A star was born for Kamehameha on the volleyball court on Wednesday night in outside hitter
A star was born for Kamehameha on the volleyball court on Wednesday night in outside hitter
Tiani Bello, who made her second start of the season a smashing one with an entertaining and hard-hitting 24 kills against Waiakea.
Despite her explosive onslaught, Waiakea played cleaner ball to take down Kamehameha 25-21, 26-24, 20-25, 21-25, 15-13 in a BIIF Division I showdown at the Warriors Gym, where a veteran star also shined.
Waiakea junior libero Jordyn Hayashi racked up a match-high 30 digs. She displayed agile footwork and soft hands to extend long rallies, and her play caught the attention of her coach, Ashley Hanohano.
“All in all, our defense really helped us,” Hanohano said. “We started to play smart toward the end with our shots, and we had tough, consistent serving.”
Hayashi added that sometimes determination can be a deciding factor in a battle between evenly matched teams.
“We were really into it,” Hayashi said. “We have a lot of fight and wanted to win the match.”
Hayashi, who plays club ball for the Piopio Bears under coach Gail Rosehill, was often in the line of fire against the 5-foot-7 Bello, who clearly looked like the most athletic player on the court with a vertical of roughly 30 inches and a wickedly fast and powerful arm-swing.
In fact, Kamehameha hasn’t had a player with that type of athletic package since Kaiulani Ahuna, a 2015 graduate and now a sophomore outside hitter at Eastern Washington. Ahuna and her dynamic duo partner Zoe Leonard, a sophomore setter at Dartmouth, sparked a BIIF title drive from 2011 to ’14.
“Tiani’s vertical is up there with Kaiu’s,” Kamehameha coach Sam Thomas said. “She’s explosive with her jump. She’s a strong kid and has a really quick swing.”
Coach Sam’s Warriors have a new era dynamic duo with Bello and 6-foot opposite Nani Spaar, who also attacks from the left. The bad news for the rest of the league: both are just freshmen with room for growth.
Bello and Spaar also have something in common with Ahuna and Leonard. The two young Warriors play club ball for Pilipaa under Chris Leonard, known at Dartmouth, the Division I Ivy League school in New Hampshire, for being Zoe’s dad.
“I’ve learned a lot at Pilipaa, so much stuff that I don’t know where to start,” Bello said.
On the Pilipaa 14-15 age team that went to the AAU national championships in Florida over the summer, the roster also includes Hilo’s Laurie McGrath and Mahala Kaapuni. On the Pilipaa 15-16 team, the roster includes BIIF players Taina Leao, Siena Mizuno, Hilo; Makenna Mahuna, Keani Akui, Kiki Troy; Kamehameha; Jazzy Alston, Waiakea; Makalei Watson, KaumakaMaiau Sibayton, Keaau.
It’s always a reunion for the Pilipaa girls when BIIF matches are held. And like family reunions, Bello is bringing back fond, old memories — with her resemblance to Ahuna, who has sprouted to 5-10 at EWU, where she is a double-double (kills and digs) machine.
There’s a bit of a difference though. Ahuna didn’t really cement herself as a standout until her sophomore year, when she landed on the All-BIIF first team. She was also the L2 or left-side No. 2 hitter for two years in back of Shae Kanakaole, now a senior outside hitter at Whitman, the Division III college in Walla, Walla, Wash.
Bello also spent part of her summer mainland tour with the USA Volleyball High-Performance A1 team. HP is basically the farm-system pipeline to develop future Olympians. Ahuna wasn’t an A1 member until her junior year, so Bello is on a faster track.
Against Waiakea, Bello opened sets as the L1, one reason because 5-10 senior opposite Kailee Yoshimura was on a paid recruiting trip to Dartmouth, where Leonard served as her host. Kamehameha missed her tall block, hammer hitting, and senior leadership, but her absence inspired her teammates to play hard for her.
Should Yoshimura sign with the Big Green, it’ll be the first time two BIIF players are on an Ivy League team. Also, that would put four BIIF players (all from Kamehameha) in Division I ball: Ahuna at Eastern Washington, Leonard at Dartmouth, and 2016 graduate Kamalu Makekau-Whittaker at Cal State Northridge or CSUN as the school prefers.
When Chris Leonard coaches and watches Bello, he spots something in her that both Ahuna and Zoe Leonard had at that young age.
“They have high expectations and want to get better. They’re very similar in that way,” he said. “What drives them is also a challenge. When you have high expectations, you have to work really, really hard to meet them. But Tiani has tremendous potential to improve.”