Posted on: Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Onosai commits to UH volleyball for '06 season
Advertiser Staff
Careena Onosai, a decorated multi-sport athlete from Word of Life and the daughter of a former University of Hawai'i football standout, said she has orally committed to play for the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team.
"I felt real welcome, and real wanted," Onosai said of the visit. "They wanted me to be a part of the program. Whatever it took ... even if I had to walk-on, I'd do that to be a part of it."
She is the daughter of Joe Onosai, an all-conference UH offensive lineman in 1985 and '86. Onosai was a sixth-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 1987.
Careena Onosai turned down more than 80 Division I scholarship offers for volleyball and track and field to play for Hawai'i, the father said.
"She didn't want to play for anybody else except for UH," the father said. "We're going to follow her heart. Her dream was always to be a Rainbow Wahine."
Careena Onosai was an Advertiser All-State second-team volleyball selection and an Interscholastic League of Honolulu first-team all-star.
As a sophomore, Onosai won the state high school discus competition with a throw of 151 feet, 9 inches — just 8 feet short of the state meet record set in 1982 by Joan Gago of Campbell.
Onosai also played basketball in her first two years, earning ILH Division II Co-Player of the Year honors as a freshman, and first-team honors as a sophomore.
Onosai's teammate on the Jammers Volleyball Club, Danielle Mafua, also has orally committed to play for UH, Joe Onosai said.
The 5-9 Mafua plays outside hitter and setter. She is a junior at Mid-Pacific.
"We've been playing together since ninth grade," Careena Onosai said. "I'm excited we're going to play together in college."
Onosai, a 6-foot junior outside hitter and middle blocker, said she made an unofficial visit to Hawai'i on March 18 and will join the Rainbow Wahine as a walk-on in 2006.
