All-American Mitchem joins Wahine

The Hawaii volleyball roster is complete as of Tuesday morning’s practice with the arrival of junior college All-American Annie Mitchem.

The 6-foot-3 middle out of Irvine (Calif.) College arrived on campus Monday, completed some prerequisites for student-athletes and watched both of the Rainbow Wahine practices.

“I’m so excited to be here, I’ve waited three years to finally be here,” the two-time AVCA two-year-college national player of the year said. “We have a lot of really good looking girls out there, looking really powerful. I’m excited.”

Hawaii coach Dave Shoji is looking forward to having her in camp after Mitchem missed all of last week finalizing transcripts and other UH and NCAA requirements. Although Mitchem played middle for the Lasers under former UH All-American Tom Pestolesi, the six-rotation player might get a look as an outside hitter.

“She’s a middle, but we’ll see what kind of skill set she has, and we’ll make a determination after a couple of days,” Shoji said. “She’s a big, physical young woman. She’s mature, older and ready to go.”

Mitchem said she’s ready to test herself at the Division I level.

“It will be a big change,” said Mitchem, who led the country in hitting percentage (.517) last season as the Lasers went 27-0. ”Obviously, junior college competition is not as big or strong. I’m going to have to make my adjustments really quick since our games are coming up soon.”

Hawaii opens against Idaho at 7 p.m. on Aug. 28, the second match of the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational. The first match pits Oregon State against Wichita State at 4:30 p.m.