FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Freshman Alicia Arnott has gone from a potential redshirt to a potential starter for UH.
Hawaii freshman Alicia Arnott
has already shown she has all
the ingredients to compete
at the college level
Emeril Lagasse meet Alicia Arnott.
Bam! meet Bam!
Just as the cooking-show host likes to "take it up a notch," so does one of his fans.
Arnott, a freshman hitter for the Hawaii volleyball team, has so raised the level of her game in the opening weeks of the season that she has gone from potential redshirt to potential starter for the No 2-ranked Rainbow Wahine.
The secret ingredient of her "essence?" Hard work.
"She's working in the weight room every day and it shows on the court," Hawaii freshman setter Kanoe Kamana'o said. "She's thin, but she's very strong. I've played on teams with her for a couple of years, but she's really improved a lot since this summer.
"I'm not surprised that she's doing well. Going to a such a small school (La Pietra) it hid her in the back of everything."
There's nowhere to hide anymore. Not when thousands of fans saw the 18-year-old unleash her lethal serve against UCLA on Monday, coming up with four aces.
Many were surprised when Arnott started against the Bruins in place of senior Kim Willoughby, who was disciplined for being late to practice. It was a continuation of a theme ... the 6-foot Arnott, who can touch 10 feet, was the biggest surprise of fall camp, according to Wahine coach Dave Shoji.
Now he's trying to figure out how to work her into the lineup more often.
"She'll give an honest swing at the ball every time out," said Shoji. "She'll jump and she's not afraid to hit it hard.
"She knows the game. She's got a background in volleyball. She's kind of a volleyball brat."
Arnott prefers the term "gym rat."
"I would rather be doing something physical than just sitting," said Arnott, an avid surfer who also stroked the Outrigger Canoe Club girls-18 crew to the state title last month. "I don't like sitting, not in movies, not in airplanes."
The latter may be a problem for Arnott as a member of one of the most traveled teams in college volleyball. Her dislike of flying was a featured topic in the latest Volleyball magazine after Maunalani Volleyball Club made a 14-hour trek to Atlanta for the Junior Olympics.
The trip was worth it, as Maunalani won the 18-under championship, going 11-1. Arnott, a Fab 50 prep selection, also earned her third Junior Olympics all-tournament selection.
"For fans, if they didn't see her before, she is a surprise," Wahine senior Maja Gustin said. "For us, she is not a surprise. We know what a great talent she is, what great energy she has."
"She's an awesome player," Wahine senior Nohea Tano said. "She's just a freshman, she's new, but she has all the skills."
Arnott is equally skilled in the kitchen, joking that when other parents made their children lunches to take to school, she was making lunch for her mother, Nancy, to take to work.
"She is a very good cook," said her father, Tom. "She cooks a lot of good things -- fish, pasta ... and she makes really good cookies. She doesn't eat them, leaving those for me, which is not good."
Arnott apparently inherited her volleyball appetite from her father, a USVBA All-America player for Outrigger Canoe Club. The Wahine connection even predates Alicia's birth -- Tom Arnott and Shoji played in numerous beach and indoor tournaments together beginning in the 1960s for Outrigger.
"When we lived in Hilo, we used to watch Wahine volleyball," said Tom Arnott, who moved the family to Oahu when Alicia was 13. "I would mention that I knew the coach. I never thought then that this would happen. But it's not a surprise that she ended up there. How could you turn down Hawaii?
"Obviously, we're very thrilled for her. She's overachieved. The chance that Dave's given her has been wonderful. Dave did tell me that she's been the surprise of the season. It's been all through her hard work."
Alicia Arnott began playing organized volleyball when she was 10 "but she's always been really athletic," said her father. "From the time she was 2, it was 'Throw the ball, dad.'
"She's a natural athlete. She's learned from observing and picked things up."
It's the same way she's learning to be a Wahine player. Arnott said she watches her All-America teammates Lily Kahumoku and Willoughby and "I learn from just watching what they do."
Arnott is second only to Willoughby in team aces (8-7) despite playing in six fewer games.
Although she's playing on the left side now, Arnott said she'd rather be on the right. She knows it would give her more of a chance to be on the court this season.
"I don't have any experience on the right, but I think the left-side position is pretty taken care of," Arnott said, referring to Kahumoku and Willoughby.
Arnott said she has no personal expectations this season.
"I just want to go in and do my best," she said. "I knew if I kept working hard that I might get a chance. But I also want the best person that can help the team to be out there.
"There's more pressure on Kanoe, she's in on every play. There's no pressure on me. I'm just a freshman."
