Prior to the start of the 2019 season, HawaiiAthletics.com will provide a breakdown of the 2019 Rainbow Wahine volleyball team, position-by-position, as the team prepares for its season opener against No. 21 San Diego on Friday, Aug. 30.
The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team returns two defensive specialist letterwinners (
Janelle Gong,
Rika Okino) from a season. But will lost the services of 2018 All-Big West First Teamer Reyn "Tita" Akiu to graduation. Head coach
Robyn Ah Mow and staff welcomes a familiar face around the Hawai'i volleyball circuit with the addition of Oregon transfer and Honolulu native
Kyra Hanawahine.
Assistant coach
Kaleo Baxter, who handles the liberos/defensive specialists, describes this year's unit this way, "I would use the word 'grit'—they have to come in and grind every single day at practice, they have to be really good at a specific skill. There's not a lot of margin for error."
Returnees
Newcomers
| Libero/DS |
Ht |
Cl |
Hometown (Last School) |
| Kyra Hanawahine |
5-2 |
Jr. |
Honolulu, O'ahu (Oregon) |
2018 Liberos lost: Reyn "Tita" Akiu
The Ones to Watch: Redshirt junior defensive specialist Okino appeared in every match (24) last season and was one-of-five Rainbow Wahine to record over 100 digs. Redshirt sophomore defensive specialist Gong saw limited action a season ago, seeing action in 10 matches. Coach Baxter on their development, "Rika's passing, defense and confidence has grown tremendously over the last three seasons with us. It's been nice to see her come into her own. Janelle's come a long way since she's been with us as well."
Newcomer Hanawahine played two seasons at Oregon, appearing in 14 total matches that includes 25 sets played. The 5-2 defensive specialist accounted for 12 digs and four assists in limited action in Eugene. Coach Baxter says: "Kyra had a tremendous spring with us, she's done a nice job adjusting and tweaking a few things."
"All three of them bring a different type of skill set to the floor—all three have done great… the best one is going to play and we haven't made that decision yet," said Baxter.
#KnowYourBows: Hanawahine is a 2017 graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapālama on O'ahu. "Coach Robyn and I have known Kyra since ninth grade and coached club volleyball… we knew what she is capable of doing, so bringing her on the team was a no brainer," said Baxter. We know that she's going to run through a wall if we need her to, she's going to go hard every single play, she demands perfection."
Migrating Ducks: Hanawahine is one of three Oregon Ducks (
Jolie Rasmussen and
Brooke Van Sickle) to transfer out of Eugene, Ore. to majestic Mānoa.
Smarts: Okino earned back-to-back University of Hawai'i Scholar-Athlete with Highest Honors awards in 2017 and 2018… she was also the 2016 Kalani High School graduating class valedictorian.
Baxter's Last Word: It's what every school has to be good at in order to be competitive. If you don't have good ball control, the game becomes really hard. Height wise—we're not the tallest team but if we can out ball control them and out volleyball them then we like our chances. This year is like no other. We feel as a staff—from player one to player 16—they all have higher sense of what ball control is than in years past.
#HawaiiWVB
