By KEVIN JAKAHI
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
The Waiakea-to-William Penn pipeline has another recent addition in Cassie Emnase, a senior outside hitter who will soon be the fourth Warrior in a class reunion at the NAIA school in Iowa.
Her teammate senior setter Taniah Ayap also signed with the Statesmen (same nickname for the men and women). They’ll join 2016 Waiakea graduates Casi Gacusana, a libero, and Brianna Ridgway, a middle blocker.
The four Warriors all received recruiting help from Jenny Block, whose daughter Maxine Block is a senior at Dakota Wesleyan. The Tigers are an NAIA school in Iowa, where Jenny Block developed recruiting contacts.
“Cassie is a very dynamic offensive player. She’s strong and puts up a good strong block,” Waiakea coach Ashley Hanohano said. “She pushes her team and herself a lot. She’s very hard on herself, wanting to be the best she can be on the court.
“She’ll do well at college. The hardest transition going from high to college is getting acclimated to the school and having someone you know makes it easier. What I tell the players from the beginning of the season until the end is education is the key and if you can use volleyball as a tool to get to college then that’s awesome.”
William Penn, located in Oskaloosa, Iowa, is roughly 4,000 miles from Hawaii, which is pretty far from home for the four Warriors.
But Hanohano and her 2004 St. Joseph classmates Lindsey Lee and Jazmin Paakaula had a more challenging college post back in the day. They played at Fairfield University in Connecticut, about 5,000 miles away, and rivals Iowa in cold water.
Hanohano pointed out that the same character traits she, Lee and Paakaula, used to persevere in college — commitment, discipline, and responsibility — are valuable tools she applies as Waiakea’s coach.
“The good thing with Jazz, Lindsey and me was we kept each other accountable,” Hanohano said. “If one of us didn’t feel like going to class, we’d keep each other in check. At some point, one of us would go, ‘Can I take another year of this? Conditioning in the offseason when the weather is almost 12 degrees out there and waking up at 6 in the morning.’
“One of us would snap the other out of it, saying, ‘You got this. You’re getting an amazing education and all the benefits. If you go back home you don’t get that.’ We traveled to different places and saw things we would not have seen.”
Hanohano shares one other nugget from her East Coast college adventure.
“What’s weird is if I had to do it all over again, I would, even if I had an opportunity to be on the West Coast,” she said. “I have long-lasting relationships with people from Europe, New York, and Atlanta. If you go to the West Coast, most likely you’ll make friends with Hawaii people.
“If you put yourself out there, stick through it with discipline, the reward is greater I feel. Playing volleyball to get an education and meeting people at school are keys. Too many times, players only think about volleyball. But there’s more to life than that.”
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For scholarship help for volleyball, stem or math, contact Jenny Block at punamomcollegereport@gmail.com or 310-743-3216.
