UH debuts newest sport

Sand volleyball might be an emerging sport in the NCAA, but it has been a part of Hawaii for as long as most can remember.

When the University of Hawaii introduced its program Saturday at the Queen’s Beach Sandbox in Waikiki, surrounded by a postcard setting and several hundred spectators/tourists, it was another day at the beach.

Only better, at least for the Rainbow Wahine and Hawaii Pacific. The jury is still out for Nittaidai, whose doubles teams — many playing on the beach for the first time — went 2-20 in the morning’s "Hawaii vs. Japan" tournament.

"That was us five years ago," said HPU indoor coach Daryl Kapis, whose team has been training on the beach the last four years. "I’m really hoping we can add it as an official sport. It’s been huge for us just doing what we’ve been doing. We’d love to take it to the next level."

Top-seeded Elizabeth (Ka‘aihue) Stoltzman and Emily Hartong won the single-elimination tournament in the afternoon, defeating third-seeded Jane Croson and Larissa Nordyke, 19-21, 21-18, 15-12.

By then, opening day was closing in on night, but complete strangers were hooked. Maybe the biggest surprise of the windy 9-hour day was the sheer number of fascinated fans.

Curious folks with no ties to Hawaii or the players sat down on the sand and wall simply to see what was happening. They stuck around for hours, taken in by the athleticism, atmosphere and competitiveness of a volleyball game where size isn’t nearly as important as instinct, and ballhandling beats the big hammer almost every time.

"We will never see this anywhere else," UH head coach Scott Wong said of the atmosphere. "Even at the national championship."

Four courts were going from the beginning of the Diabetes Walk through the St. Patrick’s Day parade. The sand was hosed down by a visiting firetruck between morning and afternoon sessions.

The venue was cut to two courts for semifinals and one for the final and the crowd kept growing, and creeping closer to the players.

It never got particularly loud or raucous but the atmosphere was appreciative and the players loved it. They reciprocated with what Wong — who played seven years on the pro beach tour — called "really, really high level volleyball."

"Our girls in that final would beat a lot of professional teams," he said. "They would be fighting to get into semifinals and finals at tour events."

While the all-Wahine final four was pretty much expected, there were a multitude of surprises beyond the crowd. The reserve/redshirt partnerships of Kayla Kawamura and Kaela Goodman, and Ginger Long and Lizzie Blake, reached semifinals.

Goodman, a hitter who rarely passes, is a poster child for one of the primary reasons UH invested in the sand game. Training on the sand has dramatically improved her ballhandling and game sense.

Hawaii’s debut was one of only two home dates. It plays HPU again April 7, and travels to matches in Florida before and California after.

There are 15 Division I teams this first season. There will be no NCAA Championship until 40 schools field teams for two seasons, but the American Volleyball Coaches Association will host a national championship April 27-29 in Alabama.