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Amid the grind of fall camp, there are times Kyra Hanawahine reminds herself to savor the moment.
Local players have long made an impact in the Hawaii women’s volleyball program in the back row and Hanawahine appreciates the line of liberos and defensive specialists who preceded her in Manoa as well as the opportunity to join the list.
“I know a lot of the girls that have come before me,” Hanawahine said. “So just looking up to them, even when I was growing up … sometimes I have to take a step back, because you get so much into routine … just to really be like ‘wow.’ You have to be grateful, especially now that it’s coming to an end for me.”
A 5-foot-2 Kamehameha graduate, Hanawahine returns for her delayed second season with the Rainbow Wahine as one of three liberos/defensive specialists on the roster and the lone senior among the group. She played in 28 matches in 2019 and brings experience and energy to the competition for a spot in the lineup.
“Kyra is a natural leader,” UH assistant coach Kaleo Baxter said. “She’s extremely vocal, her skill set is phenomenal, and she’s extremely confident.
“So we’re gonna let the girls battle it out, and whoever owns that back there, they’re going to be wearing that other color jersey come game time.”
Hanawahine made the Star-Advertiser’s Fab 15 in her final two seasons of high school volleyball in 2015 and ’16 and helped Kamehameha win a Division I state title as a junior. She posted 25 digs in the five set final against ‘Iolani that year and closed her high school career with 23 digs in a four-set rematch won by the Raiders in 2016.
Along the way, Hanawahine said she looked up to the UH’s line of liberos, including recent standouts in Savanah Kahakai (2014-17) and fellow Kamehameha alumna Tita Akiu (2018), both All-Big West selections for the Wahine.
Hanawahine began her college career at Oregon and transferred to UH prior to her junior year. She appeared in 26 of 30 matches in 2019 and finished with 35 digs while handling 34 serve receptions without an error.
After the pandemic shut down the 2020 Big West women’s volleyball season, Hanawahine returns for her third year in the program as a graduate student after completing her work toward a degree in psychology in May.
She’s joined in the back-row competition by junior defensive specialist Janelle Gong, who was awarded a scholarship a week ago, and freshman libero Tayli Ikenaga, a Fab 15 selection as a junior at Moanalua in 2019.
With the Aug. 27 opener against Fairfield less than two weeks away, Hanawahine — whose older brother, Kalei, played baseball at UH — approaches the often grueling regimen of two-a-days with a “we, not me” perspective in the competition for playing time as she looks to make the most of the time she has left in the program.
“This is my last year so anytime that I can be in the gym, it doesn’t matter if it’s a game or practice, I’m really just taking advantage of that moment,” Hanawahine said.
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