Sidelines
Wahine can be as
good as they wantTHEY'RE back. Lily Kahumoku is. The fans are. The place was full last night, and 8,400 people applauded everything. They felt it. They knew.
Wahine volleyball is back.
There was a rusty start and still a long way to go, but Hawaii volleyball is big again. And the ovations said it was so.
"I don't think there are many things that can top that," Kahumoku said.
We came out to see a final four team in last night's opener, a 3-0 sweep of No. 9 Ohio State. Dave Shoji will remind you that a trip to the national semifinals is no guarantee, and last night we saw that he's got a point. But we also saw why people are saying it. We saw a team that can be as good as it wants to be.
The Wahine got rolling, found a groove against a good Buckeye team after a slow warm-up.
"Just a little nerves," Shoji said.
It turned in the second game with UH trailing 12-8. It turned at the net, the way games often do. It turned on the beautiful booming sound that comes when spikes are returned to sender.
Nohea Tano, eyes wide, feet darting, shuffling back and forth, anticipating where confrontation would come next. Boom! Boom! Boom!
Then, finally, a rejection found the Ohio State floor, and UH found the fire. Hawaii would tie it, then win the second game, then never look back.
There were smiles on the court last night, but not bashful ones. These were the best kind, these were volleyball smiles. Smiles that burst through the heart, smiles that start in the gut.
Kim Willoughby takes a swing and it's like a bomb going off. She is the reason balls are switched at every point. They need to catch their breath, get some air back. The balls do. Those Spaldings must feel like they've been kicked in the stomach by a horse.
Then there is Kahumoku. It is too early -- one night, the first night -- to see how these roles will shake out. But first impressions say she could be a better Scottie Pippen than Scottie Pippen was. She can do everything, and did, and, this is just an added bonus now, can lower the boom like few in the country can.
Willoughby will probably get a few more kills than Kahumoku, just because of the positions they play, Shoji said. She'll get a lot of swings. That's fine with Kahumoku, who drew the coach's praise for a sharp comeback after taking a year off.
"I think my role will probably and has changed," Kahumoku said. If stats are a thing of the past, she'll embrace it. She'll do what's needed. She'll find a way to lead. "More like the glue between the pieces to help everything pull together and to fill in the gaps," she said.
"I think that's what I need to do this year."
It sounds good. Last night, it looked good. Hawaii's two poster girls posterized, and tall blondes patrolled the middle and Margaret Vakasausau never stopped leading the charge.
There is polishing to be done, and experience to be had and pukas in the defense to be filled in. But Wahine volleyball is back. This, Kahumoku said last night, is what it feels like.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com