 23-30, 18-30, 18-16

UC Irvine def. Pepperdine at Pepperdine, 33-31, 30-21, 27-30, 30-27

By Dave Reardon

A friend from PBS tells us that UH linebacker Adam Leonard will be the guest on the Leahey and Leahey TV show tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Should be an interesting show, considering Leonard was on the search committee that “found” Greg McMackin, the new UH head coach.

More news and notes later today.

***

Interesting stuff from “Quote” Brennan in an ESPN.com article by Chris Low:

“I never intended for my athletic director to get fired,” (Brennan) said. “I intended it to be felt upstairs with the administration and where the money gets handed down. I wanted to say, ‘Look, you need to do more for the program. You’ve got the money. Why is it all falling apart?’
“Hawaii is a special place. What they pride themselves on is being very simple and enjoying what they have. That shouldn’t be taken advantage of. Just because Hawaii can be successful with little money, that shouldn’t be taken advantage of.
“We should have started a lot earlier to make the [football] environment around us better.”