The banners are hung, the sand is raked, the nets put up. Practice has begun.
The only thing left for Hawaii beach volleyball coach Jeff Hall is to figure out who among the roster of 27 — perhaps 28 should senior All-American Nikki Taylor return — will be playing when the season opens on March 3 in Tucson, Ariz.
The goals are simple: repeat as Big West champion — which earns the automatic NCAA tournament bid — and advance to the NCAA final. Last season, the Rainbow Wahine (18-10) accomplished the first but not the second, finishing fourth in the inaugural NCAA-sanctioned event.
The 2017 SandBows are loaded with talent and experience with 11 returnees (not counting Taylor), including All-American Emily Maglio, the Big West freshman of the year last spring. Also back is senior Mikayla Tucker, who was named to the NCAA all-tournament team.
But the Hawaii roster is deeper with youth than the sand at the Ching Complex Courts. The seven beach-only freshmen came into fall already with decorated careers, headed by AVCA high school All-American Morgan Martin. Martin teamed with current Stanford freshman Kathryn Plummer — the AVCA indoor freshman of the year last December — to win gold at the inaugural FIVB U17 Beach Volleyball World Championship.
Morgan is one of seven high school All-Americans on the roster and one of four freshmen, the latter group that includes Wahine indoor defensive specialist Emma Smith. Maglio and Smith are two of the 10 crossover indoor players, a group that includes five making their SandBows debut: seniors Tayler Higgins and Annie Mitchem, junior Savanah Kahakai and freshmen Norene Iosia and Kirsten Sibley.
Also moving over from indoor is Carly Kan, a three-time honorable mention All-American hitter at Missouri. The Punahou graduate, a junior by sand standards, is playing as a graduate student and has two years of eligibility.
“We have a lot of options, maybe too many ultimately,” said Hall, also the interim head indoor coach while Dave Shoji is on medical leave. “But we’re trying to create a culture of competition and, as soon as you add numbers with talent, it becomes very competitive.
“We have some idea of pairings, but we are remaining open-minded to what is the best chemistry-wise, physically-wise and volleyball-wise. We hope that 4-5 of the ‘newbies’ are in the mix (of the competition pairs), but you never know until the lights are on or, in our case, the sun comes out.”
Whether Taylor, an All-American indoor and on the beach, returns adds to the question marks. She suffered a fractured left ankle three points into last month’s NCAA indoor tournament second-round match at Minnesota, but was recently cleared to practice.
Taylor earlier had said she wasn’t going to play a fourth beach season, opting instead to focus on graduation, rehab and her professional playing career.
“Nikki is one of the best volleyball players to ever come out of Hawaii,” Hall said. “We weren’t expecting her, but if she comes back, it’s just an added bonus.”
At 6 feet 4, Taylor would add to the “bigs” that Hall likes to team with shorter players. Also having an impact on the pairings is the indefinite suspension of 6-foot senior Hannah Rooks for breaking an unspecified team rule.
The 5-9 Kan is considered neither a ‘big’ or a ‘small.’ But the ‘mid’ has hops and smarts, as she proved by finishing her Tigers indoor career No. 2 on the all-time career kill list.
“I’ve always wanted to play beach but it’s something I’ve never really done,” said Kan, who is pursuing her master’s degree in biology. “It’s a change in mind-set, being mentally tough and ready for every play when the ball is either coming to you or your partner.”
It’s a mind-set change for veteran Maglio, whose name is on the new Ching signage with Hawaii’s five other beach All-Americans.
“It’s a nice change from indoor, with different skills and aspects, and I’m very excited,” said Maglio, who was part of the 2016 Big West Pairs Team of the Year with since-graduated Katie Spieler. “It’s going to be fun to do everything.
“It was sad leaving indoor when you don’t think you’re going to see some of your seniors again, but having ‘Higs’ (Higgins) and Annie (Mitchem) there is great. There are a lot of players out here, which means a lot more competition. It will force me to work harder.”
