Hawai'i's future set with Kamana'o

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Freshman setter Kanoe Kamana'o has shored up a critical position for UH. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser ON AIR Tomorrow: Hawai'i vs. Tulsa, 3:15 p.m. 1420 AM

That glimmer of hope lasted as long as it took for each coach to catch a glimpse of Kanoe Kamana'o. Or, as the sign in the family section says so succinctly at every home match, "KAMA, NOW!"

"First time I saw her after she committed to Hawai'i was in a (club) tournament," Nevada's Devin Scruggs recalls. "I turned to my assistant and said, 'Shoot, they're going to be better.' "

Turns out, the Iolani graduate with the magical hands and innate instincts for the game would become the rock among the aged. Surrounded by seniors, Kamana'o has been "money" every match going into tomorrow's WAC Tournament. Without hesitation, and seemingly fear, she has yet to have a bad night.

"I have no complaints with her game," says UH coach Dave Shoji, a former setter who is notoriously picky about the selection and style of sets his hitters see. "Kanoe is only going to get better, and keep getting better.

"I don't know anybody who had seen the kid play who thought that would be a problem position. No one doubted her. ... She seems to be oblivious to pressure and the fact that she's young and with older players never bothered her, or even crossed her mind."

Kamana'o echoes that thought.

"It's not like I'm their little sister," she insists. "Just a sister."

She quickly graduated to that honor. She has taken every hurdle in fast forward, with subtle help from seniors who are not shy. Early on, she and teammate Lily Kahumoku formed a bond.

"Lily was basically telling her, 'We're a team, we want to win and we believe in you,' " recalls UH assistant Kari Anderson, a former setter. "She was trying to give Kanoe confidence and not let her get intimidated."

Kamana'o opened the season plugging in the only starting puka for a final-four team that returned seven seniors. All had started at least two years. Now, she and Kim Willoughby give Hawai'i a legitimate shot at claiming the country's premier individual awards — Freshman and Player of the Year. Both earned those WAC honors Tuesday.

What has driven Kamana'o from the moment she decided to keep her gifted game home is something much deeper.

"I want to make this the best senior year they could ever have," she says, her few words delivered only after much thought, as always. "I just want to help them. I owe everything to the seniors."

She sets her team with the same thorough process, only on the floor the blur of options and decisions are weighed in warp speed. Kamana'o, who watched the Rainbow Wahine the past six years while serving as a floor wiper, has taken in and processed mind-boggling amounts of information the past three months.

Rarely has she made a bad choice or bad set.

"I am a little bit amazed with her," says senior teammate Maja Gustin. "She gets so much information in her head every day, from the coaches, from us, from each person. She takes all this in and never complains. I'm amazed, impressed."

"She's been very calm and mature about it all," adds senior Karin Lundqvist. "She plays with her heart and takes chances, which is good."

Shoji describes Kamana'o as a "risk taker." He has asked her to "tone it down" this season to play to his team's strengths — All-Americans Willoughby and Kahumoku on the outside.

"Next year, you'll see her have a little more freedom to do what she wants to do," he says. "Next year people will see the real Kanoe. She can deal it, set anybody at anytime. That's not our style this year."

Kahumoku characterizes Kamana'o as possessing an "Ah Mow-esque" aura reminiscent of Olympic setter Robyn Ah Mow, who came out of McKinley to take Hawai'i to the 1996 NCAA final. Like Ah Mow-Santos, the volleyball appears to be coming off cotton not flesh when Kamana'o sets it. And both have the rare ability to be in the right place at all the right times, startlingly appearing out of nowhere without apparent effort.

"Robyn always had this 'wow' factor," recalls Anderson. "You'd go 'wow' during at least one point every match she played. She'd make an incredible dig — you'd think she wouldn't even have time to react and she'd make it look simple. Kanoe makes it look simple, too.

"What I really like about her is her poise," Anderson adds. "She comes across as confident and hitters want to see that. The team wants to see it. If she makes a mistake, you know she'll come right back. I was very surprised with that because she's so young. We're the No. 2 team in the country, and she's played in a lot of big matches, and she's handling herself terrifically. When you watch her play, you don't think she's a freshman."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.