Wahine volleyball working to turn weaknesses into strengths

Turning weaknesses into strengths. That’s the goal this week for the Hawaii volleyball team, which is regrouping after a season-opening weekend in which the Rainbow Wahine were swept twice by Kansas State.

Whether Coastal Carolina (1-2) will be the cure for what ails Hawaii (0-2) remains to be seen. The two-time defending Sun Belt champion Chanticleers are making their first trip to Honolulu, packing an outside punch in opposite Anett Nemeth, who was named both the conference freshman and offensive player of the week on Monday.

The left-handed Nemeth, a 6-foot-3 Hungarian national, is one of five foreign players on the Chants’ roster. She and 6-foot hitter Kyla Manning provided 64 percent of the kills for Coastal at the Georgia-hosted tournament in Athens, the first of three consecutive road trips.

“Someone was saying this will be an easier opponent,” Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said on Tuesday. “No opponent is easy unless you’ve got your stuff together.

“We’re working on everything. Blocking is one big thing, serving is another. Our concern is more about us. I just want us to play ‘our’ volleyball, what I’ve seen in practice.”

If there was a positive against K-State, according to Ah Mow-Santos, it was the play of senior libero Tita Akiu. The transfer from Texas Tech had team highs in digs both Saturday (15) and Sunday (14) and was perfect on 33 service receptions.

“We definitely learned what we need to work on to be more successful,” Akiu said. “Individually and as a team we need to be doing our jobs.

“I thought our passing from the first to second night improved. Faith (senior setter Ma’afala), Norene (junior setter-hitter Iosia and McKenna (senior hitter Granato) did a good job of leading us. Something we can work on is having more people step up. We need to develop our weaknesses so they become our strengths.”

The most glaring weakness was Hawaii’s inability to stop scoring runs at critical times. The most frustrating came in Sunday’s Set 2, when the Wahine were up 24-20 and couldn’t close in losing 27-25.

“We need to work on finishing it, closing,” Akiu said. “Both nights we were up and didn’t do it.

“Hopefully we are able to pull it together.”

In the whatever-it-takes-to-win philosophy, the Wahine will continue using multiple lineups, looking for one that works. That includes the 6-2 offense option, where both Iosia and Ma’afala are setting, or the 5-1, where Ma’afala sets and Iosia is a hitter.

Iosia, a two-time All-Big West setter, had a career-high 10 kills in Sunday’s loss. Her mind-set of getting the job done doesn’t change when her position does.

“When I’m a front-row hitter, I want a kill,” she said. “When I’m setting, it’s trying to make sure my hitters have hittable balls. It’s doing whatever is needed.”

And Hawaii needs a win Thursday to avoid its second consecutive 0-3 start, which would be a first in program history.

WOMEN’S COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL

At Stan Sheriff Center

>> When: Thursday- Friday, 7 p.m.

>> Who: Coastal Carolina (1-2) at UH (0-2)

>> TV: Spectrum OC 16

>> Radio: 1420-AM