It’s back to their roots for the members of the fifth-ranked Hawaii beach volleyball team. The Rainbow Wahine (4-0) return to their inaugural venue — Queen’s Beach — for this week’s Queen’s Cup with two matches each against No. 9 Stetson and Loyola Marymount.
The home opener is a homecoming for Carly Kan, the Punahou School graduate who played her All-American indoor career at Missouri. She is playing as a graduate student for the SandBows.
“It’s where it all started for me,” Kan said of Queen’s Beach. “I haven’t played at Queen’s since my high school days. It’s going to be fun.”
As Kan and partner Ari Homayun went, so did the SandBows last week. The duo and Hawaii both went 4-0 on the road, winning the University of Arizona Invitational as well as a dual vs. No. 12 Grand Canyon.
On Monday, Homayun-Kan, who played at Flight 5, were named the Big West’s inaugural pairs team of the week.
| COLLEGIATE BEACH VOLLEYBALL QUEEN’S CUP
At Queen’s Beach, Waikiki
Friday
No. 9 Stetson (1-2) vs. Loyola Marymount (2-2), 10 a.m.
No. 5 Hawaii (4-0) vs. No. 9 Stetson, 12:30 p.m.
No. 5 Hawaii vs. Loyola Marymount, 3 p.m.
Saturday
No. 5 Hawaii vs. Loyola Marymount, 10 a.m.
No. 9 Stetson vs. Loyola Marymount, 12:30 p.m.
No. 5 Hawaii vs. No. 9 Stetson, 3 p.m.
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“We started working together in fall and kept doing what we’ve been doing in practice,” Kan said. “It’s worked out well for us.
“Having that target on our back (No. 5 ranking) we knew we had to come out even stronger. We’re taking it one week at a time and we’re focused on Stetson. It’s not hard not to look ahead.”
Looming next week is the Outrigger Hawaii Invitational, a field that includes defending national champion and No. 1 USC and No. 2 Florida State.
“It’s one step at a time,” Hawaii assistant coach Evan Silberstein said. “We want to go from 4-0 to 8-0 after this week, win all four duals, then we’ll look at next week.
“I think we could have had several pairs selected (for the Big West award). What was nice about (Homayun-Kan) was they were the first ones done and we got a point right off the bat. It’s like having your lead-off hitter in baseball get a home run.”
Silberstein said he didn’t expect much of a change in the lineup from last week’s trip although the beach team welcomed back several of the indoor crossovers who were at the USAV national team tryouts in Colorado. Back on the sand are freshman Norene Iosia and Annie Mitchem, the latter who completed her indoor eligibility last December.
The only current indoor crossover on last week’s trip was beach All-American Emily Maglio, who went 4-0 with Laurel Weaver at Flight 3. Beach and indoor All-American Nikki Taylor also went 4-0, playing with Ka’iwi Schucht at Flight 2; Taylor has exhausted her indoor eligibility.
Hawaii’s other home venue is the Ching Complex courts. The first campus match is March 20 against Nebraska.
