Sports
Five BeachBows Gain All-Big West Nods
Story Links IRVINE, Calif. – The Big West Conference announced its all-conference awards for beach volleyball on Thursday as voted by the league coaches with five Rainbow Wahine earning recognition. Alana Embry was named to the first team, Sarah Burton and Caprice Lorenzo were named to the second team, while Julia Lawrenz […]
IRVINE, Calif. – The Big West Conference announced its all-conference awards for beach volleyball on Thursday as voted by the league coaches with five Rainbow Wahine earning recognition.
Alana Embry was named to the first team, Sarah Burton and Caprice Lorenzo were named to the second team, while Julia Lawrenz gained honorable mention. Jasmine Wandeler earned a spot on the all-freshman team.
For Embry, it marked the second straight year that she gained first-team accolades. The native of Poway, Calif., played in all 35 matches, with all but six of those at the top two flights, including 20 at the top of the order. Embry played with three different partners and found her most success with Lawrenz as the pair went 13-7, highlighted by winning seven of nine matches at the No. 2 fight.
Lawrenz, a junior from Curitiba, Brazil earned all-Big West mention for the first time with her dynamic play, in spite of missing a stretch of nine straight matches near the tail end of the season. Lawrenz went 13-6 in her final 19 matches of the year.
Burton (Jr., Perth Australia) and Lorenzo (Jr., Mesa, Ariz.) also earned conference accolades for the first time. They were the only UH pair to start all 35 matches together and tallied the most wins (16) on the team both individually and collectively. The tandem played all of their matches at the top three spots of the lineup, including 15 matches as the top flight.
In her inaugural campaign as a BeachBows, the freshman Wandeler had an instant impact, starting all 35 matches while notching the third most wins (15) on the squad. The native of Stans, Switzerland, played the majority of her matches with Jesse Mann in the middle of the order where the duo notched a half dozen wins over ranked opponents, highlighted by an upset of Madison Goellner and Ella Larkin of then-No. 1 USC on the opening day of the season.
The Rainbow Wahine concluded their season with a 14-21 record after bowing out of the Big West Championship semifinals.
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