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SMALL COLLEGE NOTEBOOK

Feeney at home
at McCabe

As a player on both the St. Louis School and Chaminade basketball teams, Kaweo Feeney has made a second home of McCabe Gym.

The facility is the home court for both institutions.

And the 5-11 senior point guard has made it his home-away-from-home for eight seasons now.

Feeney has gone from a stellar prep career for the Crusaders to the floor leader and team captain for the Silverswords this season.

"It's been great being able to have my family and friends here to support me," said Feeney of his decision to remain in the same location for both his prep and collegiate playing careers.

While he has not experienced the same success so far at Chaminade that he did at St. Louis - where Feeney helped the Crusaders to an Interscholastic League of Honolulu title, the Silverswords have slowly, but steadily improved their winning percentage every year during his first three seasons.

Feeney believes the improvement will continue with this year's Silverswords team.

With depth and offensive fire power unlike any previous Chaminade squad he's been on, Feeney believes the Silverswords will not only improve on last year's .500 mark with a winning season, but will contend with the upper-echelon teams of the Pacific West Conference as well.

Chaminade's last winning season was during the 1986-87 campaign.

"Everybody on our team can contribute this year and it would be a big letdown for all of us if we don't have a winning season," Feeney said. "If we continue to get better every game like we have so far, we can be competitive with anybody in the conference."

Relied upon for scoring, running the offense and dishing out assists in high school, Feeney has focused on the latter two in college.

The change is due both to the improved athleticism of his opposing defenders at the collegiate level and the better scoring ability of his own Silverswords teammates.

"We have scorers on our team, and my job is to get them the ball," Feeney said.

Still, Feeney has continued to tally impressive statistics at the collegiate level.

As a starter his sophomore and junior years, he was fourth in the PacWest in assists per game both seasons with 4.5 and 5.1, respectively. This year, he is averaging 4.4 apg through five contests with a 2-to-1 assists-to-turnover ratio.

"I'd like to keep my assists up this year, maybe lead the conference, but mostly I have team goals," Feeney said. "The team hasn't been great lately, and I want to be able to say that I was on the first winning team in 14 years."

The Silverswords are 2-3, but all of their losses came against Division I - competition in their Maui Invitational.

Their next game will be a nonconference affair tomorrow at McCabe at 7:30 p.m. against Northwest Nazarene.

Hawaii Pacific will host Northwest Nazarene at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Blaisdell Arena.

Brigham Young-Hawaii and Hawaii-Hilo do not play this week.

Ahuna 'not satisfied'

HPU women's volleyball coach Tita Ahuna is already the school's winningest coach after just five seasons. She has guided the Sea Warriors to the Division II national championship in two of her last three campaigns.

Yet she is not satisfied. Not even after guiding the Sea Warriors through the first undefeated season (28-0) in Div. II history this year en route to her second title.

Not even after being named the American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA DII Coach of the Year yesterday.

That's because, according to Ahuna, two national championships in only just the beginning for her Sea Warriors.

The coaching award also doesn't - at least in name - recognize her team and assistant coaches that made it possible.

"We've only established the foundation so far," said Ahuna. "I don't want to limit my options, but I'm very happy with my position at HPU right now. I plan to take this team as far as possible.

"I don't look at the coaching award as an individual award. The award is icing, but the real award is the national championship.

My assistants deserve just as much praise and accolades, and it would not have even been possible without the ladies.''

As both a successful player and coach, volleyball has always been a passion for Ahuna. But she is equally as passionate about her career in the classroom.

Besides her volleyball duties at HPU, Ahuna also is a special education teacher at Kalakaua Intermediate School and is a graduate student pursuing a master's degree in middle-level education at her alma mater, the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

Though one might think that she now has more time to dedicate in the classroom, Ahuna has already begun focusing on recruiting players for next year's Sea Warriors team.

"I'm involved in a lot right now, and being a coach pulls you in a lot of different directions," Ahuna said. "You deal with administrative responsibilities, recruiting, but still have to keep the team together at a high level.

"But this year has been very satisfying for me, seeing a group of 11 ladies come together as one."

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Brandon Lee, Special to the Star-Bulletin