Kamana'o on junior national team
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Iolani School junior Kanoe Kamana'o's 16th birthday tomorrow will indeed be sweet.
Kamana'o has been chosen to play libero with USA Volleyball's Junior National Team at the 16-nation Junior World Championships, Sept. 1-9 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
She was one of 12 players chosen from 18 finalists Saturday night after a 21-day tryout camp at the National Volleyball Center in Rochester, Minn.
Kamana'o was a member of the USA Youth (under 17) National Team last year and still qualifies in age, but a combination of factors has resulted in USA Volleyball sending a younger team to the under-19 Junior Worlds.
"Kanoe continues to exhibit toughness and competitiveness and has shown consistency in serve reception, given her age," said Tom Pingel, director of USA Volleyball's National Programs. "We need her ball control."
Consistency will be vital, Pingel said. "She can't afford bad matches because we can't sub her out." International rules allow six substitutions per match, he explained, and liberos, who are defensive specialists, will have to stay on the court.
Before she leaves for training in Miami on Aug. 26, Kamana'o will play setter for her Iolani School team in the 20-team Iolani Invitational tournament, Aug. 15-18. She was named a preseason high-school All-American by Student Sports Magazine.
With the National Team, "I'm learning I have to be more warrior-like. You have to fight for your country," Kamana'o said.
"I learned a lot of techniques at the camp that I'm bringing home."
QUICK SETS: Kanoe Kamana'o beat out University of Southern California sophomore Nicole Davis for the libero position. University of Hawai'i's Melissa Villaroman played the position on the Junior National Team last year. ... Kamana'o's older sister, Kuulei, has given up a volleyball scholarship after one year at the University of Massachusetts and will walk on at University of Portland (Ore.). "Too cold, too far from home," Kuulei said. ... USA Volleyball is essentially sending an under-17 team to the under-19 world championships because most of the under-19 players are committed to their college teams the first week of September, Pingel said. USA will be "in real deep but it will prepare them nicely" for the future, Pingel said. USA will be in a pool with Brazil, Germany and Czechoslovakia. . .. The under-17 (Youth) National Team did not qualify for its world championships.
HIGH PERFORMANCE CAMP
Up and coming: The next girls from Hawai'i likely to be candidates for a national team are Punahou sophomore Ashley Dutro of Kapahulu and Kamehameha sophomore Mounia Nihipali of Lai'e.
They both received strong praise from administrators and coaches at the USA Volleyball High Performance camp held July 18-23 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Dutro and Nihipali were among 48 15-and-under girls chosen for the national camp from an original pool of about 1,000.
"They were two of the more athletic and dynamic players at the camp," a coach said. "They both were very receptive and responsive to coaching, their ability was quite evident in their learning curve, and showed some nice growth in technical and tactical knowledge of the game."
Dutro and Nihipali also were invited to the camp last year.
"Ashley was the most athletic of 11 setters at the camp," the coach said. "She compensated for her size (5-foot-7) by maximizing her athletic and physical abilities."
"Mounia has pretty refined back-row skills; she displayed the skill level of a more experienced player," the coach said. "A lot of that is due to her experience from last year and how much contribution she made playing in a higher age group on her club team (the Local Motion 17-unders)."
Next year, Dutro and Nihipali will be candidates for the Youth National Team, one level below the junior team.
