Ailing elbow sidelines Rainbow Wahine’s Taylor

The only thing constant is change. It is particularly true in sports, where every new season brings new changes, from personnel to personalities, from roles to role models.

With eight freshmen, a junior transfer and a redshirt junior on the 16-player roster, few would have been surprised if Hawaii had rolled out name tags along with the volleyballs during Sunday’s first official practices at the Stan Sheriff Center. The much-anticipated start of two-a-days also meant dealing with the unanticipated. Sophomore hitter Nikki Taylor, second on the team in kills to All-American Emily Hartong last year, is out indefinitely with a hyper-extended elbow on her right hitting arm. The 6-foot-3 All-Big West selection and sand volleyball All-American, is cleared to practice in all things not involving the injured arm with the timeline of her full return estimated at two or three weeks.

"Personally, I want to be ready for the first match (Aug. 29 against Ohio)," Taylor said. "I’ve seen all four of our (UH team) doctors and we’re still formulating a timeline.

"I need to take it how it comes, control what I can control. As of now, I’m cleared to rehab."

Taylor had been expected to become the offensive focal point of coach Dave Shoji’s 40th team. But this shanked pass of a situation has the all-time winningest coach in Division I women’s volleyball looking at diversifying the offense even more than initially planned.

"Nothing changes right now. We weren’t working on a starting lineup. This week is all about working on skills," said Shoji, who brings a 1,128-189-1 record into this season. "Once Nikki gets back, she’ll get up to speed as quickly as possible.

"Obviously this means other players will get more (repetitions) and that will be good for them. For now, we’ll go with the players we have."

Enthusiasm matched the talent — tested and untested — Sunday. Junior right-side hitter Keani Passi, who sat out 2013 after transferring from the College of Southern Idaho, couldn’t wait to officially get back on the court.

"It was hard last year to be on the sidelines watching and not contributing during the games," said the 2012 junior college player of the year. "I’m really excited and my family is really excited to see me play.

"We’re young with a lot of new people. Right now we’re getting comfortable with each other, still bonding, seeing who we are as a team. Expectations? I think we’ll be pretty good."

The expectations are very personal for 6-1 junior blocker Olivia Magill, who led Arizona in blocks (119) last season. She got a taste of Wahine fandom last September when she was named to the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Challenge all-tournament team as the Wildcats finished second to host Hawaii.

"The change for me is in understanding the tradition and culture of volleyball here," Magill said. "Hawaii is such a big deal in the volleyball world.

"Even though I’m new, I am a little older and think I have things to add. I know the fans will have expectations, but I think I’ll expect more than they do. I want darn near perfect and really want to improve as a player."

Magill is not just penciled in as one of the starting middles; she’s etched in with black felt pen along with senior Kalei Adolpho, a three-year starter.

"It’s going to be ‘feed the middles’ this year, something that we tried to do more last year and hopefully do it this year," associate coach Scott Wong said. "Olivia is probably as athletic as Amber (former All-American Kaufman), laterally very quick and vertically (touches 10-foot-5) is up there with anyone in the country.

"As for Nikki, it does hurt, she’s a big part of the team. We expected we’d have some growing pains, but we also have some really good pieces out there. This will be a chance to build some depth."

Hawaii has depth at all positions, most of it young. That is evident at setter, where 5-9 sophomore Tayler Higgins, who played in all 30 matches last season as Mita Uiato’s backup, has experience over 6-1 freshman Kendra Koelsch.

"With so many new people, it changes the dynamic," Higgins said. "Agree that there wasn’t a lot of pressure on me last year — it was about gaining experience, learning a lot. This year will be different.

"Right now, it’s about getting everyone on the same page, integrating everyone into the team. We all have expectations. We expect ourselves to compete every day, every time we are in the gym, and we’re really excited to start."