What came home from the NCAA volleyball subregional in Seattle last December was not the same Rainbow Wahine team that left Hawaii. After being swept by Washington — and dropping from third to 13th the last month of the rankings — players had new emotions and motivation.
Ask Hawaii head coach Dave Shoji what the most compelling questions are about his 2011 team, which started practice Tuesday, and the answer is quick and concise: passing and a new setter. The first practice started with those skills and the coaches plan to take a long look at everybody.
"The first three or four days will be very generic," Shoji said. "There won’t be an ‘A’ or ‘B’ or ‘C’ team. Everybody will get reps with everybody else. In three or four days it will be more apparent who is ahead of who, but I really want to give everybody an opportunity."
Ask Shoji’s players what’s on their mind and they never mention a skill. Let the analytical coach simplify the game. They are interested in what the complications could be, now and at the end of the year.
"Are people comfortable?" asks All-American senior Kanani Danielson. "We have a lot more young-uns who have been coached by other people with different techniques coming into the program. My question is, can people adapt, understand the reason things are done the way Dave wants it? Everybody has to be on the same page and get it down when asked. We can’t wait for the end of double days to say we finally got it. That needs to start the first week and the second week is preparing for our tournaments."
It is a legitimate question for a team with 20 on its roster, including seven freshmen. Others delve even deeper. Levels of determination and commitment are broached, along with holding each other accountable "every moment" and rediscovering the comfortable chemistry of a year ago.
Senior Chanteal Satele wonders if everyone is willing to go beyond what they perceive is their limit, even if they did not experience that crushing loss in the second round last year. Those that were there will never forget.
"I have the visual in my head, thinking how it all went down. It’s on repeat," said senior defensive specialist Alex Griffiths. "I’m not the biggest fan of it, but it’s a great motivator. I still remember who hit at me, who served me."
Danielson needs four kills in the Aug. 26 season opener against San Francisco to move into the career top 10. She expected to get those eight months ago in Washington until Hawaii’s rally was snuffed.
"Since the moment that game ended, I remember thinking, ‘I wish we had more time,’ " she said. "More time to recover, more time to get your game plan set. It all came down to ‘What can we do better?’ "
Each returning player left in May with a specific list of what needed to improve. Satele’s was "just everything — every single little thing that it came down to. Digging the ball, hitting it, not getting blocked, not making little errors that add up."
Their homework is due. The team practices twice a day until school starts Aug. 22. Hawaii has to find a way to replace setter Dani Mafua, who graduated, and libero Elizabeth Ka‘aihue, who will play on the new sand volleyball team her fifth year.
Sophomore Mita Uiato set every ball in the spring, but now she is joined by freshmen Monica Stauber and Lizzie Blake. That gives the Wahine a trio of 5-foot-8 setters, and Shoji has already brought up the possibility of a 6-2 offense that would keep them out of the front row. He brought in Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, who started at setter for the U.S. the last three Olympics, to help coach them.
Even with Ka‘aihue gone, Danielson sees more help passing. She does not expect to revert to the two-passer system that was so prevalent last year, and so successful until Utah State and Washington found all its pukas in the postseason.
"It should be more balanced," Danielson said. "Last year it was just me and Liz. We had to cover the court like it was beach volleyball. This time around we should have three passers."
Motivation also comes from the schedule. The Rainbow Wahine host a regional for the first time in five years. Now all they have to do is get there.
The seniors know how hard it is, and how huge. "It reminds me of what we’re playing for," Satele said. "We’re playing for our state, for everyone, every game."
Forsythe absent from practice
Senior middle blocker Alexis Forsythe missed practice. Shoji, who returned from Japan 2 hours before the first practice started, hasn’t talked with Forsythe yet but said she is "having doubts" about whether she will play. Forsythe missed parts of her two previous seasons with health issues and a recent moped accident prevented her from conditioning. She started in the 2009 regional semifinal when Amber Kaufman was hurt and helped lift the Wahine to a win over Illinois.
Kaluau, Baxter helping out
Kayla-Al Kaluau, who was a year ahead of Wahine freshman Ginger Long at Kamehameha-Maui, is the new team manager. She spent her freshman year at Syracuse and is the niece of former Wahine softball standouts Audra and Tamara Kaluau. The new volunteer coach is 2005 Kauai High graduate Kaleo Baxter, who was a senior libero for Cal State Northridge in the spring.
