Wilfred Navalta had one last goal before he retired from coaching volleyball at Brigham Young-Hawaii: to win a national championship in four different decades.
The Seasiders came up two wins short of giving Navalta his wish last week when falling to eventual NCAA II champion Concordia-St. Paul in the national semifinals.
The 67-year-old will, however, get one last trophy. Navalta will pick up his first AVCA Division II national coach of the year award at today’s banquet in Louisville, Ky.
"It is a very nice award, the icing on my career," Navalta said during a phone call Wednesday. "I was kind of surprised. Even though the eight all-region coaches are eligible, I didn’t really think about it.
"It’s really a team award. This is because of my players and the great season we had. It’s for them, it’s for BYU-Hawaii and it’s for the state of Hawaii."
It is the third national award for Navalta, who also was named the NAIA national coach of the year in 1996 and 1999. During his 27-year career, he was 611-145 with eight NAIA national titles (1986, ’87, ’91, ’92 and ’94-97) and two NCAA II titles (1999, 2002).
Navalta said he knew last week he had been selected but honored the AVCA’s request to keep it a secret.
"They asked me if I was going to come to pick up the award," he said. "It was where we started the national tournament (last Thursday) and I hadn’t decided yet if I’d retire. I told them I’d come and get it. It’s a nice culmination to my career."
After last Friday’s loss, Navalta told the Star-Advertiser that he was retiring. No official announcement has been released by BYUH.
The Seasiders finished 25-4 this season, with a 16-0 PacWest record. Named AVCA All-Americans were senior hitter Lauren Hagemeyer, sophomore setter Michelle Chen and sophomore hitter Stella Chen.
Longtime assistant Jay Akoi, the program’s first head coach (1979-83), has said he also will retire.
Navalta has recommended that associate coach Mona Afalava Ah Hoy, a two-time All-American for the Seasiders, succeed him.
Hagemeyer All-Academic
Also Wednesday, Hagemeyer was named to the Capitol One Academic All-American team. She is one of six players named, all of whom were seniors.
The exercise and sport science major has been all-academic PacWest the past three years and has a 3.90 grade-point average. The four-year starter finished second in kills (3.58 kps) and blocks (1.90 bps) with a team-leading hitting percentage (.379).
