UH, Texas A&M linked in many ways

COLLEGE STATION, Texas >> Must be “Lion King” week.

New Hawaii football coach Nick Rolovich referenced the 1994 Disney movie classic while being introduced at a press conference on Monday.

That soundtrack includes the song “Circle of Life,” which has long described the small world that is college volleyball.

Pride Rock has relocated to Reed Arena for the NCAA subregional, where No. 7 Hawaii and No. 15 Texas A&M hope to avoid the shadowy place — that of being upset in today’s first round — and face each other for the first time since 1999.

If the Rainbow Wahine (26-1) and Aggies (23-6) advance to Saturday’s second round, it would reconnect the two programs in an absurd number of ways that defies chance.

Consider that Texas A&M associate coach John Corbelli (Punahou 1974) and some of his teammates used to scrimmage against Hawaii in the early years of the Wahine program. Corbelli’s teammate on two state championship Buffanblu volleyball teams was Jay Anderson, the father of current Hawaii sophomore defensive specialist Clare-Marie Anderson.

Corbelli played at UC Santa Barbara, also the alma mater of Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji. Corbelli’s son Russell, a 6-foot-6 middle on A&M’s club team and practice player for the Aggies women, will have at least one year of eligibility after graduating this spring; he’s received recruiting letters from the Hawaii men’s program.

“It is a very small world,” Corbelli said. “Jay Anderson is coming to town, and getting together with him will be exciting. There are a lot of Punahou alumnae in the area. Maybe they’ll come to the games.

“One time that sticks out is when we first moved to Texas A&M (in 1993). I was out working in the yard and this older gentleman jogged by. He said he knew who I was, that when he was teaching at UCSB that he was the faculty member who helped get the UCSB men’s team sponsored by the university (as an intercollegiate sport).”

The interconnection is very visible on the Aggies roster, with junior middle Jazzmin Babers, the daughter of former Rainbow Warrior football player Dino Babers and former Rainbow Wahine Susan Hemenway Babers. Corbelli remembers first meeting the college sweethearts while watching UH football practice with Shoji in 1984, with Susan waiting for practice to end.

Susan, who played only one year for Shoji, had been the roommate of Shoji’s wife, Mary, prior to their marriage. Corbelli was home visiting family after serving as assistant coach for the U.S. women’s team that earned silver at the 1984 Olympics

“Dave was trying to get me to come back and be on his staff,” said Corbelli, whose future wife and current Aggies head coach Laurie Flachmeier was on that Olympic roster. “I told him I wouldn’t mind coming back but didn’t think I could afford it.”

What paid off nearly 30 years later was signing Jazzmin Babers. Late to volleyball — she started playing in ninth grade — the 6-2 Babers has started every match in her three seasons with the Aggies and two weeks ago was named AVCA national player of the week.

Her mother, Susan, is hoping to make it down for the subregional. Father Dino, the head football coach at Bowling Green, will be in Detroit as the Falcons take on Northern Illinois for the MAC championship.

“I wasn’t going to go, but now that Mary (Shoji) will be there, I gotta go,” Susan Babers said. “There are so many memories of being in Hawaii. Coming from California, it was a home away from home. It was about the people in the community who supported us.

“Any time we come across people from Hawaii, we still talk about the ohana, the family atmosphere, all the aunties and uncles. I only played one year (1981) before I had to have shoulder surgery. Of course, they go on to win the national championship the next two years (’82, ’83). Dave didn’t have to, but he kept me on scholarship. I was able to graduate.”

Jazzmin Babers didn’t follow her parents’ path to Manoa, but Susan said her husband kept trying.

“Dino kept texting Dave, ‘You need to recruit my daughter,’ ” she said. “Dave didn’t have any scholarships left.

“The funny thing was when Jazzmin was named (national) player of the week, Dave texted Dino to tell Jazzmin ‘Congratulations. Guess I should have recruited her.’ ”

There’s even a Disney connection for Jazzmin Babers, who leads the Aggies in kills (3.20 kps) and blocks (1.41 bps). At the suggestion of her oldest sister, Breeahnah, she was named for Princess Jasmine from the movie “Aladdin.”

HAWAII (26-1): The Rainbow Wahine are the lone team not from the Lone Star State in the subregional, something that Sunday’s ESPN selection show telecast mentioned before adding, “and Hawaii along for the ride.”

Hawaii, undefeated in the Big West (16-0) for the fourth time, has won its last 21, including the final six conference matches on the road, with 16 sweeps this season. The Wahine had six starters earn All-Big West honors Monday, led by Player of the Year Nikki Taylor, a 6-4 junior opposite out of Kaiser.

Joining Taylor on the first team were senior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao, senior middle Olivia Magill and sophomore middle Emily Maglio. Earning honorable mention were sophomore hitter Kalei Greeley and sophomore libero Savanah Kahakai.

Taylor led the conference in kills (392), points (491) and aces (39) and is second on the team in digs (183) and blocks (109). Magill, No. 7 nationally in blocks (1.53 bps), and Maglio (1.24 bps), have helped the Wahine lead the country in blocking this season (3.30 bps).

