VINNY DUSOVIC / ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY
Senior setter Robyn Kurasaki, a 2000 graduate of Maryknoll, is St. John's all-time leader in assists.
New York's St. John's University is having one of its best women's volleyball seasons ever with three of six starters from Hawaii.
The Red Storm are 20-5 after Friday's sweep at West Virginia, reaching the 20-victory plateau for the first time since 2000 and the fourth time ever.
The next goal is to make it to the four-team Big East Conference Championship Tournament for the first time since 1996.
Helping lead the Storm surge are seniors Robyn Kurasaki and Rosalyn Dang and freshman Puna Richardson, all products of the powerful Interscholastic League of Honolulu.
Kurasaki, a 2000 Maryknoll High graduate from Mililani, is St. John's all-time leader in assists. She and Dang, a 2000 Punahou graduate from St. Louis Heights, have started all 178 matches St. John's has played since they arrived at the Jamaica, N.Y., campus four seasons ago.
Richardson, three months out of Punahou, had 19 kills and hit .517 in her first collegiate match on Aug. 30.
But she had to fly home two days later because her father, long-time University of Hawaii team physician Dr. Allen B. Richardson, was dying. St. John's coach Joanne Persico-Smith accompanied Richardson home to see her dad for the last time, but he died Sept. 1 while the plane from New York was in the air.
Puna Richardson returned to the team 10 days later. "It is hard to try to go on with my life," she said, "but volleyball helps relieve the stress."
She has played in all but five matches at middle blocker, and is hitting .332 with 2.70 kills per game -- both numbers second on the team to sophomore star Jackie Ahlers of New York.
Although they make no show of being from Hawaii, Kurasaki, Dang and Richardson figure it shows anyway. "We bring part of Hawaii with us" to the floor, Kurasaki said. "Our techniques and mannerisms are similar. In an athletic way, we are very much in touch with Hawaii."
In 2002, Kurasaki became the first player in St. John's history to record three consecutive 1,000-assist seasons. She is on pace to make it four with 781 this year and at least nine matches to go.
The school career record she set Sept. 26 continues to grow -- currently 4,575, an average of 10.9 per game.
Kurasaki says her success in Division I volleyball stems from "the foundation and skills I got in Hawaii; how we were trained mentally by our family and our club coaches. They did a great job of making us competitive and developing our work ethic."
Dang ranks in the St. John's career top-10 lists in kills, assists, service aces and attempts.
"I started playing in the sixth grade," Dang said, "and by the 10th grade, I said, 'This is what I want to do' and I dropped everything else.
"Most people join a sorority or fraternity to have a sense of family," Dang said. "The volleyball team is my family. They are not just volleyball players, they are good people. They take care of me and I take care of them."
Persico-Smith recruited Kurasaki and Dang when they played for Asics Rainbows in a Las Vegas tournament in 1999.
They decided to accept her scholarship offer after they got home. "It's one of the better decisions I have made," Dang said.
Kurasaki said, "I wanted to get away and see different cultures. I didn't know it would turn out like this."
Coach Persico-Smith says of her Hawaii players: "They have been a complete pleasure to coach. They are extremely mature, very personable, very athletic, excellent volleyball players -- just great, great young ladies who have grown and matured more each day in New York.
"I'm going back out to Hawaii to look for some more talented volleyball players who are mature enough to come to New York and help our program."
