Hawaii’s Brittany Hewitt will not play her senior volleyball season, citing back pain and diminishing passion for the game.
"I never had a huge love for the game, but I enjoyed playing," Hewitt said. "It was not the same as the other girls. I’ve never chosen to play on the weekend, maybe because I didn’t grow up with volleyball. But a majority of it was my body — how much pain my body went through during the season. I figured if I wanted to preserve my body a little bit I better start now."
Hewitt will graduate in May. She redshirted her first year and led the Rainbow Wahine in blocking all three seasons she played, earning all-conference honors. The 6-foot-3 middle from Idaho ranked in the top 20 nationally in blocking those years, leading the NCAA as a sophomore and earning second-team All-America honors.
She was all-region last season, helping UH to a No. 5 spot in the final poll. But all her numbers dropped, along with consistency and training time. A variety of health problems, including her back, kept her on the sidelines at many practices. Still, she leaves at No. 7 on the career block list with 450, and eighth in blocks per set (1.46).
"She was just not healthy this past year," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "She missed a lot of practices, she didn’t have the ability to go every day like she wanted to and we wanted her to. It’s hard to be enthusiastic about the game when your body is just not responding."
Hewitt said she first thought of leaving last spring, but enjoyed the "competitiveness of the game." She also wanted to "finish what I started," particularly after making dramatic improvements her first three years.
"She’s the poster child for what Wahine volleyball is all about," Shoji said. "That’s taking players and developing them. She certainly was one of those that came in with some physicality, but not all the technique and fitness. To see her progress the way she did was really neat."
Even in December, Hewitt said she would play her final year. She never truly believed it.
"The pain in my back," she said, "just takes away a lot of the fun I was having."
