Satele loses starting job with Raiders

By Fred Guzman

Former UH standout Samson Satele remains employed, but he’s lost the starting job with the Oakland Raiders. After spending nearly all of training camp practicing at left tackle, Jared Veldheer beat out the incumbent Satelte as the team’s No. 1 center for Sunday’s opener at Tennessee.

Coach Tom Cable cited Veldheer’s superior size as a key factor in starting the rookie ahead of Satele. Veldheer, a third-round draft pick, played at Division II Hillsdale in Michigan. Veldheer is 6-foot-8, 315-pounds; Satele is 6-3 300.

Satele missed a chunk of training camp because of a sore ankle. Acquired from Miami for two draft picks, he also missed the 2009 opener with an injury, but started 12 games after replacing Chris Morris.

WAHINE LOSE: There will be no perfection for the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team this season.

USC, which suffered season-ending losses to Hawaii in three of the previous four years, avenged those setbacks Saturday night. The Women of Troy dealt fourth-ranked UH a 23-25, 25-22, 25-17, 18-25, 15-7 defeat before a 6,507 fans in a roller-coaster match at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The victory enabled 10th-ranked USC to capture the 23rd annual Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic. Hawaii dropped to 5-1, with three of those matches going the maximum five sets.

Ironically, it was junior Alex Jupiter, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter who has struggled against UH in previous NCAA playoff losses, that led USC on Saturday. She finished with 22 kills while 6-2 Katine Fuller added 17 kills and 6-4 Lauren Williams chipped in with 14.

Their efforts offset All-American Kanani Danielson’s 22 kills and 15 digs, as well as a career-best 18 kills by sophomore Brittany Hewitt, who added 10 blocks.

Next for Hawaii is the Verizon Wireless Volleyball Challenge. The round-robin tournament opens on Thursday, with UH opening against San Diego State. Saint Mary’s and UC Irvine are also entered.