With the University of Hawaii volleyball team down three starters down, Tai Manu-Olevao stepped up.
The Hilo native was honored as the Big West Player of the Week on Monday after leading the short-handed No. 8 Rainbow Wahine with a team-high 27 kills in victories Friday and Saturday in Honolulu, helping them reach the bye week on a 13-match unbeaten streak.
“It was going to be a struggle, I knew that all the way,” coach Dave Shoji said on the OCSports postgame Saturday after a four-set victory against UC Irvine. “It was bound to be a little ragged. We were pretty fortunate.”
Nikki Taylor, UH’s leader in kills, aces and points, missed the match against the Anteaters, but Manu-Olevao filled her shoes nicely, swatting 15 kills with 11 digs and a career-high seven blocks for her second double-double of the season.
The Rainbow Wahine (18-1, 8-0 Big West) also were without the services of outside hitter Kalei Greeley, who missed her second consecutive match. Starting setter Tayler Higgins entered the match in the second set, her first action since Oct. 2.
Manu-Olevao, a 6-foot senior, was born in Hilo and attended Waiakea Intermediate before moving to Oahu while in the eighth-grade. She played her high school volleyball at Punahou on Oahu, winning an HHSAA championship her senior season. Her mother, Charlene Kela Olevao, lives in Hilo and is the cousin of major leaguer Keone Kela of the Texas Rangers.
She became a starter as a sophomore with the Wahine, finishing third in kills, and she led the way as a junior. This season, Manu-Olevao is second on the team with 176 kills, and third in points (kills/blocks/aces), averaging 3.28 per set.
On Friday, Manu-Olevao was efficient with 12 kills on .375 hitting hitting in a four-set victory against UC Davis.
First in the Big West, Hawaii is off until it plays its final two home matches, Oct. 30 against UC Riverside and Nov. 1 against Cal State Fullerton.
“We’re going to practice, mostly skills and one time we’ll do some team stuff,” Shoji said. “We’ll get a chance to heal up some injuries for sure.”
