DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
The St. Joseph Cardinals celebrated a point during a 15-11, 10-15, 15-7 win over Harvard-Westlake last night at the Iolani Invitational. Kuuipo Hayes and Lindsey Lee, facing camera, like to celebrate after winning points.
They do not look like a typical volleyball team. Lee fires up Cardinals
By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThey come in all sizes and being tall is the exception for St. Joseph High School of Hilo.
"Our disadvantage is our height," junior Ashley Hanohano said. "We only have one or two good-sized players. We have big players that are kind of hefty. We have short players, but we all love the game of volleyball.
"When we play together, it's total chemistry. We all just clicked from the beginning. When we play, it's not frustrating. We love having fun on the court."
This is not a stoic volleyball team. They hit hard, serve tough and know how to celebrate every point. And the Cardinals make sure their opponents know it too, with a stare through the net or a loud grunt.
No one is more vocal than junior Lindsey Lee, whose fiery personality is often key to the Cardinals' success.
Lee is listed on the roster as a 5-foot-6 middle blocker, but her teammates say she's closer to 5-4. It doesn't matter much as she compensates for her size with a phenomenal vertical jump that Cardinals coach Rachelle Hanohano estimates is between 34 and 36 inches.
Lee has been a middle blocker since she was 12 years old. Her height (or lack thereof) isn't noticeable unless she's next to 6-2 outside hitter Sarah Mason on the court. In one rotation at the Iolani Invitational yesterday, Lee was in the middle with Mason swinging from the outside.
Seeing the two players in those positions seemed almost as mismatched as the tie-dyed knee-length socks that every member of the team wears, red on the right foot and yellow on the left. But coach Hanohano said that she was still tinkering with the lineup and all of her players can play every position.
"We're very lucky this year," said Hanohano. "We have a multitude of hitters. We're well-rounded and we have the capability to do anything. When the competition is there, they play in another zone."
That was obvious as St. Joseph took California powerhouse Mira Costa to three games. The Cardinals lost the first game, rebounded to take the second and dropped the third game.
But St. Joseph recovered to oust Harvard-Westlake, the Invitational's two-time defending champion, 15-11, 10-15, 15-7 in a sudden-death match for both teams.
St. Joseph won in dramatic fashion after trailing in the third game 6-1. The Cardinals chipped away at the Wolverines' lead before tying the game at 6 on a kill by Mason. From there, St. Joseph held Harvard-Westlake to just one point the rest of the match.
"Unpredictable. Absolutely unpredictable," said Harvard-Westlake coach Nigel Dookhoo. "They play a lot of ball out of system ... but they know how to recover well."
Recovery is nice, but the Cardinals want improvement this season. They were third in the state tournament last year and they expect to be in the hunt again.
In fact, some of the players were already predicting that the team would win the state championship.
"We'll get there first and then we win it," said Mason, who has verbally committed to the University of Oregon.
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