Neither snow nor rain nor heat has prevented three former Hawaii women’s volleyball players from seeing the world while playing the sport they love. Whether it’s been three-person snow, two-person beach or — next month — four-person very hot sand, past Wahine All-Americans Emily Hartong, Katie Spieler and Karissa Cook have battled the elements for nearly a year playing various versions of volleyball.
Most of the time, they’ve been on the same team, representing the U.S. at various international competitions. Today Hartong and Spieler will be competing against each other, trying to advance to Friday’s main draw of the AVP Tour’s Hawaii Open at Fort DeRussy. Cook, a 2014 UH beach All-American, and partner Jace Pardon (All-America at Florida State) are seeded sixth in the main draw of the pro tour’s season finale.
Hartong, a three-time indoor All-American who played one season of beach, is paired with Geena Urango, who also played both indoor and beach at USC. The two are coming off a gold-medal performance last week at the NORCECA Tour event in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Spieler, a two-time beach All-American for the SandBows, is back with Delaney Knudsen (All-America at Pepperdine). Their initial partnership ended after the 2015 Manhattan Beach Open but they reunited to win last month’s Seaside Open.
“My hope this week is to play my heart out and enjoy playing in Hawaii,” said Spieler, one of the most decorated players in UH beach history (2013-16). “Sometimes I get caught up in daily life and forget how much I miss Hawaii and the people.
“It’s so great to be back.”
But not for long. Spieler, Hartong and Cook were recently named to the U.S. team for the inaugural ANOC World Beach Games next month in Qatar. The format of the Association of National Olympic Committees event is four-person beach (also known as quads or 4×4).
“They’re expecting temperatures around 105 (degrees),” said Spieler, who also won a NORCECA event with Cook in Martinique last year. “But that’s just part of beach volleyball, dealing with extreme sun, extreme temperatures.
“That’s what I loved about playing in Hawaii, pushing the limits physically. That and having the best fans in the world.”
Spieler, Hartong and Cook experienced the extreme cold in Moscow last December, winning gold in the snow. They added silvers in Austria and Italy in the spring.
“It started when three former Wahine decided to play snow volleyball and since then we’ve been at the forefront of these volleyball excursions where we get to go around the world,” Spieler said. “Getting to see the world and play the sport we love is such a blessing.”
Other former SandBows entered in today’s qualifying around are Carly Kan (2017-18) with Lauren DeTurk (Northeastern), Heather Boyan Friesen (2015) with Alexa Micek (N.C. State) and Ari Homayun (2016-19) with Michelle Iafigliola (Cleveland State).
The men’s qualifying event also starts today. Rainbow Warrior Ric Cervantes (2007-10) is teaming with Jacob Rosener and Nemanja Komar (2008) with Chris Fleming.
Seeded into Friday’s main draw from Hawaii are Taylor Crabb (Punahou), seeded No. 2 with Jake Gibb; Tri Bourne (Academy of the Pacific) and Trevor Crabb (Punahou), No. 8; and Maddison and Riley McKibbin, seeded 11th.
The defending champions are Phil Dalhausse-Nick Lucena (men) and April Ross-Alix Klineman (women).
AVP TOUR
Hawaii Open
Fort DeRussy Beach
Today
>> Qualification bracket, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
Friday
>> Main draw, opening rounds: 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
Saturday
>> Main draw, elimination rounds, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday
>> Final rounds, 9 a.m.
>> Women’s, final, 2 p.m.; men’s final, 3:30 p.m.
>> Livestats: AVP.com/Scoring
>> Online: Amazon Prime Video (membership required)
>> TV: NBCSN Ch. 210 (delayed), Monday, 1 p.m.
