HONOLULU — University of Hawaii women’s volleyball associate head coach and sand volleyball coach Scott Wong has accepted the head coaching job at Pepperdine, UH announced in a press release Wednesday.
HONOLULU — University of Hawaii women’s volleyball associate head coach and sand volleyball coach Scott Wong has accepted the head coaching job at Pepperdine, UH announced in a press release Wednesday.
Wong, a former volleyball and basketball standout at Punahou School who earned All-America volleyball honors at Pepperdine, spent the past five seasons as top assistant to UH head coach Dave Shoji.
“I’m thankful to Dave to have given me the opportunity to play such a pivotal role in his program for the last five years,” Wong said.
“My time here as a part of the Rainbow Wahine family was very special and I’m also grateful to have had the opportunity to the build the sand volleyball program from the ground up. I will always cherish the memories I have for my home state and for the University of Hawaii.”
Wong is a former Pepperdine assistant who helped guide the Waves to the 2005 NCAA championship.
“I would like to thank Scott for his dedication and loyalty to the Wahine volleyball program these past five years,” Shoji said.
“He has done everything he needed to do to become a head coach and I have no doubt he will be successful at Pepperdine.”
Wong helped the Rainbow Wahine win four conference titles and qualify for five straight NCAA Tournaments, including an appearance in the 2011 Regional final. He also served as head coach of Hawaii’s fledgling sand volleyball program the past three seasons. The Rainbow Wahine upset No. 1 seed Southern California in last year’s quarterfinals before falling to Florida State in the final four.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM COMPLETES HOMESTAND: The Rainbow Wahine basketball team will wrap up its seven-game homestand at 7 p.m. Saturday vs. Brigham Young-Hawaii at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The game will be televised live statewide on OCSports and broadcast live on radio via ESPN 1420 AM and 790 Am in Kona.
UH (4-4) is coming off last Saturday’s 69-61 loss to Pacific. Senior wing Shawna-Lei Kuehu leads the team with per-game averages of 13.5 points and 7.9 rebounds, is tied for the team lead with a total of 22 assists and has a team-high 10 blocked shots. She needs only 15 points to reach the 1,000-point mark in her career. Once Kuehu does that, she will become only the 10th Rainbow Wahine in school history to amass 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
Senior guard Ashleigh Karaitiana is the only UH player to score in double figures for all eight games this season. She is averaging 11.8 points per game and leads the team with 11 made 3-pointers and 18 steals.
Senior point guard Morgan Mason averages 10.1 peg and shares the team lead in assists (22) with Kuehu.
BYU-Hawaii (3-2) is led by former Farrington All-State guard Bridgette Tatupu-Leopoldo, who leads the Seasiders with 14 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.