As the volleyball season continues, so does the healing and the lineup tinkering.
A healthy Annie Mitchem opens the door marked “options” for No. 13 Hawaii (9-4, 2-0 Big West), returning after its first road trip with victories over two of the better conference teams: UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly.
This week, it’s two of the teams expected to be at the bottom in Cal State Fullerton (6-9, 1-0) on Friday and UC Riverside (5-8, 0-1) on Sunday.
The latitude may have changed but not the attitude. As always, the mind-set is, “Respect the opponent.”
“There’s upsets every week, in volleyball, in football, in every sport,” Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said on Tuesday. “We have to show up every day, go hard and winning will take care of itself.”
The return of Mitchem two weeks ago from a finger injury gave Hawaii athleticism at left-side hitter, a position that was completely on-the-job training for the senior. Her natural position is middle but, due to the illness of freshman Kirsten Sibley (for the Pepperdine series) and the slow-healing shoulder of junior Kalei Greeley, Mitchem was moved to the left.
On Saturday at Cal Poly, Mitchem moved to the middle in Set 3 with the match tied at 1-1. While on the left, she was hitting .000 (6 kills, 6 errors); while in the middle, she had six kills with one error, and was in on half of her six blocks during a deciding 4-0 run in Set 4 where the Wahine went from down 17-18 to take the lead for good at 21-18.
“I was struggling on the outside,” Mitchem said. “It’s a lot different and I don’t know if I was ready for it.
“I am more comfortable in the middle. This week, I want to get more comfortable with being back on the court, whether it’s playing outside or middle.”
It likely will be back to the position where she was a two-time All-American at Irvine Valley and twice the AVCA National Player of the Year at the two-year college level.
“A healthy Annie makes us a little more athletic,” Shoji said. “She ran into some problems (on the outside) mainly because she had to hit some high balls, which she’s not used to doing.
“Putting her back in the middle is definitely a possibility.”
