Three Hawaii surfers advanced and two were eliminated on the opening day of the Oxbow World Longboard Tour Maldives contest yesterday.

The first round of the event was completed in 4- to 5-foot waves at Pasta Point, Chaaya Island, Maldives.

Defending longboard world champion Bonga Perkins of Haleiwa was the standout of the first round. He had the best total score (16.75) and best single-wave score (a near-perfect 9.25 out of 10) of the day in his victory over Australia's Mitch Surman.

"It's really good, the surf here; it's a very rippable and a perfect wave that hugs the reef and you can score with great on-face moves and nose rides," Perkins said.

Fellow Hawaii surfers Kai Sallas and Ned Snow also won their respective first-round heats.

Hawaii surfers Duane DeSoto and Keegan Edwards were eliminated.

DeSoto, who entered the contest ranked No. 2, was upset by California's Troy Mothershead.

The contest is the final stop on the 2009 ASP World Longboard Tour, so the world champion will be determined during this event.

VOLLEYBALL

RAINBOWS REMAIN NO. 3

The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team remained No. 3 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I Coaches Top 25 released yesterday.

Penn State (22-2) remained No. 1, followed by Texas (16-0). The Nittany Lions received 52 first-place votes and the Longhorns received the eight other first-place votes.

The Rainbow Wahine (18-2) swept Louisiana Tech and Brigham Young-Hawai'i last week.

UH plays at Fresno State Thursday.

VULCANS TIE FOR NO. 16

The Hawai'i-Hilo women's volleyball team moved up one spot to share No. 16 in the AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll released yesterday.

Concordia-St. Paul (25-0), which received all 32 first-place votes, was No. 1, followed by UC San Diego (21-1) and Cal State San Bernardino (22-1).

The Vulcans (22-1, 12-1 in the Pacific West Conference) share No. 16 with Southwest Minnesota State(19-7) after sweeping Academy of Art twice last week.

UH-Hilo plays Chaminade Friday.

SOCCER

RAINBOWS' AKO HONORED

Ambree Ako of the University of Hawai'i yesterday was named Western Athletic Conference soccer offensive player of the week.

Ako, a senior forward from 'Aiea, scored three goals in matches against Nevada and Utah State last week. She scored two goals in a 3-1 victory over Utah State and the Rainbow Wahine's lone goal in a 2-1 loss to Nevada.

Ako is tied for the team lead with seven goals this season.

San Jose State's Nina Butera was named WAC soccer defensive player of the week.

UHH STOPS GRAND CANYON

Hawai'i-Hilo's Vincent Muscarella and George Ichimaru scored first-half goals in a 2-1 men's soccer victory over visiting Grand Canyon yesterday, handing the Antelopes their first Pacific West Conference loss.

UHH is 8-8 overall and 7-3 in the PacWest. Grand Canyon is 11-3-2 and 8-1-1.

In other matches:

• Sam Akinaka's goal 2:16 into overtime lifted Brigham Young-Hawai'i's men to a 3-2 victory over visiting Academy of Art. Kamuela Kamoe scored two goals for the Seasiders (6-8-1 and 5-5-1). The Urban Knights are 4-11-1 and 1-9.

• Alan Albertazzi scored with 16 seconds remaining to lift Hawai'i Pacific's men to a 2-1 victory over Notre Dame de Namur at Atherton Field in Käne 'ohe. Chance Bukoski also scored for HPU (10-2-2 and 7-2-2). Notre Dame de Namur is 8-9-1 and 8-2-1.

• Margo Rasteiro and K.C. O'Shea scored goals in Notre Dame de Namur's 2-0 victory over host Hawai'i Pacific in a women's match. Notre Dame de Namur is 6-9-1 and 6-4-1. HPU is 8-7-1 and 6-5.

• Kayla Poe scored in overtime to lift Grand Canyon's women to a 4-3 victory over host Hawai'i-Hilo. Grand Canyon is 7-7-2 and 4-4-2. UHH is 3-9-4 and 2-5-3. Jolene Crook, Gina Tumasone and Alysia Salvador scored for the Vulcans.

• Natasha Aiono, Sadie Simon and Margaret Sekona scored goals in the BYUH women's 3-0 victory over visiting Academy of Art. BYUH is 12-3 and 9-2. Academy of Art is 1-13-2 and 1-7-2.

BASKETBALL

BYUH UNANIMOUS PICK

Brigham Young-Hawai'i's was the unanimous pick to repeat as Pacific West Conference men's basketball champions in a preseason poll of conference coaches released yesterday.

The Seasiders, who finished 27-2 last season, received all nine first-place votes to finish ahead of Grand Canyon. Dixie State was picked third, followed by Chaminade, Hawai'i-Hilo, Hawai'i Pacific, Notre Dame de Namur, Dominican (Calif.) and Academy of Art.

The Seasiders placed two on the preseason All-PacWest team, preseason player of the year Lucas Alves and J.R. Buensuceso. Alves was last year's Division II national player of the year. Also named to the team were Cartier Carter of Chaminade, Andy Palmer of Dixie State, Bryan Ngo of UH-Hilo, Jeff Ingram of HPU and Bennie Murray of Notre Dame de Namur.

GOLF

UH'S KUA SHARES LEAD

TJ Kua of the University of Hawai'i and Boris Stantchev of Loyola Marymount shot 5-under-par 67s to share the first-round lead at the Kaua'i Intercollegiate Invitational at the Puakea Golf Course in Líhu 'e.

San Diego shot a 12-under 276 (best 4 of 5 scores) for the first-round team lead. James Madison (286) is second and UH (289) third in the 10-team tournament.

Kua, a Kaua'i native, and Stantchev are a shot ahead of Derek Cheney (Gonzaga), Ben Murray (San Diego) and Joseph Harrison (San Diego).

The tournament runs through tomorrow.