Indoor star Brooke Van Sickle back to lead BeachBows

Feb. 23—Brooke Van Sickle's first season fully devoted to beach volleyball included a trip to Alabama for an inaugural fall event. The University of Hawaii graduate student is targeting another visit at the end of the spring to close her collegiate career.

Brooke Van Sickle's first season fully devoted to beach volleyball included a trip to Alabama for an inaugural fall event.

The University of Hawaii graduate student is targeting another visit at the end of the spring to close her collegiate career.

A first-team All-American last year, Van Sickle was among UH's invitees to the AVCA Fall Collegiate Beach Championships in Huntsville, Ala., along with Rainbow Wahine teammates Kaylee Glagau, Kylin Loker and Jaime Santer.

The new event, with a format akin to professional tournaments, served as a learning experience and a lead-in to the spring season as the Rainbow Wahine aim for a return to the NCAA Tournament in Gulf Shores, Ala., in early May.

"It was just really cool to watch and the level of play was definitely insane, " said Van Sickle, who advanced to the championship bracket with Glagau. "Picked up little tricks here and there from a couple players and hopefully I'll be able to use some."

Her chance to apply those lessons in regular-season competition arrives this morning when the 10th-ranked BeachBows open the season in the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic at Queen's Beach.

The three-day event in Waikiki begins with UH taking on Saint Mary's at 9 a.m. The BeachBows face No. 9 Stanford at approximately 12 :45 p.m.

They begin Friday's play against Stephen F. Austin before a showdown with No. 1 UCLA, coached by Punahou alum Stein Metzger. The tournament closes with bracket matches on Saturday starting at 9 a.m.

Van Sickle's final season of her college career—which began in 2016 at Oregon—is her first as a full-time beach player. She closed her UH indoor career in the fall of 2021 as the Big West Player of the Year and an AVCA honorable mention All-America selection. In the spring, she teamed with Glagau to earn first-team All-America honors and joined Emily Maglio (2017-18 ) as the only UH players to earn indoor and beach All-America honors in the same school year.

She had another year of beach eligibility remaining and returned for one more run as she completes her graduate degree.

"Brooke is special, " UH coach Evan Silberstein said. "Everyone in our community, the volleyball fans here, really know how amazing of a person and an athlete that she is and her beach volleyball IQ has gotten better. We got her out to USA training as well as AVCA fall competitions this year.

"We've expanded her read on the game defensively and we've also expanded her shot selection. Obviously, overwhelming power for someone of her size and just mixing some slap downs and some placement shots that we think are going to be really effective from her."

Van Sickle, Glagau, Loker and Santer are among eight returnees who earned All-Big West recognition for a UH team that closed last season at 24-17 and ranked 13th in the final AVCA poll.

The BeachBows' season-opening pairings will be under wraps until first serve for this morning's matches as the UH coaching staff blends the returnees with eight newcomers.

"We'e super excited on the pairings we are going to be putting forward this weekend and into the season, " said Silberstein, who was elevated from interim coach to full-time status last summer. "We have a really experienced crew and we've got a couple surprises, some freshmen that have been able to come into the lineup as well."

The BeachBows have practiced at Queen's Beach two mornings per week, along with their workouts at the Ching Complex courts on campus. Along with this week's event, UH will also host the Heineken Queens Cup in March as well as the Big West championship in April in Waikiki.

"We've been under the stars, we've been under the moon, and it's just super inspiring, " Silberstein said of the pre-dawn workouts at Queen's. "I thank the athletes every day for putting that extra commitment to get there and let them know it's really going to be worth it."

Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic