Volleyball is life to some. ADVERTISING Volleyball is life to some. To others, such as the members of the Baylor volleyball team here for the Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Challenge, the sport is the constant amid chaos. It was the calm
Volleyball is life to some.
To others, such as the members of the Baylor volleyball team here for the Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Challenge, the sport is the constant amid chaos. It was the calm before, during and after the storm — literally — as Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on Houston, some 21/2 hours southwest of the Bears’ campus in Waco, Texas.
With 12 of the 19 on the roster from Texas, including two from Houston, “it does put things in perspective,” said former Rainbow Wahine middle Jen Roberts McGuyre, married to Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre. “There are other things in life besides volleyball, and family comes first.
“We do have a couple of players (junior hitter Ashley Fritcher and sophomore middle Shelly Fanning) whose families are in Houston, and they were fishing out about 2 feet of water from their houses. But they’re safe and they survived it.”
Jen McGuyre last saw her former team when Hawaii was playing some 90 minutes away at Texas A&M in the 2015 NCAA tournament. Although she had been back to the islands as an assistant coach to her husband with the California Baptist men’s team, this will be the first time back in the Stan Sheriff Center since she finished her four-year Wahine career in 1999.
As familiar as the Stan Sheriff Center is to her, the Bears will feel right at home as well.
Their 10,284-seat Ferrell Center, built in 1988, is of the same blueprint as Hawaii’s arena built in 1994. Adding to the familiarity for McGuyre is a look over to Hawaii’s bench. Three of her former teammates are on staff: head coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, assistant Angelica Ljungqvist and director of volleyball operations Aven Lee.
“It’s great to see the alumnae on the staff, my friends and my teammates,” she said. “The gym will feel the same for our players but probably with a lot more fans.”
Hawaii has drawn 26,914 for six home matches, averaging 4,486. The season high was 5,334 for the opener against Marquette.
Baylor has drawn a combined 4,681 for three home matches, including 3,617 for the season opener against then-No. 15 Florida State. It was the largest crowd in the program’s history.
“We like crowds,” Ryan McGuyre said. “I haven’t seen this team rattled by big crowds. We had a great opening night with almost 4,000.
“We’re looking forward to playing here. The crowd here is awesome and cheers for great volleyball.”
Tournament Capsules
Hawaii (2-4)
The Rainbow Wahine are coming off a mixed plate of a weekend, giving Robyn Ah Mow-Santos the first two victories of her head coaching career but then falling to then-No. 22 Utah in four on Sunday. It was the Utes’ first win over the Wahine in 12 meetings and the third time in as many matches that Hawaii lost to a ranked team, extending the losing streak against Top 25 teams to eight dating back to 2015.
Senior middle Emily Maglio was named all-tournament for the second consecutive week after helping Hawaii go 2-1 in the 30th Hawaiian Airlines Invitational, finishing with a combined 23 kills and 17 blocks. She had 11 kills on 14 swings with no errors against Western Carolina, a match that saw Hawaii commit just one hitting error while hitting .446 (38-1-83).
Joining her on the all-tournament team were junior outside hitter McKenna Granato and sophomore setter Norene Iosia. Granato had a combined 41 kills, including 24 against Utah. She leads the Wahine with 92 kills and 100 points.
Iosia has 220 assists, 11 aces, 66 digs and 20 blocks and leads the team in double-doubles (three).
Senior libero Savanah Kahakai, with 88 digs this season, needs just 16 more to pass All-American Lily Kahumoku (1,104 digs) as No. 10 in UH’s career record book.
Hawaii leads the series with Brigham Young 17-6, but the Wahine were swept by the Cougars in their last meeting, the second round of the 2013 NCAA tournament. The Hawaii-BYU match for the 1998 WAC championship lasted 3 hours and 38 minutes, an NCAA record likely never to be broken with the move to rally scoring.
Hawaii is 5-0 against Baylor, including a 3-0 victory in 2012, and is 37-1 against Nevada, last defeating the Wolf Pack in 2011.
Former UH All-America setter Ah Mow-Santos is in her first year (2-4).
BYU (6-0)
The Cougars, picked to win their fourth straight West Coast Conference championship, are No. 4 nationally in blocks per set (3.48), No. 8 in opponent hitting percentage (.111), No. 13 in total team blocks (69.5) and No. 9 in hitting percentage (.268). BYU has three players ranked in the top 50 statistically in senior middle Cosy Burnett (eighth, 1.75 blocks per set; 21st, 35 total blocks), sophomore libero Mary Lake (68th, 4.80 digs/set) and junior hitter Veronica Jones-Perry (32nd, 4.90 points/set, 48th, 4.20 kills/set).
Jones-Perry is the reigning WCC player of the week and was named the Boise State Classic MVP for averaging 5.30 pps, 4.70 kps and 1.50 dps and leading the Cougars to their second straight tournament title. BYU has only dropped two sets this season, one to then-No. 21 Ohio State in the BYU Nike Invitational opening weekend and last Friday against Missouri.
Returning home are senior reserve setter Alohi Robins-Hardy (Kamehameha), daughter of former UH volleyball players Mary Robins and Damien Hardy, and redshirt sophomore setter Kiani Tuileta (Punahou), sister of UH two-sport athlete Larry “Tui” Tuileta, though she has not yet played this season.
BYU coach Heather Olmsted is in her third season (63-8).
Baylor (4-2)
The Bears, on the road for a second weekend in a row, are coming off Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the College of Charleston in the Cougar Challenge hosted by Washington State. In Friday’s doubleheader, Baylor edged the host Cougars 3-2 and swept Quinnipiac 3-0.
Named to the all-tournament team were senior hitter Katie Staiger and sophomore middle Shelly Fanning. Three Bears had double-doubles against the Charleston Cougars: Staiger (22 kills, 15 digs), junior hitter Aniah Philo (14 kills, 11 digs) and freshman setter Hannah Lockin (55 assists, 11 digs).
The Bears’ other loss came in four to then-No. 15 Florida State in the season opener at the Baylor Invitational.
Baylor has six returning starters from the 22-12 team that tied for fourth in the Big 12. Staiger, a preseason all-conference pick, was an AVCA second-team All-American last season.
In his third season at Baylor is Ryan McGuyre (43-27), who is married to former Wahine hitter Jen Roberts.
Nevada (2-4)
The Wolf Pack are coming off a winless outing at the Gonzaga Invitational with 3-1 losses to Arizona State and Portland State, and a 3-0 sweep by the host Bulldogs. This is the third straight road tournament for Nevada, which opened the season at San Francisco, losing to the host Dons 3-0 but picking up 3-1 victories over Utah Valley and in a rematch with USF.
Freshman hitter Kayla Afoa (Kamehameha) has been impressive in her college debut, including a match-high 24 digs in the win over San Francisco. Sophomore hitter Shayla Hoeft (Seabury Hall) leads the Wolf Pack with 69 kills (3.14 per set).
Hitter Madison Foley is the Pack’s lone senior. Sophomore opposite Ayla Fresenius ranks 39th nationally and first in the Mountain West in aces per set (.56).
Nevada has never lost four straight under coach Lee Nelson, who is in his third season (31-29). On Lee’s staff for a third year is assistant Megan Burton (‘Iolani).
Glance
What: Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Challenge
Where: Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu
Who: Thursday, Baylor (4-2) vs. Nevada (2-4), 4:45 p.m.; No. 10 Brigham Young (6-0) at Hawaii (2-4), 7 p.m.;
Friday, BYU vs. Nevada, 4:45 p.m., Baylor at Hawaii, 7 p.m.; Saturday, BYU vs. Baylor, 3 p.m., Nevada at Hawaii, 7 p.m.
TV: UH on Spectrum OC16
