HONOLULU — The Hawaii women’s volleyball and men’s basketball teams announced the additions of players this week that should complete their rosters for their respective upcoming seasons.
Middle blocker Kennedi Evans, a Utah transfer, is the fifth newcomer for coach Robyn Ah Mow’s Rainbow Wahine, who open the season in short order at the Texas A&M Invitational Aug. 26 to 28.
The 6-foot-2 Evans, of Twin Falls, Idaho, is a senior with two years of eligibility remaining. She had stretches of consistent playing time as a Ute, but also missed the last half of the 2021 season when she went down with an injury. Prior to that, she averaged 1.1 blocks per set. The Utes finished 22-9 in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Evans appeared in all but one match of the COVID-shortened 2020 season, red-shirted in 2019, and played consistently as a freshman in 2018.
At UH, she joins a platoon of middle blockers that includes All-Big West returnee Amber Igiede, Braelyn Akana and Anna Kiraly.
"We are very excited to have Kennedi join our program to finish out her volleyball career," Ah Mow said in a UH release. "Kennedi had a great career at Utah and adds valuable experience and maturity to our middle blocker position. She is a standout student in the classroom and will add to the culture of our program."
Men’s basketball also recently got a pickup out of the Division I transfer portal in Portland’s Matija Svetozarevic, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward with three seasons of eligibility. Svetozarevic, of Nis, Serbia, saw spot playing time in 23 games as a true freshman in the 2021-22 season.
He put up just 2.6 points and 1.7 rebounds in 9.7 minutes per game and shot 33% from the field (23.3% on 3-pointers) for first-year head coach Shantay Legans, but he was impressive at the free-throw line, going 15-for-16. Portland went 19-15 last season and 7-7 in the West Coast Conference.
He will compete for time in the UH frontcourt with forwards Kamaka Hepa, Samuta Avea, Bernardo da Silva and fellow newcomer Harry Rouhliadeff. Svetozarevic represents UH's last scholarship for the 2022-23 season after UH also picked up 7-footer Mor Seck from the Prolific Prep Academy and a D-I transfer guard in Ryan Rapp from Washington State.
Svetozarevic was more productive with the under-19 squad for club KK Dynamic in Serbia, with 12 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game in 18 games of 2020-21. He is in the Serbian junior national team system.
"Matija is a skilled forward who has an exciting combination of international and college basketball experience," UH coach Eran Ganot said in a statement. "His athleticism, size and shooting ability makes him a unique matchup that we can take advantage of on both ends of the court. We welcome Matija to our ohana and look forward to the impact he'll make on our program."
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.