Posted on: Friday, August 15, 2003
U.S. volleyball teams touched by Hawai'i
| • | Willoughby's priorities set |
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Anything can happen in a year, but the possibility of Hawai'i having a huge impact on indoor volleyball at the 2004 Olympics is very real.
Back in Sydney in 2000, Punahou graduate Mike Lambert started for the U.S. men. Former Rainbow Wahine All-Americans Robyn Ah Mow and Heather Bown helped lift the women to a surprising fourth-place finish.
That might just be the tip of the Hawai'i volleyball iceberg in Athens next summer.
Last year the U.S. women won the World Grand Prix for the first time since 1995. They took bronze this year and are ranked No. 2 in the world despite playing without Bown and Ah Mow much of the year.
Bown, a starting middle blocker, is recovering from an ankle sprain suffered during her pro season in Italy and has also been ill.
Ah Mow, who now goes by Robyn M. AhMow-Santos, has been working her way back into playing shape after giving birth to Jordan Nohili AhMow Santos on Feb. 2. She's back at the training center in Colorado Springs and Jordan is here with family. When husband Niobel Rafael Santos returns from his service in Iraq — he left when Jordan was 2-weeks old — the family will be reunited.
Starting all over
AhMow-Santos believes she's in better shape than before the pregnancy. Her concern is playing time.
"I haven't played in an international tourney in a whole year, no competitions," she said. "That would be the biggest thing — trying to get back rhythm and consistency with my hitters.
"As for starting, I don't know what the coach has in mind, but I've told him already that I'm going to earn my starting position back. I don't want it to be given to me, or just put back in there. I need to prove to myself that I can still play and I've still got it in me."
Punahou graduate Lindsey Berg, who played collegiately for Minnesota, has been Team USA's starting setter most of this season. She beat out All-Americans Greichaly Cepero (Nebraska), Lizzy Fitzgerald (Wisconsin) and Brittany Hochevar (Long Beach State).
"I think she is doing very well," AhMow-Santos said. "She's wanted to quit a couple of times, but the girls talked her out of it. And I did too. I told her, "You're starting, why would you want to quit? Things aren't just going to be cake. As a setter, you gotta deal with a lot of stuff. Most of it you ain't gonna like, but you just gotta say, 'Who cares?' "
Slowed by injuries
Former Rainbow Wahine Therese Crawford has been training with the national team since her professional season in Italy ended in April. She has suffered from back problems and has been used mainly as a reserve. She is now with the U.S. women's national training team, which plays for the bronze medal tomorrow at the Pan Am Games.
Kaiser graduate Clay Stanley, who played three years for the University of Hawai'i, has stepped into Lambert's big sneakers on the men's team. The right-side hitter was one of the national team's dominant players until he tore the webbing between his fingers — twice — while blocking Canada in July.
Stanley is not with the national team at the Pan Am Games, where the men play for the bronze tonight. They are preparing for the NORCECA zone championships in Mexico next month.
The first Olympic qualifier is the World Cup in Japan, Nov. 17-30. To be one of the 12 teams to qualify for the World Cup, the U.S. men must win NORCECA.
Reach Ann Miller at 525-8043 or amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com
