The 1981 UH-Hilo volleyball team is without question the greatest in school history — for any sport.
That year, the Vulcans won the AIAW and NAIA national championships under Sharon Peterson, who qualifies as the greatest coach in school history, also without question.
Peterson retired on Dec. 4, 2002 after 25 years and seven national titles with a 511-251 record for a .671 winning percentage.
No other UHH team for a single season has been elected to the athletic department’s Hall of Fame, only Peterson’s 1981 squad, which was inducted in 2002.
The alumni match will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at UHH Gym, featuring 1981 Vulcans: Carla Carpenter-Kabalis, Charlene Kahuanui, Edie Manzano, Nalani Spencer, Sheryl Scott and Cynthia Whitworth.
Peterson, an NAIA Hall of Famer, won’t be there because she’ll be busy. She is the spry coach of the Hawaii Prep boys and girls volleyball teams. Her Ka Makani girls have a match Friday as well at Laupahoehoe.
It could be argued that Peterson is doing bigger miracle work at HPA than UHH, where she could at least offer full scholarships.
Her Ka Makani players are often green to the game. Yet, Peterson’s girls have reached the HHSAA Division II state tournament the last 10 years, capturing BIIF crowns in 2010, ’11, and ’13.
From that 1981 UHH team, Manzano (1988), Carpenter-Kabalis (’89) and Alofa Tagataese (’94) were also inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame.
Tagataese, who had a warm smile for everyone, died on Dec. 25, 2014 from stomach cancer. She was 52. Alofa’s name is everywhere in UHH’s school records.
“At the NAIA national championships, Alofa was one of our biggest hitters. In one game, they blocked her once and the other team screamed,” Peterson said. “She just giggled. They thought she would be down. When she giggled, that took the wind out of their sails. On the next play, she hammered one really hard. She was such a competitor and never let anything bother her.”
Peterson’s old Vuls have passed down that volleyball passion to their children.
Kahuanui’s future husband, Bob Christenson, was playing basketball at UHH. Their son is Micah Christenson, the USC setter on the U.S. team that took bronze at the Rio Games.
Carpenter-Kabalis has five children (Kamalu, Kahala, Kekoa, Kaleinani, and Kuulei) and all were volleyball standouts.
Kahala Kabalis Hoke is in her fifth year as the Chaminade coach while Kuulei Kabalis-Bianconi is an assistant at Hawaii Pacific.
Their mom remembers the 1981 starting lineup: setter Manzano, outside hitter Nalani Spencer, middle blockers Tagataese, Kahuanui, Whitworth, and time-share opposites Joy Downey, Marve Keama and Scott.
The other outside hitter was Carpenter-Kabalis, who was a first-team NAIA All-American in 1981. But Manzano was the MVP at the AIAW and NAIA national tourneys, showing that a great setter can steer a team to championships.
If the current edition Vulcans (5-6) look across the net at the alumni, they’ll see an opponent with not only championship experience, but also one built by the bond of cohesion.
“The main thing I remember in 1981 was on our first day of tryouts. We had a running test and had to run a mile under a certain time period,” Carpenter-Kabalis said. “Only one person passed, and that was Nalani. Because we didn’t, we had to run a mile in the morning and practice at 6 a.m.
“Nalani actually joined us. She didn’t have to, but she was there every single day with us. That to me was the start of a great team. We didn’t grumble or complain. Everybody showed up at practice. We went to school and had another practice in the afternoon. We had team cohesiveness. The chemistry was awesome. Everyone supported each other.”
One of Peterson’s life-long mantras is: The game is played from the neck up.
It’s a phrase she’s repeated for decades with abundant success. She still uses it with her Ka Makani. But for that 1981 team, Peterson had pause.
“I kind of debated about that. It’s a mental game, and I didn’t know if it would help the team or be a can of worms,” she said. “But I thought, ‘Why not try it?’ That group was so strong together. They really liked each other.
“They did things I didn’t think they could do. Winning two national titles? Nothing gets better than that.”
