Rainbow Wahine’s future may be in Iosia’s hands

She is the future of Hawaii setting. But is the future now for Norene Iosia?

It remains to be seen just how much the highly touted freshman will be seen during this week’s 29th Hawaiian Airlines Classic. Still, her performance during the Rainbow Wahine’s improbable comeback against Arizona in five sets had longtime followers of the program already comparing Iosia favorably with past great Hawaii setters.

“She has beautiful hands and that’s what gets your attention,” Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. “It’s one of the things we always knew about her. She mirrors a lot of the other Polynesian setters we’ve had.

“I though she performed well. She’s a pretty heady kid and the pressure moments didn’t bother her. But competition and evolution is still on-going.”

Given the injury situation that has reserve junior setter Kendra Koelsch moving to a hitting position, the competition mostly is between the 5-foot-11 Iosia and 5-9 senior Tayler Higgins. Higgins has started the majority of the matches the past two seasons and again started the first two matches last week with Iosia sharing playing time in a 6-2 (two setter) offense.

Sunday against Arizona, Iosia got the start and Hawaii dropped the 6-2 after Set 1.

The graduate of Redondo (Calif.) Union High had three of her eight tournament aces against the Wildcats as the Wahine ‘keiki corps’ of four true freshmen helped Hawaii rally from down 0-2 in sets and 8-2 in Set 5.

“She played amazing, just killed it,” freshman hitter Kirsten Sibley said of her roommate Iosia. “Having the four freshmen out there at the same time … we’re all very comfortable playing with each other. We’ve had a bond from the beginning.”

Sibley and Iosia had a number of connections against Arizona, including the point that gave Hawaii set point in Set 4. Iosia did a blind backset from the right back some 42 feet diagonally cross-court to the left front where Sibley took the set on the fly and put it down, making it 24-19.

Along with Iosia and Sibley, also playing were freshman hitter McKenna Ross and defensive specialist Emma Smith. It is believed it is the first time since 1984 that Hawaii had four true freshmen on the court at the same time.

“Against Arizona, we looked at each other and said, ‘We got this,’” Iosia said. “We know how hard it is to break into the lineup and we’re happy for whoever is on the court. We knew we had to bring so much energy and play together.

“The crowd was really into it. I didn’t expect it to be so overwhelming. But you have to think of it as just another game of volleyball.”

The sport has been her life for all of her 18 years. Her family started Starlings South Bay volleyball club and “I grew up in the gym,” Iosia said. “I was always there. My whole family played volleyball.”

Her biggest influence was her uncle Mac, who had lived in Hawaii.

“He was one of my best friends and I always thought about living with him out here,” she said. “This is before I knew anything about the (Wahine) volleyball program, that Dave (Shoji) was the winningest volleyball coach. Learning about those things later made it more of a factor to want to play here.”

Iosia’s uncle died last year but not before she had committed to Hawaii.

“He told me that he obviously wasn’t going to be here to watch me but to never back down,” Iosia said. “That’s with me every time I play.”

First-year assistant coach Lindsey Berg, a three-time Olympic setter, is connecting with Iosia, saying, “We speak the same language.”

“I like everything about her, she knows volleyball, has a high volleyball IQ,” Berg added. “She has skills, still has technical stuff to work on but I like how she stayed composed (against Arizona) and handled a really difficult match.

“She came in as a very high-level player but I can’t say that she’s won the position. We have two setters who will continue to push each other, to make each other better.”

Iosia, PrepVolleyball.com’s national freshman and junior of the year, was the Andi Collins Award winner as the top senior setter in the country. But college is another level and “last week was eye opening,” Iosia said.

“The game is faster, the block is way bigger, ” Iosia said. We saw how much work we still need to do.

“And Tayler has been amazing. We understand whoever’s out there is there to get the job done. Sometimes it’s her, sometimes it’s me. It’s about the team.”

NOTES: Senior All-American Nikki Taylor practiced for the second consecutive day and likely will be cleared to play tonight. She missed the first three matches with an injured left elbow … Due to an international conference at UH’s East-West Center that conflicts with today’s and Friday’s matches, motorists should expect delays when using Dole Street to access in and out of the lower campus parking structure. Use of alternative campus lots or other means of transportation is being encouraged.