Former Kamehameha standout takes charge at Gonzaga

For a team that wasn’t sure it would win a conference match, a 6-0 start is quite a shock.

The Gonzaga women’s volleyball squad is off to its best start ever in the West Coast Conference and it has caught everyone off guard.

Even the team itself.

“To be honest, we really didn’t have a good preseason at all and we really didn’t know if we were going to win any of our conference matches,” junior Tiyana Hallums, a 2015 Kamehameha graduate, said Tuesday.

The Bulldogs went 5-7 in nonconference play and beat only one team currently ranked in the top 150 in RPI.

But since dropping a five-setter to San Diego State, Gonzaga has reeled off seven straight wins, including six in the WCC.

Even crazier is its first five victories against conference opponents all came in five sets.

“It’s been unbelievable,” said Hallums, who leads the team in digs. “We’ve had to learn a lot of really hard lessons during the preseason. We went 0-3 in our first tournament and it was absolutely terrible.”

Gonzaga was picked to finish ninth in the 10-team league in a preseason coaches vote, and early on it seemed like the proper placement.

The Bulldogs struggled with seven new freshmen and only one senior — a graduate transfer from Duke.

Hallums is one of two three-year starters on the team and one of three Bulldogs to play in every set this season.

She leads the squad with 191 digs and has also put down 52 kills in limited action at outside hitter.

Her biggest contribution to the team might be the way she’s helped the incoming class of freshmen progress through the season.

Understanding the team was void of senior leadership, Hallums has tried to step into that role as a junior, even though it hasn’t come naturally.

“Actually, I was pretty terrified coming into the season because I only had two years under my belt and now I’m having to lead the team even though that’s usually something for seniors who have been through it all and seen it all,” she said. “Our outsides are freshmen and I played outside hitter in high school so I’ve tried to help them think smarter. Even though they can hit harder and jump higher, trying to get them to understand the game better and make the smart shots would have a lot of impact on our team in a positive way.”

It’s worked so far in conference play, but the true test for the Bulldogs comes this weekend, starting in Southern California.

Gonzaga plays at No. 18 San Diego on Thursday, then faces No. 7 Brigham Young on Saturday in Provo, Utah.

The Cougars and Bulldogs are tied for the league lead at 6-0 with the Toreros one game back at 5-1 after losing in four sets to BYU two weeks ago.

“This weekend is huge. USD and BYU are travel partners, so when you go and play them, it’s like, ‘boom, boom,’ back-to-back and you’ve got to really be on it,” Hallums said. “If we don’t come out and play our best, we’re going to get murdered because they won’t hand anything to us.”

BYU senior setter Alohi Robins-Hardy graduated a year before Hallums at Kamehameha and they were the top two kill leaders on Kamehameha’s 2013 state championship team that lost just one set in the state tournament.

The WCC is a popular landing spot for volleyball players from Hawaii. Kassidy Naone (Le Jardin) and Carey Williams (Kahuku) are freshmen at Portland and Hallums just played against Hana Lishman (Punahou) at Pepperdine last week.

“My teammates always give me a lot of crap because I’m always hugging someone after our games,” Hallums said. “My freshman year at BYU we played against Alohi and Kiani (Tuileta, Punahou) and the bus left without me because we had just lost and nobody was paying attention and I was saying ‘hi’ to them.

“We’re all friends and we all bond because we know we’re all trying to put Hawaii on the map not just for ourselves, but for other athletes from back home.”