HONOLULU — As the Hawaii women’s volleyball team begins to figure out what it can be come August, Cha’lei Reid has already made herself part of the calculation.
Reid, a 6-foot hitter out of Kahuku High, was as involved as any pin hitter in the Rainbow Wahine offense in two spring exhibition matches against Arizona State on Monday and Tuesday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The early college enrollee from Laie tallied a team-high eight kills against eight errors as UH, with brand-new pieces in key positions, struggled to get established against the reigning Big 12 champion Sun Devils, a 30-3 team last fall. The Devils handled the Wahine in straight sets on Tuesday night, 25-22, 25-15, 25-13, before UH captured a goodwill fourth set 25-19.
[Note: See below for more photos of Hawaii-Arizona State spring volleyball.]
“It’s definitely a big shift from the speed of everything,” Reid, a former Honolulu Star-Advertiser and ScoringLive all-state selection, told Spectrum News afterward. “Today was definitely off for us, and especially for me, but I think us as a team, we’ll just come together and bounce back. These past couple days, it’s been surreal. It’s been nice to just have that opportunity.”
Coach Robyn Ah Mow must replace two multi-year mainstays of the UH attack, the graduated Big West Setter of the Year Kate Lang and Big West Player of the Year Caylen Alexander, who transferred to Missouri.
Reid spent the last six months preparing for early graduation and enrollment into a program that went 21-10 and extended its NCAA Tournament qualification streak, but with a first-round sweep loss to TCU, touching off a series of offseason questions.
“She's just young, you know, young,” Ah Mow said of Reid. “I thought she did okay with coming in — she still should be in high school. She's got power. She's just got to be a little bit more aggressive, I think, and that that'll come.”
Ah Mow coached Reid for a few years at the club level. She said the spring reps can only help her, as they did at this time last year for defensive specialist Victoria Leyva, who became a lineup regular as a true freshman and will compete for libero this year with Cal State Fullerton transfer Leilani Lopez.
“She's definitely going to be one to watch,” the coach said of Reid.
A pair of sophomores are vying for the starting setter job. Adrianna Arquette, a Kamehameha graduate who played a utility role last year, and UC San Diego transfer Audrey Hollis split time at the position the last two nights. Arquette had 13 assists and Hollis three on Tuesday as UH hit .036 to ASU’s .321.
Ah Mow wants the setters to feel out the game and understand which hitters have the hot hand and who needs help getting going with some more straightforward balls.
“The big thing I told them before we came into this was, who's gonna set the hittable balls,” Ah Mow said.
There are early indications that Reid, who already has one of the best jump serves on the team, could eventually be a six-rotation player as she got in plenty of back-row reps.
Just maybe not yet.
“She just has to get used to the speed of the ball,” Ah Mow said. “Maybe it’s kind of like Caylen. Caylen came in first year; she’s only playing front row.”
Ah Mow made the same comparison with Stella Adeyemi, who was fully entrusted in the back against ASU.
“Look at Stella now, she’s passing nails,” she said.
Junior hitter Tali Hakas supplied five kills and four digs, middle Miliana Sylvester had three kills and was in on four of her team’s five blocks, and middle Bri Gunderson, a transfer from Eastern Washington, had two kills in two sets. Lois Hansen, a pin hitter transfer from UC Santa Barbara, had one kill against three errors. Tyla Reese Mane came off the bench with two kills.
Jillian Neal led the Sun Devils with 12 kills while Bailey Miller had seven kills, nine digs, five blocks and three aces.
UH will get in two more spring matches against Wisconsin, first at the Stan Sheriff Center on March 25 and at Kauai High on March 26.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.
