New Rainbow Wahine libero/defensive specialist Talia Edmonds reconnects with Hawaii roots

Talia Edmonds relished every aspect of her summer trips to Hawaii growing up … except for one.

“Every time I came here, the worst part was leaving,” Edmonds said.

Edmonds made the trip from Kalamazoo, Mich., to visit family on Oahu every other summer and worked in time to attend the University of Hawaii volleyball program’s youth camps during her middle and high school years.

This summer, she’s sticking around quite a bit longer than her previous 10-day vacations, and is now immersed in training camp with the Rainbow Wahine as a graduate transfer from Michigan State.

“I grew up coming to the UH camps and watching the games, and it’s different than anywhere on the mainland, this culture that you’re going to get throughout the whole state and the support that you get from the community,” Edmonds said.

“When I got the opportunity coming from Michigan State, I felt just ecstatic being able to live here and get that experience first hand.”

After earning degrees in human development and family studies with double minors in youth and society and women’s and gender studies from Michigan State in December, Edmonds enrolled at UH in January to join the Wahine as a libero/defensive specialist.

While the 5-foot-7 Edmonds will start her graduate program in social work later this month, she’s classified as a junior in eligibility and the spring semester gave her a chance to acclimate within a new program.

Along with getting to know her new coaches and teammates, Edmonds’ move to Hawaii presented a chance to reconnect with family and further explore her mother’s volleyball legacy in the islands.

Elizabeth “Peka” (Malae) Edmonds graduated from Radford and was a part of five national championship teams at Hawaii Hilo. Under coach Sharon Peterson, the Vulcans won an AIAW title in 1981 and four straight NAIA titles from 1981 to ’84. She’s a two-time member of the UH Hilo Vulcan Hall of Fame, as an individual inductee and a member of the 1981 dual-championship team.

“She’s very humble,” Edmonds said. “She would tell us these stories growing up, ‘My college team was pretty good.’ … I get here and she’s downplayed it so much.

“I called and said, ‘Mom, why didn’t you tell me that it was such a big deal. You won four or five national championships at Hilo and your high school team was really good.’ And she was, ‘I don’t know, I just never thought of it that way.’

“I think the biggest compliment I’ve gotten since I’ve been here is ‘Oh, you’re so much like your mom.’ I never really heard that before because no one on the mainland really knows her.”

Edmonds’ parents met while her father, Lawrence, was stationed in Hawaii as an Army Ranger and they moved to Michigan, where Talia grew into a multi-sport athlete at Kalamazoo Central High School.

Along with volleyball, she played basketball and softball all four years and had a season of soccer and throwing the shot put with the track and field team.

Basketball season kept her from attending some of the national volleyball events her friends and teammates were attending, but dropping the sport wasn’t an option.

“My dad was, ‘No, you’re going to thank me later that you’re going to be a well-rounded athlete,’” Edmonds said. “Now I tell him, ‘OK, Dad, you were right. I’m glad I didn’t specialize too early.’ ”

Edmonds’ parents are making plans to spend the fall in Hawaii after the Rainbow Wahine open the season at the Texas A&M Invitational on Aug. 26-28. In the meantime, she’s continuing to bond with her UH teammates as she works and competes with sophomore Tayli Ikenaga in the back row.

Edmonds served as a team captain at Michigan State last year and played in 98 of 105 total sets, leading the Spartans with 238 digs (2.43 per set). Ikenaga held the libero role at UH throughout her freshman season, and there figure to be times when they’ll be on the court together to anchor the Wahine defense.

“(Ikenaga) is very efficient in the way she does her skills, passing and digging,” Edmonds said. “While she’s younger than me, I feel like I can still learn a lot from her and we have this relationship where we can give feedback to each other. We are competing for a position, but we want each other to get better. Because if I’m getting better and she’s getting better that just makes the team better as a whole.

“Either way, whoever’s in the (libero) jersey, we’re going to end up ultimately working together anyway and I think we’re going to end up making a really good backcourt regardless.”