Kahuku Girls To Play In Preseason VB Tournament Aug. 21
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usOne in series of volleyball previews.
Kahuku head girls volleyball coach Uila Fotu-Vendiola begins the new season with much the same mind-set as last year. Fine-tuning her team’s mental approach is, after all, an ongoing process.
“Really, it’s the mental part of the game first and our defense second,” said Fotu-Vendiola, who enters her second season leading the program. “It’s about making good decisions, being able to think quickly, picking yourself up and being able to pick your teammates up when you’re down.
“Coming from the perspective (of college),” added Fotu-Vendiola, who played at Chaminade, “we want to prepare them for the next level and help them if they have that part down.”
Of course, nothing prepares a player for college better than playing on a successful team. With 11 players back from last year’s team, which finished as OIA runner-up to Moanalua, Kahuku could be the league’s team to beat.
“I feel good about our experience as a team,” she said.“Overall, we have solid, talented players.”
Among the key returnees are outside hitter Nile Te’o and setter Tajana Santiago. Both enjoyed stellar junior seasons in 2007, helping lead the team to fourth place at the Division I state volleyball championships.
“Nile is a great athlete and a smart player. She’s kind of under-sized for an outside hitter at 5-6, but she makes up for it with her individual talent. She has a pretty good vertical leap.
“Tajana’s strength is her leadership. She’s very quiet. She’s not vocal, but she leads by her actions. She’s definitely a solid setter, and she has good blocking skills, too.”
On the defensive side, the coach is counting on senior liberos Sharol-Mae Kahawaii and Vaimalama Tito to set the tone.
“They’re both smart on defense and pretty quick in terms of anticipating and moving to the ball. They’ll provide some much-needed defense for our team. Kahuku has always had the firepower, and they’ve always been scrappy, defensively. We need to play good overall defense.”
Depth could go a long way in that regard. “We’re fortunate to have a deep team with our middle blockers,” she said. “No one stands out (among them) right now. They’re all vying for that position, so we’ll see who steps up this season.”
Their public unveiling is Wednesday when they begin play at the Ann Kang Invitational. The tournament runs through Saturday and will include teams mainly from here and California and should be a good springboard to the season.
“Hopefully, we’ll get to play a lot of games, depending on how we do in our (early round) pool,” she said. Pairings for the tourney were to be finalized over the weekend. Kahuku also will take part in the Kamehameha Pre-Season Tournament Aug. 21-23 and opens its season Sept. 2 at Moanalua.
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