HONOLULU — The University of Hawai’i women’s volleyball team emerged from five-set duel with Portland with its third straight victory on Thursday at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The Rainbow Wahine (3-4) saw an opportunity to close out the match in the fourth set slip away but surged late in the fifth to earn a 26-24, 21-25, 25-10, 25-27, 15-11 victory in the opener of a two-match series with the Pilots. The win was the program’s 499th victory in the arena since its opening in 1994.
UH freshman Cha’lei Reid put away a match-high 18 kills and came up with 10 digs in her first double-double performance of her career. Stella Adeyemi had three kills in the fifth set, including match point, and finished with 16 for the night. Bri Gunderson added 11 kills and was in on nine of UH’s season-high 18 blocks.
Miliana Sylvester also assisted on nine blocks to tie her career high and the team’s total was the highest since posting 18 blocks against Washington on Sept. 1 2019.
Setter Adrianna Arquette posted her third double-double with 43 assists and 14 digs and contributed seven blocks to the team total. Libero Victoria Leyva anchored the back-row defense with 17 digs.
Tyla Reese Mane added six kills on 15 swings without an error and contributed a career-high eight blocks.
Portland (5-2) was led by Maui Robins’ 16 kills and 10 digs and UH overcame 19 service errors to pull out the win.
UH bolted out to an 8-for-11 start offensively with two blocks and an ace to take a 12-6 lead in the opening set. UH led 23-17 before Portland went on a 5-0 run to close the gap. UH halted the run to earn set point, but Portland closed to within a point then forced deuce. After a timeout, a Portland service error gave UH another set point. The Pilots’ next attack was ruled long and upheld after a review to close out the set.
The teams stayed within a couple of points of each other midway through the second set until Portland took an 19-15 lead. UH closed to 22-20 after an ace from Mane and a block by Arquette and Sylvester. But Portland edged out ahead again and closed out the set to even the match.
UH had three more blocks early in the third set and broke away with an 8-1 run to open up a 19-9 lead. The ‘Bows remained in control and UH’s 15th block of the night extended the lead to 23-9 before closing out a dominant set.
UH opened up an 11-6 lead in the fourth before Portland rallied to catch the ‘Bows at 14-14. The Pilots went up 20-18 before UH went on a 4-0 run and led 22-20 when Sylvester and Arquette teamed up on a block. An ace from Adeyemi gave UH match point at 24-21, but Portland survived the next three points to again force deuce. The Pilots moved ahead and converted on their second set point opportunity with a block to send the match to the fifth.
A tight battle ensued in the deciding set with Portland up 8-7 at the change-over. UH took an 11-10 lead when Adeyemi brushed a shot off the Portland block and into the antennae. A tough serve from Leilani Lopez led to a Portland error to give UH a 12-10 lead and Sylvester and Mane combined on UH’s final block of the night. A Portland service error gave UH another match point and this time the ‘Bows closed it out with a kill from Adeyemi.
AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) — Funeral arrangements were announced for a 15-year-old girl killed in Amarillo on New Year’s Day.
Visitation for Brynlee Hampton’s family will be from 5-6 p.m. Monday at Boxwell Brothers Funeral Home.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, at Hillside Christian Church.
Hampton and seven other people were on their way home from a party when she was shot around 1:10 a.m. Thursday.
According to court documents obtained by ABC 7 News, Jeremiah Matthews, 17, was waving and gun around in the car and pointing it at the faces of other passengers. The gun went off and shot Hampton through the front passenger seat.
Landrey Matthews, 17, is accused of taking the gun from Jeremiah after the shooting and throwing it down the street.
Brynlee’s Obituary
Brynnlee Elizabeth Hampton, 15, of Amarillo, Texas passed away on January 1, 2026.
The family will receive friends from 5:00 P.M. – 6:30 P.M., Monday, January 5, 2026, at Boxwell Brothers Funeral Home, 2800 Paramount Blvd. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 A.M., Tuesday, January 6, 2026 at Hillside Christian Church. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, Amarillo.
Brynnlee was born in Childress, Texas on February 18, 2010, to Emmalee Dawn Melton and Justin Paul Hampton.