Prime-time players
College volleyball researcher Rich Kern says there are 32 players from Hawaii on Division I rosters this season:
Pos. Ht. Yr. College Alicia Arnott OH/RS 6-0 Fr. Hawaii Casey Castillo OH 5-10 Sr. Rutgers Marissa Chow L 5-7 Fr. Rice Kekai Crabbe L/S 5-6 Fr. Pepperdine Uila Crabbe L 5-7 Sr. BYU Rosalyn Dang OH/RS 6-0 Sr. St. John's Kainoa Fialkowski OH 5-10 Sr. Dartmouth Jennifer Fukino S 5-7 Sr. Nicholls State (La.) Rachel Gleed OH 5-10 So. Davidson (N.C.) Leahi Hall DS/OH 5-9 Jr. Stanford Taryn Horner DS 5-5 Sr. Utah Lily Kahumoku OH 6-2 Sr. Hawaii Kanoe Kamanao S 5-8 Fr. Hawaii Kealani Kimball OH 5-11 Sr. Loyola Marymount Kristin Koochi L 5-6 Fr. UNLV Robyn Kurasaki S 5-6 Sr. St. John's Kiana Kuawe DS 5-4 Fr. Fairfield Kaimana Lee S 5-10 Fr. George Washington Michelle Look OH 5-10 So. Loyola Marymount Kristen Luxton S 5-10 So. Santa Clara Sarah Mason MB 6-3 Fr. Oregon Krislen Morgado DS 5-6 Fr. Colorado Michelle Peters OH 5-10 Fr. Fresno State Puna Richardson MB/OH 6-0 Fr. St. John's Randi Salis DS 5-2 Fr. Ark.-Little Rock Juliana Sanders MB 6-2 Fr. Hawaii Jadee Tanabe DS 5-4 So. Creighton (Neb) Nohea Tano RS 5-11 Sr. Hawaii Amanda Vazquez MB 6-1 So. UC Irvine Ashley Watanabe L 5-6 So. Hawaii Amber Wiedemann MB 6-1 Fr. Rice La'akeaokamahealani Campbell OH 5-10 So. Fresno State
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Miller is leaving
mark at MenloDuane Miller says the key to his success as a football running back is "feel -- I can feel when to cut" and offensive linemen who are "blocking their okoles off."
Between instinct and help from his friends -- including 22 teammates from Hawaii -- Miller has put his name on almost every rushing record at California's Menlo College.
Miller, a 1999 Waianae High graduate, was chosen to the NCAA Division III Team of the Week by the respected Website, d3football.com, on Thursday after he broke his own single-game school record last weekend.
His major records at Menlo are: single-game rushing: 198 yards; single-season rushing: 1,081 yards; career rushing: 2,219 yards; career rushing touchdowns: 20; 100-yard games: 10. He also holds the game (35) and season (221) records for rushing attempts and needs 31 carries to break the career mark.
And he is closing in on the season rushing touchdowns record of 9 set by Kamehameha alum Tui Ala in 1997, before Ala transferred to Hawaii.
Miller is playing at a small, Division III college instead of in Division I because of his size -- 5-feet-7 and 210 pounds.
Tacklers who absorb punishing blows from his shoulders and knees never mention his size. But they do notice when Miller bounces up from a hard tackle with a bright smile.
"His joy in playing the game is infectious with our football team," coach Mark Kaanapu says. "Duane has made this one of the most enjoyable years of my career."
Kaanapu recruits Hawaii vigorously and has 23 players from here on Menlo's roster.
"There is an in-bred toughness that players from Hawaii have that (players from) a lot of other areas do not have," he said.
Menlo is 4-1 and plays unbeaten, D-III fourth-ranked Linfield at home Oct. 25 in a game likely to define postseason possibilities for both teams.
"We want to shock the world and be the smallest school (enrollment 568) in the nation that makes it to playoffs," Miller said Friday.
All in the ohana
Hawaii players that are suiting up for Menlo College in Atherton, Calif.
* Redshirt season used.
Name Pos. Year High School Ka'eo Adams K Fr. Saint Louis '03 Elia Akau WR Jr. Kamehameha '00 Kawai Akina QB Fr, Kamehameha '03 Dustin Cabico WR Fr. Maui '02 A.B. Eugenio Util. So. Baldwin '00 Kainoa Fernandez * LB So. King Kekaulike '01 Sean Fujimoto QB/WR Fr. Mililani '03 Chad Gerard FB Fr. Maui '01 of Makawao Kyle Juliano CB Fr. Kahuku '03 Lanakila Kaoni RG Jr. Baldwin '01 Brandon Loo WR Fr. Roosevelt '02 Robert Mageo DB Fr. Iolani '03 Ikaika Mawae RB Fr. King Kekaulike '03 Duane Miller RB Sr. Waianae '99 Alex Ogle DL Fr. Kaimuki '03 Kenny Powell DL Fr. Saint Louis '02 Jaimie Rego FS Fr. Moanalua '03 Daniel Rodrigues * FS Fr. Saint Louis '02 Patrick San Nicolas DE Fr. Leilehua '03 Travis Shimizu DB Fr. King Kekaulike '02 Kalani Siliga * DT So. Hilo '01 of Papaikou Keone Taaca DL Fr. Waianae '03 Shane Taparra RB Fr. Radford '03
