Thursday, September 16, 1999
Kahumoku
finds herself
in Hawaii
But it may be the Wahine
who have made the real find,
as the freshman from
Kamehameha is already
making an impactWAHINE PLAYBOOK
By Cindy Luis
Star-BulletinShe just wanted to belong. To go somewhere and be with people who looked like her and understood that being Hawaiian meant more than being from an island group in the Pacific Ocean.
Lily Kahumoku came to Hawaii, searching for her identity. She has found a home.
The freshman from Lubbock, Texas, has also found her sport. The 6-foot-2 hitter is expected to again be in the starting lineup tonight when the No. 3 Hawaii women's volleyball team takes on fourth-ranked Long Beach State at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"I wasn't happy in Texas,'' said Kahumoku. "There aren't too many half Hawaiian-half Caucasian people running around. It's not that I felt discriminated against but I did have an identity crisis.
"We were the only Polynesians in the middle of west Texas. We weren't white, Mexican or Native American. I had to pretend to be something I wasn't because no one understood what being Hawaiian was.''
Kahumoku, whose father Roscoe graduated from Aiea High, transferred to Kamehameha Schools as a junior. Warriors coach Dan Kitashima quickly understood what he had; Kahumoku helped the Warriors to two consecutive state titles, including last year's 21-0 campaign.
"She plays at a higher level than I can remember anybody else playing that I've ever coached,'' said Kitashima, who has led Kamehameha to six state titles in the past 11 seasons. "She can hit with finesse and velocity.
"You have your good players and your franchise players. Lily is definitely a franchise.''
Wahine coach Dave Shoji feels the same way. Shoji, in his 25th season, said he has never had a player in the program like Kahumoku.
"Lily is a huge addition to our program,'' he said of the two-time Hawaii state player of the year. "She has qualities about her that separates her from any other player we've ever had. She can jump and I don't think we've every had anyone with her pure arm swing. The only one I might compare her to is (three-time all-American) Teee Williams.
"No doubt that Lily or (UH freshman setter) Jen Carey could easily be the Freshman of the Year in our conference. On a national level, Lily has to be one of the best freshman players in the country.''
But you won't hear that from Kahumoku. Her powerful swing is a distant second to her humility.
"I'm so fortunate to be able to contribute in some way, whether I deserve to be out there or not,'' she said. "I feel like I'm too new, too young to be starting. I have so much to learn.''
Her teammates have no qualms with her being out there.
"I respect her so much as a player and a person,'' said Wahine all-American Heather Bown. "She's so humble, patient and so eager to learn.
"She's still learning the game, but you can see she's matured just in the past few weeks. Things don't seem to bother her like they might some freshmen who are starting after the third match of the season.''
Her first start came against UCLA two weeks ago. Kahumoku put down her first three swings, in Game 1, including one on an overpass that had Shoji trying to hide his smile as UCLA called a timeout.
"She can terminate the ball,'' added Bown. "It's neat to see when she's in the back row that she'll call for the set (behind the 10-foot line). She's only going to get better.''
Coming to live in Hawaii as a 16-year-old was a hard decision to make. It meant leaving her family behind in Texas and overcoming major homesickness.
Staying to play in Hawaii wasn't difficult at all.
Kahumoku estimates she received recruiting letters from over 60 schools, sometimes getting 80 pieces of mail at one time when her father would forward her mail from Texas.
"I knew my junior year, the week after we won the state title, that I was going to play here,'' she said. "I was watching television and I saw Senior Night. It was so special. I said right then that was the school I was going to, no matter what.''
She took a recruiting trip to Colorado, the team the Wahine will face tomorrow night. She also considered Long Beach State, tonight's opponent. Her half-sister, Jessica Alvarado, culminated her stellar four-year career with the 49ers on last year's undefeated NCAA championship team.
"Long Beach State was in the back of my mind. It's a great program, but I don't think it was the place for me,'' said Kahumoku. "I wish Jessica had redshirted. It would have been really neat to have played against her in college.''
"We went after Jessica hard and didn't know back then she was Lily's sister,'' said Shoji. "It was so unique, the way Lily came to Hawaii and fell in love with the place. God sent her to us.''
Kahumoku was once listed in the Guiness Book of World's Records as having the longest middle name. Her Hawaiian name is 216 letters long.
"It fills up the birth certificate,'' said Kahumoku, who didn't give the complete translation. "Parts of my name are pretty ironic. It talks of a heavenly rainbow and thunderbolts.''
One of Kahumoku's nicknames at Kamehameha centered around thunderbolts. She picked up her latest monicker - Poi Pounder - last spring.
"I don't think I hit that hard,'' she said. "I'm just trying to keep getting back so I can contribute to the team. And whether that's on the court or on the sidelines, it doesn't matter. I'm just so thankful to be part of the team. I'm so thankful to be here.''
WAHINE PLAYBOOK
vs. Long Beach State vs. Colorado
Schedule-Tonight: No.3 Hawaii (7-0) vs. No. 4 Long Beach State (6-0), 7 p.m. Tomorrow: Hawaii vs. No. 20 Colorado (6-1), 7 p.m. Saturday: Long Beach State vs. Colorado, 2 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center.
Cindy Luis, Star-Bulletin
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