She was a sophomore at Tascosa High School, where she played volleyball and was a proud member of the National Honor Society. She also played competitively for AEV Volleyball. Deeply rooted in her faith, she spent time each day journaling and reflecting, and she was known for sending Bible verses to her family as a source of encouragement and love. Her Bible, well-worn and lovingly highlighted, was a reflection of the faith that guided her life. She had a strong and kind spirit that touched everyone who knew her. She was deeply loved and will be deeply missed.
She is survived by her parents, Emmalee and Jess Yap of the home, parents, Justin Hampton and Stephanie Arbogast; grandparents, Gordon and Cindy Melton, Lonnie and Gerelene Hurd, Annie Hampton, Aaron Lopez, Thess Yap; great-grandparents, Elvira Yap, Pina Lopez, Doris Melton; and her brothers, Preston Yap and Dawson Yap.
When watching St. Thomas More’s volleyball team play, it’s hard not to notice Eleanor Guidry.
As the Cougars’ libero, Guidry wears a different uniform color than her teammates, but that’s not the only reason the defensive specialist stands out.
Guidry often makes difficult digs look routine and has established herself as the anchor of the Cougars’ defense.
“She’s so consistent and she has great range,” coach Jessica Burke said of the 5-foot-6 senior. “She has great platform awareness, can put the ball and manipulate the ball how she wants. She takes up a lot of space in serve-receive and defense, so that helped take the pressure off some of our kids that were new to the passing unit.”
Guidry finished last season with 651 digs, 42 aces, 42 assists and a 2.23 pass rating on 802 attempts this past season.
“El makes the hard things look easy and that’s the mark of a really good player,” Burke said. “She’s not flashy. She doesn’t do more than she needs to do. She reads extremely well, so she is in the right place at the right time. She has great range, so if she is hitting the floor then she is making a big play. It’s a play that most liberos wouldn’t even get to.”
In 2025, Guidry helped lead the Cougars to a 41-5 record and a fifth consecutive Division II state championship. For her efforts, she was named the Acadiana Advocate volleyball team’s Most Valuable Player.
“I think it is well deserved,” Burke said. “This kid works so hard all of the time. She takes zero days off and she has zero quit. Anything I ask her to do, she does it. Any adjustments I ask her to make, she makes them. It’s hard sometimes for people to recognize the libero because they’re just first contact. They don’t get the big kill or they’re not running the offense as a setter, but they’re so integral to a great team.”
COMMERCE – East Texas A&M University men’s basketball player Josh Taylor and women’s basketball player Nina Horvath are this week’s Dixie Turman State Farm Agency Student-Athletes of the Week.
Taylor (Wollongong, Australia) appeared in all three games last week, averaging 5.7 points and 2.7 rebounds, which included 17 points and six rebounds off the bench at Nicholls. The Lions play at New Orleans on Monday before returning home to host UTRGV on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Horvath (Oberwart, Austria) guided the Lions to a 2-1 week, starting all three games and averaging 12 points per game as well as 2.3 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game. In the win at New Orleans, she led all scorers with 24 points. The Lion women play both their games at home this week, hosting A&M-Corpus Christi for Faculty & Staff Appreciation Day on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. and UTRGV on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
The Dixie Turman State Farm Agency Student-Athletes of the Week is awarded by Lion Athletics each week during the academic year in partnership with Dixie Turman State Farm Agency.
2025-26 DIXIE TURMAN STATE FARM STUDENT-ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
The second event of 2026 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center brought a crowd and a vibe not seen or heard since the last time Hawaii men’s volleyball took center stage.
The second-ranked Rainbow Warriors opened the season in front of a raucous crowd of 5,685 that still sounded like it was celebrating the new year as they watched Hawaii sweep New Jersey Institute of Technology 25-11, 25-16, 25-14 on Friday night.
Nine months after beating Long Beach State for the Big West championship, which is the last time the arena drew a crowd this big for a UH sporting event, Hawaii returned to its home floor with five of its seven starters back from a run to the national semifinals.
Sophomore Kristian Titriyski, who missed the final eight matches of his freshman season with an ankle injury, led Hawaii with 12 kills.
All five starting pins and middles hit .455 or better for the match as UH hit .517 as a team and had 13 1/2 blocks.
“We didn’t get to practice in here until today. You could tell the guys had a lot of extra energy,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “This is something that we will never take for granted. So appreciative when (the fans) are taking the time and spending the money to come out and here and support us and we are doing everything we can to put on a good show and win matches.”
