When the UH-Hilo volleyball team has talent on its roster, even in sparse amounts, Tino Reyes has coached the Vulcans to a winning record, and reached the postseason.
When the UH-Hilo volleyball team has talent on its roster, even in sparse amounts, Tino Reyes has coached the Vulcans to a winning record, and reached the postseason.
The last time the Vuls advanced to the Division II West Regional was in 2011, when Hillary Hurley landed on the All-PacWest first team.
The powerful 6-foot-2 outside hitter left after that season, and UHH has failed to post a winning record since.
It’s no coincidence that the Vuls have not had anyone make the All-PacWest first team in the following down years.
The Vulcans (9-14, 8-12 PacWest last year) return five main parts — Marley Strand-Nicolaisen, Kyndra Trevino-Scott, Morgan Lees, Sienna Davis and Shelby Harguess — to hopefully bring stability in Reyes’ sixth season.
UHH opens its season hosting the Hilo Naniloa Challenge from Thursday through Saturday at the school’s gym.
The Vuls get the tourney bully off the bat playing Cal State Los Angeles (4-0), picked to finish third in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, in the first round.
The Golden Eagles return eight players, including two-time All-American outside hitter Iona Lofrano, who hit an amazing .356, and CCAA Freshman of the Year Kelsey Molnar, a setter.
Cal State Los Angeles (17-8, 15-7 last year) also has the good fortune to sharpen itself in the CCAA, regarded as the top conference in the West Region that includes the PacWest and Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
Of the four returning starters, Strand-Nicolaisen, a 6-foot junior outside hitter, offers the most potential. She was the PacWest Freshman of the Year.
Last season, Strand-Nicolaisen played in just 12 matches because of injury, and had a .159 hitting percentage.
The lanky 2013 Ka‘u graduate brings to mind another slender homegrown product, Sarah Mason, a 2003 St. Joseph graduate.
Mason signed with Oregon, and played her last two years with the Rainbow Wahine looking like a much different player.
Once skinny as Strand-Nicolaisen, Mason’s offseason work ethic in the weight room gave her added muscle, and led to All-WAC first team honors in 2005 and ’06.
Meanwhile, the other PacWest coaches don’t think much of Reyes’ team. The Vuls were 11th in the preseason coaches poll.
Only perennial doormats Dominican (7-21, 5-15 last year), Holy Names (2-24, 2-18) and Notre Dame de Namur (2-25, 2-18) were picked to finish lower.
In something that’s a kick in the shins, Chaminade (12-18, 5-15 last year) was voted to place ninth, even though the Silverswords had a worse record than UHH last year.
Chaminade (5-0) plays UHH on Saturday. The Silverswords are coached by Kahala Kabalis Hoke, the daughter of UHH and NAIA Hall of Famer Carla Carpenter-Kabalis. (Libero and 2012 Hilo graduate Waihilo Chartrand is redshirting this season.)
The Vulcans are the lowest funded program in the PacWest and have difficulty offering full scholarships. (Division II volleyball has a maximum of eight full-rides that can be sliced up.)
Reyes has countered that scholarship deficiency by doing the next best thing, and offering something of a grand experiment: He’s brought in one of the ultimate talent developers in Carl McGown.
McGown has been a part of 11 national championships, including coaching BYU to titles in 1999 and 2001. He’s also coached the USA volleyball national team, and won a gold medal at the Olympics.
If McGown, an American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Famer (inducted in 2010), can’t squeeze every bit of potential out of the Vulcans, then who else can?
In his own right, Reyes, a longtime assistant at UH-Manoa, is top shelf, too, and his resume speaks volumes. In his first year at UHH, Hurley became the PacWest Player of the Year in 2010.
He was an assistant coach for 17 years, under head coach Mike Wilton, for the Rainbow Warriors, who play in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, the most competitive Division I conference.
The Rainbow Warriors went 283-119 during Reyes’ time, won four conference titles, and qualified for the Final Four three times.
Outside hitters Strand-Nicolaisen, Trevino-Scott, Lees, and Davis, a setter, are juniors. Harguess is a senior middle blocker. They’re experienced and have the type of chemistry that can steady the new starters.
With enough time in the program, they understand Reyes’ system, and, best of all, have another winning voice in McGown guiding them forward in UHH’s grand experiment.