Ljundqvist recalls amazing UH moments

Words often fail when attempting to describe a momentous event. A stays-with- you-forever one that leads to the closing of eyes and a smile when trying to recapture that memory.

Such was the night the Special Events Arena — since renamed the Stan Sheriff Center — opened on the Manoa campus. It was Oct. 22, 1994, less than 24 hours after Hawaii had closed the doors on venerable Klum Gym by closing out San Jose State 15-4, 12-15, 15-2, 15-6 in front of some 2,000 who wanted to be part of history, enduring the humidity and bleacher seating that even decades of use didn’t soften.

Otroligt. Häpnadsväckande. Galen.

Those are some of the words that went through the mind of Swedish national Angelica Ljungqvist when thinking in her native language about the special occasion nearly 23 years ago.

Incredible. Amazing. Crazy.

One had to be there to appreciate the 10,000-plus sold-out environment, a combination of circus and black-tie gala where coach Dave Shoji was in a tuxedo. All for a women’s volleyball match.

Ljungqvist was there, a sophomore middle blocker in the second quarter of her All-America career. She remembers the overwhelming noise, the embracing cheers, as she and the rest of the Rainbow Wahine — 17-2 and ranked No. 6 — ran out through the tunnel for the very first time. And this was just for warmups.

“I will never forget that night,” Ljungqvist said. “We ran out and the arena was already packed with 10,000 people.

“It was crazy. I get goosebumps thinking about it.”

It is the same feeling that Ljungqvist gets when thinking about tonight and her return to the Stan Sheriff Center. The 1996 AVCA national player of the year will be introduced as the top assistant to the Wahine who ran out alongside her in 1994: head coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos.

“I get goosebumps,” Ljungqvist said of the season opener against Marquette, the second match of tonight’s Texaco Invitational slate. “I’m excited to be in the Stan Sheriff Center again with our fans and feeling that vibe.

“I loved Klum Gym. I’m so glad that I got to be part of a team that experienced both. Klum had so much tradition. But the arena was something else. Back home in Sweden, it is a small sport. I don’t think they related to the fact that we could bring in 10,000 to watch us.”

But come they did, with eight more sellouts during Ljungqvist’s career, including her final match in a Wahine uniform on Dec. 13, 1996. It was a sweep of Brigham Young in the NCAA regional final and it brought that year’s attendance to 184,314 — an average of 8,378 — both NCAA records.

“I was very, very fortunate to be a part of Wahine volleyball during those years,” said Ljungqvist, who ranks No. 2 in blocks (733) and No. 6 (1,570) in kills in the program’s record book. “And I was very lucky to have played with so many local girls. They had such a special connection to the community.”

Ljungqvist easily named those former teammates as if she was looking on the court: Robyn Ah Mow, Jenny Wilton, Joselyn Robins, Chastity Nobriga, Cia Goods, Nalani Yamashita, Lori Higashida, Chastity Kanoa, Stephanie Shota, Kapu Elkington and new Director of Volleyball Operations Aven Lee.

But of all the “local girls” from 1993 to 1996, it is the one who will be sitting next to her tonight — her pepper partner from Day 1 of practice, the one she had to translate for when Shoji couldn’t hear his young setter’s mumblings, the one who got the first phone call to join her new staff: Ah Mow-Santos.

“Robyn and I have had this connection since we came in as freshmen,” Ljungqvist said. “It is true that Dave had to ask me what she said. I was next to her (in the rotation) and he’d ask, ‘What did she say?’ I would say I could hear her.

“She was very quiet and to see her now, being so vocal. She gives these speeches to the girls that gets me so fired up that I want to jump in and play. To be back with her is awesome.”

Ljungqvist has shared her playing experiences with the Wahine, including her time in the Sheriff Center.

“You can tell the freshmen about the crowd, but you can’t prepare them for it,” Ljungqvist said. “But when I walk out there (tonight), it’s not about me or Robyn. It’s about the players on the court. “

While that October night in 1994 cannot be replicated, and a sell-out is not expected, likely Ljungqvist will have the same words going through her mind.

Otroligt. Häpnadsväckande. Galen.