It’ll be a reunion for the Enriques brothers on the volleyball court, again, but all will be on different collegiate teams.
It’ll be a reunion for the Enriques brothers on the volleyball court, again, but all will be on different collegiate teams.
Kamehameha seniors Addison and Avery Enriques recently signed national letters of intent with Concordia Irvine and Grand Canyon, respectively.
In 2018, when Addison and Avery are freshmen, Concordia and Grand Canyon will join the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
By then, Evan Enriques (a 2014 Kamehameha graduate) will be a senior at Stanford, and Emmett Enriques (2015 Kamehameha) will be a junior at Cal Baptist.
The revamped MPSF will feature Concordia, Grand Canyon, Stanford, Cal Baptist, UCLA, USC, Pepperdine, and BYU.
With the reshuffle, Hawaii will jump to the Big West Conference, which doesn’t have an automatic qualifier to the six-team NCAA Tournament.
The bummer for OCSports fans on the Big Island is they won’t get a chance to watch the Rainbow Warriors play against any of the Enriques brothers unless it’s a non-conference match.
It was bound to happen that twins Addison and Avery, who grew up together on the same teams, went their separate ways.
In 2018, there will be only Division I men’s volleyball. And the NCAA allows just 4.5 scholarships per team.
“There will be eight teams in the new MPSF, and four will have Enriques boys,” said dad and Kamehameha coach Guy Enriques. “That’s pretty cool. The twins have never been on different teams. But it’s a good way to get their own identity.”
The Enriques family, basically, goes fishing for scholarships.
“In almost all cases, we reach out to the colleges and let them know we’re interested,” Guy Enriques said. “They’ll come and watch games and reach out to us and get a connection.”
Like their older brothers, Addison and Avery will be full-time liberos in college.
“It’s very hard to compete at outside hitter when you’re a little shorter,” the Kamehameha coach said. “They’re just under 6 feet. Both are really similar as liberos.”
The twins recently played with the Pacific Rim club team at the Holiday Classic in Anaheim, Calif., where 80 teams competed in their division. Pacific Rim finished fifth at the Classic, regarded as one of the biggest recruiting tournaments.
Being brothers, Addison and Avery have bumped heads all their lives trying to be first in line, even calling “shotgun” for front seat status in the car.
“Personality-wise, they’re very similar,” Guy Enriques said. “It’s uncanny. When they’re at McDonald’s, they’ll order the same thing for breakfast: Portuguese sausage, eggs, and rice. And 80 percent of the time, they’ll order the same thing.
“Every chance they get, they’re trying to one-up the other guy. That’s the way things are around the house.”
Heat for Avery
The Lopes are located in Phoenix, where the highest temperature on record is 122 degrees in June 1990.
“I like the school. It’s really nice, and I like the weather,” Avery said. “It’s hot. I don’t like the cold. The program is promising.
“With my other brothers, I get to play against them. It’s pretty cool to play all three brothers (in 2018). I look forward to being on a different team. There’s always been competition between the four brothers.”
Avery has a 3.0 grade-point average and is undecided on a major for Grand Canyon, which finished with a 17-12 record last season.
The starting libero is junior Sky Engleman, a Moanalua High graduate.
Ocean for Addison
The Eagles reside in the Southern Cal city of Irvine, where the average yearly temperature is 73 degrees, and the campus is six miles from the Pacific Ocean.
It’s California dream living and an easy college choice for Addison, who has a 3.1 GPA and plans to major in business/marketing.
“I wanted to attend somewhere on the West Coast and go someplace playing at the highest level,” Addison said. “It just so happens that Concordia is going to the MPSF, and all my brothers are in it. The place is located right next to the ocean, and it’s close to home.”
Addison pointed out that being a twin provides constant motivation and competition, whether you like it or not.
“We make everything a challenge,” he said. “Every day it’s who can do it best, who’s better at something. It’s first one to the front seat or whoever can win for volleyball.”
The Eagles finished with a 13-7 record last season. Their starting libero graduated, and a senior, junior and freshman are competing for the job.
Last dance
It’s more likely than not that Kamehameha will advance to the HHSAA tournament when the BIIF spring season rolls around. The Warriors have been going to states every year since 2005.
The last time the Enriques brothers played together was for Kamehameha on May 10, 2014 against Punahou for the state title.
Evan pounded 27 kills, Emmett added four, and Addison and Avery shared the setting role in a four-set loss.
It’s also the final time the Enriques twins will play for their dad.
No surprise, the brothers are attacking their last BIIF season with the same mindset.
“I’m definitely looking forward to it,” Avery said. “I can’t wait. I’m excited. We’ll have a good team this year.”
Addison one-upped his brother with a more insightful outlook.
“For me, I feel it’s a huge opportunity. Not a lot of schools have had the success we’ve had,” he said. “I see an opportunity for us. We lost some really good players, but our team is pretty solid.
“We’re a close group of friends. We’ve spent our childhood together. That connection is stronger than other teams we may have had. It’s the best chance we’re going to have since we started playing in high school.”