The Rainbow Wahine are now up to their ankles in sand volleyball and spring indoor workouts. Meanwhile, Hawaii’s roster continues to be tweaked in the offseason.
Backup setter Monica Stauber has decided to leave the team after two years. Kyra Goodman — whose older sister Kaela will be one of eight UH seniors in the fall — will join up. Stauber and Kaela Goodman were two of the four Wahine with 4.0 grade-point averages last semester, joining Jade Vorster and redshirt Katie Spieler.
According to the Laguna Beach (Calif.) Volleyball Club website, Kyra Goodman, a 5-foot-11 setter, has committed to Hawaii. Both setters on the Laguna 18s team are headed to top-ranked programs, with Kelsey Humphreys committing to Stanford.
Kaela and Kyra were born and started school on Maui before moving to California with mother, Heather Bubnis, who taught at Seabury Hall. Their grandparents live in Haiku and father Pat is chief designer for the Maui-based Cabrinha kitesurfing company.
Kyra will join a 2013 recruiting class that also includes Punahou setter Tayler Higgins, 6-3 hitter Nikki Taylor (Kaiser) and Southern Idaho transfer Keani Passi, a 5-9 hitter out of Waianae, who was the 2012 AVCA Junior College Player of the Year.
Kalei Greeley, a 6-2 hitter, who was the California Interscholastic Federation Division 2AA Player of the Year last fall, confirmed she will head here in 2014. Her grandmother grew up in Hawaii and gave Greeley a trip to the Rainbow Wahine Volleyball Camp for her 13th birthday.
"I was really lucky she did that because that set Hawaii in my eyes," Greeley said by phone Wednesday. "Since then I’ve loved the school and wanted to go there. I didn’t know if I could. That was my first year (of volleyball) and I didn’t think I would be good enough. When I went there I set my goal to be there some day."
Greeley is now good enough. She switched from middle to outside as a junior at Riverside King and collected 541 kills — third-highest in area history. She had 29 kills and 23 digs in a section final and averaged 20 kills and 13 digs in nine postseason matches, lifting the Wolves to the state championship final.
She said going outside California and to a place where she has family were factors in her decision to come here, along with, "It’s an amazing place to spend four years of my life."
"I felt at home," Greeley said. "When I went on my recruiting trip, I was completely comfortable on campus. I liked the school. It was just a bonus that it was near the beach."
