Chargers Boast A Natural-born Leader In Tiana Inong
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usTiana Inong’s search for the perfect game is still going on, but the senior setter from Pearl City wouldn’t have it any other way.
“The best part of playing volleyball is that you can never get it (exactly) right,” she said. “I need a challenge, or it would bore me.”
Inong’s latest challenge is making the transition this fall to the primary setter position after spending 2007 as “the opposite setter or right side hitter” for the Chargers. The setter position is perhaps ideally suited to Inong, who is a natural-born leader, in coach Stephanie Shigemasa’s view.
“Her experience and her leadership are her strength,” Shigemasa said. “She’s been here since her freshman year.”
“It (setter) is a bigger challenge than I thought it would be,” Inong admitted, “but it keeps me trying to play harder.”
Her leadership has been big for the Chargers, who opened their OIA Western Division season with key wins over Waianae and Radford. The latter match, which was played at Radford, was perhaps the more riveting of the two as the Chargers beat a Rams team they had lost to only three weeks earlier in a preseason match. In addition to her on-the-mark passes, Inong also tallied eight kills in that match, which tied her for the team lead with Marie Fujii and Nicole Boyer. Inong also helped to deliver the knockout punch, converting consecutive kills to fuel a 6-0 run by the Chargers in Game Two of that match.
The team looks to maintain its upward mobility this week when it hosts Aiea and Mililani in key encounters Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Like the Chargers, both Aiea and Mililani began league play by winning their first two games.
For their part, Inong and the Chargers are more focused on themselves these days. “Basically, we’re just having fun, which is the main thing,” Inong said. “We’re all on the same page - we have the same goals - we want to win. We’re all just one big clique. I think we’re playing as a team this year. We have heart, and we’re dedicated.”
Although team-oriented, Inong’s individual skill-set figures to help her land a college scholarship in the future. She’s already heard from Michigan State, Eastern Washington, Oregon State and Florida, among others. When her school sports season ends, Inong spends much of the year competing for Jammers Volleyball Club, further solidifying her abilities.
“I worked my butt off in the off-season,” she said. “I saw how the other seniors worked here before me, and I wanted to do even better. I keep trying to work on every position - you never know what position you are going to play in college. Right now, setting and opposite hitting are my best positions, but I can be a setter, outside hitter or libero.”
As a wide-eyed freshman, Inong admitted to being “scared.”
“I didn’t know anybody or what they expected from me yet, but the older players all helped me, and it started to get easier.”
She finds herself more than settled into her role this season as something of a coach on the floor for the Chargers.
“My teammates would say that I’m funny off of the court,” said Inong, who is the second oldest of five children born to Nadine and Vince Inong. “On the court, I try to keep them all in the game (mentally) and having fun.”
While Inong played soccer in her younger years, she stopped in the eighth grade - the same time she took up volleyball.
“It didn’t come easy - it was a challenge, but volleyball is pretty much my main thing now,” she said.
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