UH-Hilo volleyball coach Tino Reyes is resourceful and fortunate, good qualities to finding recruiting gold despite an empty cupboard.
UH-Hilo volleyball coach Tino Reyes is resourceful and fortunate, good qualities to finding recruiting gold despite an empty cupboard.
It’s the worst-kept secret around the PacWest that cash-strapped UHH underfunds all its sports, and volleyball is no exception.
That’s a wonderful weapon for any PacWest foe, in any sport, targeting the same recruits as the Vuls.
In a 2014 column, UHH chancellor Donald Straney pleaded for the community’s help to fund scholarships, provide sponsorships and attend games.
Division II allows eight volleyball scholarships, but Reyes is only able to offer six, which presents all sorts of problems.
The most obvious handicap is depth. If a star player like senior Marley Strand-Nicolaisen gets hurt (shin splits and bruised kidney as a sophomore and junior), the team struggles.
The second and unspoken complaint is starters don’t really get pushed, especially at practice, and sometimes complacency sets in and there’s no sign of improvement.
Also, other lower levels, such as NAIA and junior colleges, can swoop in and present full-rides to steal Vul recruits thinking about attending far away Hilo on a partial.
It’s a good thing Reyes has sharp eyes and built-in connections, often a major key in recruiting.
That’s how he landed Ashton Jessee, from Anchorage, Alaska, and Jennifer Roth, from Prineville, Ore., his first recruits for the 2017 class.
Jessee is a 6-foot-3 middle blocker and Roth a 5-11 outside hitter. Both led their teams to the state playoffs.
Roth was a conference player of the year and a unanimous all-tournament team pick at the state finals.
The best news is that both will be incoming freshmen.
But how did they find a college home at UHH?
“Ashton and her parents came during a vacation last spring and were wandering around the athletic department,” Reyes said. “And 6-3 is hard to miss. We started up a conversation, and she happened to play the sport.”
UHH assistant Debi Dewey and Reyes know Crook County High coach Rosie Honl, whose best player is Roth.
“She happened to have an outside hitter, a good one at that and available,” Reyes said. “We were lucky, I guess, that we found them.”
Roth is the one to watch, not only because she shined against the state’s best but also for the fact that’s she an efficient hitter.
“What’s important is when they played Jesuit, which is like Punahou and gets all the best players, she had upwards of 20 kills and only two hitting errors,” Reyes said. “That’s it, two errors. Again, it was against the No. 1 team in the region at the time.”
He thinks Jessee is a diamond in the rough for volleyball and a great gem for softball, her first sport.
“Her team won the state softball championship,” Reyes said. “I watched her last spring in Reno for volleyball. She’s got a nice floor game. She’s been playing only three or four years.
“I think she’ll get a lot better. She’s starting to learn the game. She’s better at softball. She’s been traveling since she was 9 years old.”
Reyes would give his blessing if Jessee, a first team all-conference first baseman as a junior in 2016, decided to pull double-duty and play for UHH softball coach Callen Perreira.
“She’s smart enough (3.94 GPA) and good enough,” Reyes said. “Hillary Hurley did it, and she was player of the year in volleyball and all-conference in basketball.
“That can happen again if coaches allow that and kids like to play two sports. If she’s good enough to help the softball team, I’ll definitely let her play. Besides, it’s hard to overthrow a 6-3 first baseman.”
In 2010 and ’11, Hurley landed on the All-PacWest first team for both volleyball and basketball. She was on the first team three times for volleyball, including player of the year in 2010.
Around UHH, Hurley was known as the gift that kept on giving. In 2011, Reyes’ second season, she powered the Vuls to their last West Regional postseason appearance.
In Division II, softball is allowed 7.2 scholarships; Perreira is only able to offer 6.2.
Like Reyes, he can use all the help he can get in snagging recruits. That’s the way it goes at UHH, which is always starving for something: scholarship funds, sponsorships, or fans.
But it’s a good thing the resourceful and fortunate Reyes had his eyes open when Jessee, the 6-3 gem, walked around campus. And it’s nice that Roth signed, too, making Thanksgiving a pleasant one for two coaches.