FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Tennessee offered La Pietra senior Alicia Arnott, who made a verbal commitment to Hawaii, a scholarship without ever seeing her.

Holding court

The success of La Pietra
will be judged on the play
of senior Alicia Arnott

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By Tim Crouse
tcrouse@starbulletin.com

Alicia Arnott plays volleyball in relative obscurity -- for a school that doesn't even have an official team nickname. She puts on her La Pietra jersey a couple of times a week and plays in front of Interscholastic League of Honolulu fans.

A year from now, that will all be different.

She'll be wearing a University of Hawaii jersey, playing in front of the largest crowds in the country.

"It will be a huge difference," Arnott said. "It's going to be a huge jump. It makes me nervous (to think about it), but I'm sure I'll be excited when I get there."

Arnott has made a verbal commitment to Hawaii, and will be able to make it official when the early signing period begins Nov. 13 --a few weeks before the girls go to Hilo for the state tournament.

La Pietra is a small school near Diamond Head that has never made it to the state tournament, but that could change this year.

Arnott and Co. start the second round of the ILH schedule tomorrow against Hawaii Baptist, needing to finish the five-team round-robin play with the best record (aside from Kamehameha, which has already clinched a berth) to advance to the state tournament.

That's not too much of a reach, as La Pietra stretched Kamehameha to three sets and had big leads against Punahou before losing in three.

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM One of Alicia Arnott's goals this season is to lead La Pietra into the state girls volleyball tournament in Hilo.

Arnott has support from fellow senior outside hitter Ali Rigg and junior middle blocker Chandra Shih, and the offense is run by setter Liesel Santimer.

Opponents and volleyball fans in the ILH know all about Arnott, as do mainland players and coaches who she's played against during club tournaments -- but she hasn't yet had a chance to show her skills to a statewide audience.

"She's touching 10 feet (jumping) and the vertical can go up with training. She's light, quick, agile," La Pietra coach Tony McInerny said. "She can see the block. She hits to the side of the block, she goes over the block.

"She's played a lot of beach volleyball and (a lot of) club volleyball on the mainland. She's had good competition."

McInerny said an advantage to playing here and on the mainland is that Arnott has gotten so many repetitions at hitting, which has enabled her to gain a good court awareness.

"She has the vision to hit line, hit angle, hit over, hit around anybody," he said. "She hits outside, sometimes blocks middle, sometimes blocks right. She hits from the back row, she jump serves, she passes. She pretty much does everything."

A sign of a good player, and a good leader, is that she makes everyone around her better. McInerny said Arnott is an example of that.

"We don't have the most talented team, but she seems to make the level go higher in practice," McInerny said. "Being the best player on the court doesn't mean she slacks off during practice. She probably practices harder than anybody.

"Everybody sees that, the sophomores and juniors see that, they see her working hard so they (know they) need to keep that intensity up. She leads by example really well. Everybody looks to her for leadership."

Arnott was born in Hilo, and started playing volleyball at age 12 under Richard Lau. When the family moved to Oahu, a 13-year-old Arnott joined ASICS, a 14-and-under club team run by Dave Shoji. Kari Anderson, now an assistant under Shoji at UH, was also a coach.

Arnott said knowing Shoji and Anderson helped her to choose Hawaii.

"You already have a relationship with them, they've come to see you play, you know them outside of volleyball, too, so it's much easier to decide to go there," Arnott said.

She's played on several club teams since her days with ASICS, including the Outrigger Canoe Club currently.

Her parents are Tom and Nancy. Tom is a former player for Outrigger who has been around the game since the 1960s.

"(Alicia) was always athletic," Tom Arnott said. "Obviously, the training she got (at ASICS) was huge.

"A lot of the recognition she's gotten has come from playing club ball," he said.

One of the biggest tournaments every year is in Las Vegas, with coaches from around the country in attendance.

"A couple of good games there and you're instantly on the radar screen," Tom said.

Tennessee offered her a scholarship without ever seeing her, and other interested schools included Oregon and Oregon State.

"It's a huge honor to be (offered a scholarship) by UH," he said. "How can you turn down an offer from Hawaii?"

It didn't take her long to accept that offer.

"She'll make a great college player," McInerny said.

But first there's that last shot at trying to lead La Pietra into the state tournament.

"It would be nice (to make it to Hilo) because that's where it all started," Arnott said.

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