Fresh-look Wahine subject to new tactics

A third of the roster is new and All-American Kanani Danielson will take her remarkable volleyball gifts to Japan’s professional league next month.

The University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine open training camp this morning with sleep in their eyes, questions in their heads and a strange-but-true challenge from coach Dave Shoji, whose team was picked by the league’s coaches Tuesday to win the Big West title.

"We’ve got to try and slow the game down, but still be quick," Shoji said.

Olympian Logan Tom, seemingly able to see the game in slow motion, brought him to this conclusion. Shoji spent last week in London watching volleyball at his first Olympics. For all the dynamic young guns Team USA has taken out of its holster, it is the all but unseen talents of the three-time Olympian that Shoji most wants his team to emulate.

"Logan Tom makes uncanny volleyball plays," Shoji says. "She’s been doing it since college. She is just so experienced. She makes these off plays and we need to make these off plays. Everything looks so easy for them (the Olympians). They can make tough plays look easy. You really can’t teach it, but I want to make the players aware they have got to start making those plays."

He has 20 on the roster and insists "every player needs to think she can start." Kahuku graduate Lizzie Blake decided not to return, but two more defensive specialists came in this summer — Moanalua graduate Katiana Ponce and Sarah Mendoza, who played two years for former Rainbow Tom Pestolesi at Irvine Valley Community College.

Hawaii now has eight defensive specialists, including Penn State transfer Alyssa Longo, returning libero Emily Maeda and Katie Spieler, whose aunt (Lisa Strand Ma‘a) played on two NCAA championship teams at UH. Shoji plans to pick a libero, defensive specialist and server from the mob.

Setters Mita Uiato and Monica Stauber anchor the most stable 2012 position, but Shoji believes even it will look different because both are "vastly improved."

The middle might be least stable. Brittany Hewitt did not return and second-team All-American Emily Hartong is moving outside so she can see more sets. Kristiana Tuaniga, Jade Vorster, Kalei Adolpho and Stephanie Hagins, a 6-foot-4 transfer from Washington State, have combined for very few starts.

"It is the most untested and unproven position, but I have confidence we’ll be good in the middle," Shoji says. "It could take a while. Whoever is out there is not going to be great right off the bat, but the potential is there, so I’m not really concerned. It might turn out to be a concern, but now I’m not worried about it."

The other six on the roster are hitters and at least two will have to pass. All three positions are up for grabs, with freshman Tai Manu-Olevao and Arizona State transfer Ashley Kastl — eighth in kills in the Pac-12 last season — thrown into the mix. Sophomore Jane Croson — and her scary serve — has quickly become Hawaii’s most familiar hitter.

"It’s going to have a different look," Shoji admits. "They will have to find their own identity. Each player needs to find their own niche and how they can contribute. Kastl took a majority of the swings for Arizona State. She probably won’t get as many attempts, but her role could be very, very important to us."

The Wahine went 31-2 last year and were ranked fifth in the final 2011 AVCA poll. They open this season Aug. 24 against Albany. Stanford, Cal and defending NCAA champion UCLA will be here the first three weeks. Then Hawaii returns to the Big West Conference after a 16-year absence — and 13 Western Athletic Conference championships.