Sophomore defensive specialist Clare-Marie Anderson has only two serving errors in 264 attempts. Her last error came in Set 3 on Sept. 6 in Hawaii’s only loss of the season; she has not missed her last 235 attempts.

The Rainbow Wahine are making their 34th NCAA appearance — 22nd straight — and have missed the tournament just once, the injury-plagued 1992 season when they went 15-12. Hawaii is 75-30 all-time in the NCAA, with national titles in 1982, ’83 and ’89, finishing second twice and third four times, the last in 2009. The Wahine have not advanced to a regional since 2011.

Dave Shoji was named Big West Coach of the Year on Monday, his 14th such honor (1 PCAA, 5 Big West, 8 WAC). He is No. 2 in all-time victories (1,176) behind Penn State’s Russ Rose (1,187).

Hawaii is 6-0 vs. TCU, sweeping the last meeting in 2000 when both were in the WAC. The Rainbow Wahine have never faced Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but the memory of one contest against TAMU’s original campus is not a pleasant one.

The Aggies upset the Wahine 15-9, 12-15, 15-9, 15-12 in the 1999 regional semifinal at the Stan Sheriff Center, the only time Texas A&M defeated Hawaii in seven meetings. The Wahine ended the season at 29-2, the last time they hosted the NCAA final four.

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TEXAS A&M (23-6): The Aggies won their last 14 matches en route to their first SEC title (16-2). Texas A&M, 12-1 in Reed Arena, is the No. 10 national seed — highest in program history — and is making its 23rd NCAA appearance, the 19th in coach Laurie Corbelli’s 23 seasons.

It is the first time since 2011 the Aggies are hosting, having been sent to Texas the past three subregionals. They never got past the Longhorns the past three subregionals.

“We were a little surprised to see (Hawaii),” said Corbelli, named SEC Coach of the Year. “They are a very strong program, and yet whatever the committee uses to make their decisions … it was the way it fell.

“We’ve been asking Dave (Shoji) to come here for many years. He always said he’d look at it. Now, he has no choice. We hope we’ll have the chance to play them Saturday, but we’re not looking past anyone.”

Besides junior middle Jazzmin Babers, 6-1 sophomore setter Stephanie Aiple and 6-2 senior middle Shelby Sullivan were named first team All-SEC. Aiple was named Player of the Year, ranking 16th nationally in assists (12.11 aps).

The Aggies rebounded after losing senior outside hitter and captain Angela Lowak (3.22 kps) to season-ending knee injury in a 3-1 loss at No. 18 Florida State on Sept. 18. Sophomore libero Amy Nettles leads the team in digs (3.83).

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TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI (31-5): The Islanders are making their first NCAA appearance after winning the automatic berth as the Southland tournament champion. They also won the regular-season title (16-0).

Leading Corpus Christi are four All-Southland first-teamers, including sophomore Kristyn Nicholson, Setter of the Year, and sophomore Kate Klepetka, Libero of the Year. Also on the first team were senior hitter Ivy Baresh and sophomore middle Brittany Gilpin.

Coach Tony Gravestone, in his seventh season (125-103), was named Southland Coach of the Year.

Nicholson ranks 39th nationally in assists (11.30) and holds the program’s single-season record (1,399), set in Saturday’s tournament final against Houston Baptist.

Klepetka is second nationally in digs (6.10) and already holds the program record for single-season digs. Baresh is the only Islander to reach the 1,000-kill, 1,000-dig mark despite an injury-marred career.

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TCU (19-9): The Horned Frogs, tying Kansas State for fourth in the Big 12 (9-7), are coming off Friday’s 3-0 victory over West Virginia — their 13th sweep of the season — giving them their most victories in conference play in the 20-year history of the program. The match at University Rec Center pitted first-year TCU coach Jill Pape Kramer against her former team, the Mountaineers now being coached by Hilo High graduate Reed Sunahara.

TCU had three juniors earn All-Big 12 second-team honors on Monday in outside hitter Ashley Smith and middles Natalie Gower and Regan McGuire. Outside hitter Ashleigh Martin became the first Frog named to the all-freshman team since they joined the league in 2012.

The 6-1 Smith leads the team in kills (2.94 kps) and aces (26), and is second in digs (278). The Frogs have been in the top 15 nationally all season in blocks and come into Friday’s contest No. 9 (2.95 bps), led by the 6-2 McGuire (1.53 bps) and 6-4 Gower (1.29 bps).

Also on the roster is junior outside hitter Jillian Bergeson, who transferred from Pepperdine after two seasons. She was Wahine junior middle Annie Mitchem’s high school and club teammate.

Kramer was the first TCU volleyball player on scholarship when the school added the sport in 1996, part of the membership requirement to join the Western Athletic Conference. She still holds the program records for kills (1,595) and total attacks (4,667).

It is the second NCAA appearance for TCU. In 2009, the Frogs were swept by Texas in the second round. TCU’s signature win this season was a sweep of No. 2 Texas in Fort Worth, the first time the Frogs had ever beaten the Longhorns in 11 meetings.

Hawaii redshirt freshman Natasha Burns originally was recruited by Kramer to play at West Virginia. But when Kramer took the job at her alma mater, Burns received her release and transferred.