45. thanks for getting to all that. Hawaii has gotten its share of top athletes in volleyball but sometimes the recruiting cycle does bite back. such as the case when all scholarships are spoken for and the best that can be offered is preferred walk-on. And sometimes coaches take a chance on athletes that don’t live up to expectations.

It is sad that UH has offered walk-on status to some of the best local athletes, most often in football, for decades. UH’s in-state tuition may be more reasonable for local families but it’s still an expense. Players should not be faulted when deicing to go where they are valued, which means a scholarship.

at the same time, hawaii has had more than their fair share of the top local athletes … kamano, danielson, kahumoku …

the recruiting cycle and timing has to be right too. recruiting isn’t just based on who’s good and who do we want … it’s also based on what do we need. of the scholarship players that came in this year, who would we give up? greeley, maglio, huff … all were needed to bolster the OH and Middle positions. kahakai is a good get. koelsh was a last minute addition, due to the change in the setting depth. by that time the need for a backup occurred, robins-hardy was already committed to byu.

sometimes you just have to recruit the players and bring them in, and work your butt off to develop them. was setting a weak spot this year? sure… but i have hope yet that higgins can develop into a more consistent and serviceable setter. she came in with all the credentials that hawaii normally looks for in a setter. let’s not forget that many fans were excited by her recruitment. she can raise her game yet. it didn’t all align for her this year. but i have faith.

yes, she had a great match against nebraska but I’m sorry, IMO shes not the next misty May lauren carlini or micha Hancock that you’re playing her out to be.

hawaii-uw — hawaii hung with uw until almost the middle of the 3rd set. after that uw raised their game (as we kinda knew they would). i’d say uw dominated the last 1 and a half sets. by then, they’d figure out that hawaii had no consistent middle attack. adolpho was effective, but hawaii didn’t go to her nearly enough. and really, uw was probably fine with adolpho swinging away on a handful of sets, if it meant their block could concentrate on shutting/slowing down the outsides, which they did.

florida-stanford — stanford dominated florida. yeah, i would use that word. with all due respect to maverick, i humbly disagree with him … florida may have hit .300+ … but stanford hit .400 plus, against a top ten team. and really it was the “eye test” that did it for me. watching that match, stanford was just in such control of the match. the game scores matter too. set one (25-17) wasn’t close. set 2 was closer (25-22), but stanford controlled it. and set 3 (25-21), the score looked closer than it was.

she made big plays on defense and blocking, had great composure and court presence. her setting wasn’t perfect. but that’s where her composure stepped in. if there was mis-play or mis-set, she didn’t let it bother her, she’d step up and deliver on the next.

she delivered a nice high, hittable set to her middles, and had consistent location on her back set to the right pin and D set where her main weapon (hamson) was. … sets that hawaii was sorely lacking this year. (here’s hoping higgins — or even koelsch — finds that consistency on these sets…)

Think the bottom line is Robins-Hardy wanted to go away.
Don’t know how much Beeman or Shoji wanted her. But neither had a scholarship and, if she had wanted to play both, she would have had to be on basketball.

But, I believe Hawaii had Uiato as a setter (a junior heading into her senior year) when Higgins committed fairly early with Nikki in their junior years (when Alohi was a soph.). And, in the following class (this year’s freshmen), the concentration was on OH and MB – with Hartong, et. al. departing (and as it turned out Vorster). Add to that, Alohi needed to come in on a BB scholarship as she wants play both sports & Beeman was not going down that path again.