MARIBOR, Slovenia >> On its historic tour of Europe, the Hawaii volleyball team got history lessons on both sides of the Italy-Slovenia border Thursday. The Rainbow Wahine walked and rode the storia, the history of Venice, from the centuries-old San Marcos Cathedral to the Grand Canal via water taxi.
The evening’s lesson came after a 31⁄2-hour bus ride to Maribor and was far more sobering. The zgodovina, the history of present-day Slovenia is as young as it has been embattled for centuries, the latest culminating in independence in 1991 following the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Hawaii was to tour Maribor on Friday before its afternoon match with Nova KBM Branik, the town’s well-respected pro volleyball club, at the training center that is within walking distance of the team’s hotel.
Hawaii has yet to take a set on its trip, having lost to the national teams of Italy and Slovenia on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. While Nova KBM Branik is not expected to be as challenging as the teams earlier this week, the Rainbow Wahine added another loss Wednesday with the injury to reserve setter Kendra Koelsch.
The incoming sophomore cut the palm of her right hand during Wednesday’s match when she slid into the unpadded referee’s stanchion. After a consult with the team’s physician back in Hawaii, Koelsch had stitches and a tetanus shot during an overnight visit to the emergency room.
Koelsch remained upbeat Thursday, saying she had some pain, but was disappointed she was not going to play the rest of the time in Europe.
“We’re disappointed for her,” coach Dave Shoji said. “But she can still work on some things such as footwork. It was just an unfortunate freak accident.”
It leaves incoming junior Tayler Higgins as Hawaii’s lone setter. Barring an emergency, the Wahine will not have to dig into their history when reactivating three-time Olympian and two-time All-American Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, UH’s current assistant coach.
“Taylor is our setter and the matches will be nothing more than a normal, every-day match,” Shoji said. “It was a nice opportunity to play Kendra but this will help Tayler to play all the way through.”
Nova KBM Branik is not at full strength either, with several players in France in preparation for its match with the French national team on Saturday.
“In my opinion, this will be the weakest match of all their matches,” tour operator Cory Solomon, a former assistant volleyball coach at Utah, said. “Their national team members are gone and so are some of their professionals who play for other teams. But they still have several of the players from their junior national team who will play.
“We’re very happy that the University of Hawaii is here. It is known world-wide about the great volleyball tradition. They’ve been fantastic, very low maintenance. We’ve had teams where the kids get lost, are late, don’t clean up the hotels … There have been zero problems on my end with the Hawaii team.”
Coming to watch the Rainbow Wahine play on Friday are former Rainbow Warrior setter Nejc Zemljak and former men’s basketball player Ales Zivanovic. On Saturday, Hawaii will play the Slovenian junior national team made up of mostly under-21 players.
The Rainbow Wahine were scheduled to get in some cross-training Saturday with a ropes course and an Alpine slide but those, as well as other planned outdoor activities, will hinge on the weather. Rain is expected through the weekend.
Note
Cindy Luis will be on the “Bobby Curran Show” on KKEA AM-1420 Friday morning between 6 and 9.
