HPU's Tuitele best in PacWest
Advertiser Staff
Two-time All-America setter Nia Tuitele of Hawai'i Pacific was named Pacific West Conference Player of the Year for the second straight season, and her coach, Tita Ahuna, was a repeat selection as the conference's Coach of the Year.
Advertiser library photo • Oct. 30, 2001
Tuitele, a 5-foot-9 senior, was a unanimous choice in voting done by the conference's coaches this week.
Hawai‘i Pacific’s two-time All-America setter Nia Tuitele has never missed a match in her four-year career
The McKinley High School graduate leads the PacWest with 12.34 assists per game.
She has had at least 1,000 assists in each of her four seasons with the Sea Warriors, and is the school's all-time leader in assists (4,672).
The three-time all-conference selection has never missed a match in her career.
Ahuna has guided No. 15 HPU to an 18-4 overall record, 12-3 in the PacWest.
The Sea Warriors have won three consecutive PacWest championships. Last season, HPU was the first team in NCAA Division II history to go undefeated.
Other players from Hawai'i colleges named to the first team were HPU's Andrea Wean (middle blocker) and Roberta Robert (outside hitter), and Brigham Young-Hawai'i's Karla Ribeiro (middle blocker).
Second-team members from Hawai'i colleges were BYUH's Xu Dan and Ashley Moeai, Sara Pilgreen of Hawai'i-Hilo, Audrey Brady of Chaminade and Teisa Fotu of HPU.
Western New Mexico's Kimberly Tano, a St. Francis School graduate, made the second team.
