Hawaii loads up in beach volleyball

The last thing that Hawaii associate coach Jeff Hall wanted to take Friday on the Big West road trip was the extra baggage tagged "worry" in regards to his inaugural recruiting class for Rainbow Wahine beach volleyball.

Courtesy of six National Letters of Intent signed and received Thursday, Hall can leave his head beach volleyball hat in Honolulu and focus on No. 7 Hawaii’s final four indoor conference matches.

"We’re really happy with this group, some who will be in the mix (right away), some who will help us down the road," Hall said.

Headlining the class are Morgan Martin, a senior at Capistrano Valley (Calif.) High, and La Jolla (Calif.) High senior Chloe Luyties. The 6-foot-1 Martin teamed with Kathryn Plummer to win the 2014 FIVB Under-17 Beach Volleyball World Championship, while the 5-8 Luyties, daughter of 1988 Olympian and AVP standout Ricci, has won numerous junior beach titles, including last May’s Get Noticed Beach Volleyball’s U18 championship with 2017 Hawaii oral commit Presley Forbes.

Also signing with the Wahine are high school seniors Julia Chizanskos (Archbishop Mitty, San Jose, Calif.); Cyrene Hertzog (Snohomish, Wash.); Sydney Kidd (La Costa Canyon, Calif.); and Amy Ozee (Seabury Hall, Maui).

"Morgan is arguably the top recruit in this class in the country," said Hall, who replaced Scott Wong in January as both head beach and associate indoor coach. "She’s played internationally, played in the AVP Next tournaments. We’re hoping for good things with her.

"Chloe was my first commit, comes from a family legacy of beach volleyball and is going to help us pretty quickly. Kidd is a great small player (5-8), AAA (beach rating). Julia a good player indoor and sand, Cyrene won the Seaside (Ore.) Open. Ozee a very smooth player with size (6-1) and, as we know, that has been rare for a local player."

While the season won’t start for the Class of 2016 for more than a year, the 2015-16 BeachBows are scheduled to compete in the inaugural Pacific Rim Championships later this month at Queen’s Beach and — pending approval — the UH campus courts. It is part of the move to have a fall season for beach volleyball, an official NCAA sport this spring.

The Pacific Rim Championships are scheduled for Nov. 27-29, a pairs tournament that includes duos representing UH, USC, UCLA, Japan, Canada and the U.S. The event is created by former U.S. Olympic beach volleyball player Kevin Wong and sponsored by his Spike And Serve volleyball program.