Sophomore Adrien Roure, who was an AVCA first-team All-American as a freshman, hit .538 with eight kills in two swings.
Louis Sakanoko, one of two third-year starters, had four kills in eight swings and sophomore middle transfer Trevell Jordan also had four kills with six blocks.
Justin Todd, who has played both in the middle and on the outside, switched back to middle during practice this week and put down all three of his kill attempts before resting in the third set.
Junior setter Tread Rosenthal, the floor captain, tied a career high with eight blocks and had 26 assists, three digs and two kills, including the match-ender after 95 minutes.
“It was impressive,” Wade said. “Two hitting errors in two sets and four errors total will get it done. Overall pretty efficient dominant performance and stoked to see the guys play that well.”
Rosenthal had two aces during Hawaii’s 5-0 run to start the match, setting the tone for what would be a quick night.
Hawaii hit .556 in the opening set with only one error and had three aces, with one from Titriyski that was initially ruled out but called in after a challenge that last about 15 seconds.
Hawaii continued its offensive efficiency in the second set, again hitting over .500 to control the set.
A triple block by Titriyski, Sakanoko and Todd ended the set and was the 10th for Hawaii, while the Highlanders had yet to record a block and were hitting .059.
UH made changes to the lineup in the third set, bringing in sophomores Ofeck Hazan in the middle and Finn Kearney on the outside.
Hawaii showed little drop-off and had a chance to hit over .500 in all three sets until it needed four swings to end match point.
“They were playing smart, staying high, not letting the ball go down to their level, and even when it was a bad set, they kept it in play and just kept playing,” Rosenthal said of his teammates. “I think our guys showed that they could play smart and pretty efficient.”
The Rainbow Warriors played without sophomore opposite Kainoa Wade and freshman middle Roman Payne, who are both injured.
Andre Aleixo had 10 kills to lead the Highlanders, who finished the match without a block.
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – The Manhattan Jaspers women’s basketball team (1-12, 1-3 MAAC), despite a combined 32 from Colette Mulderig (18) and Hana Mühl (14), fell to the Red Foxes of Marist (5-9, 2-2 MAAC) by a final score of 62-57 inside Draddy Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Brianna Davis and Mühl both knocked down the first pair of buckets from inside in the first few minutes.
Four free throws courtesy of Elisa Solé Sanchez and Mulderig upped the advantage to five points.
Autumn Taylor’s feed to Mulderig in the paint gave her four on the day and a six point lead for the Jaspers, before ending the quarter at four.
Marist jumped back on top following seven unanswered points, a run starting in the first and culminating at the start of the second frame.
Mulderig was granted the opportunity at a three point play following her and-one layup in the paint, extending her point total to seven.
Davis drove inside for a layup with under a minute to go, eventually being the last bucket of the half, as Manhattan held a three point advantage going into the locker room.
The Red Foxes came out of the break on a mission, scoring the first six points forcing a Green and White timeout.
Kristina Juric tacked on two field goals out of the media timeout, giving the Jaspers the lead once more.
Davis and Mulderig beared the scoring load down the stretch of the third frame, combining for seven in the final four minutes to knot things up at the end of the quarter.
It was another hot start for the visitors to start the fourth, going up six within three minutes.
Solé Sanchez tallied two layups at the five minute mark to cut the margin down to two.
Mulderig went one-for-two from the stripe with 1:13 remaining, putting the hosts within reach at one point.
Manhattan got outscored 6-2 in the final minute, with the Red Foxes holding on 62-57.
STATS AND NOTES
Graduate forward Colette Mulderig led the way in scoring with 18 points on seven-for-14 shooting, as well as seven rebounds and four blocks.
Senior guard Hana Mühl accumulated 14 on the scoreboard, the third time she’s hit that number on the season. In addition, the Croatia native sunk all six of her free throw attempts for a new season-high.
Senior guard Brianna Davis spread the rock around with four assists, while swiping it away on the defensive end for three steals.
Junior forward Kristina Juric pulled down the most rebounds with eight, her second-most on the year.
Manhattan shot at its best rate in the third quarter, with a 50% clip.
NEXT UP:
Manhattan will continue its 2025-26 campaign on Thursday, January 8 when the Jaspers travel to Buffalo to take on the Golden Griffins from Canisius. Action is scheduled to take place from Koesssler Athletic Center starting at 11 a.m. and can be viewed on ESPN+ with a paid subscription.
