AUSTIN, Texas >> In the nearly quarter-century he has been the head women’s volleyball coach at Texas, Jerritt Elliot has never forgotten his one year of college at the University of Hawaii.
The three-time national championship winning coach at Texas spent the 1989-90 season playing for the Rainbow Warriors and remembers Klum Gym fondly.
So much so that before before practice Thursday, he stood inside the Longhorns’ home site, Gregory Gymnasium, and compared it to what he remembered at Klum, minus the air conditioning, of course.
In 15 of the last 17 seasons, the Longhorns have had at least one player from Hawaii on their roster, beginning with Sydney Yogi from Punahou in 2008.
This year, the record has been set with three Hawaii-born players as freshman setter Rella Binney from Punahou joined Kamehameha alumna Keonilei Akana and Devin Kahahawai.
It’s a trend that isn’t just a coincidence to the longtime head coach.
“Hawaii has the benefits of watching a lot of volleyball, right? It’s on TV all of the time and it’s a big-time sport in Hawaii,” Elliot said Thursday. “It’s one of the big cultural things that they have and so they start at a really young age and so their skill sets are at a really high level. Yes, they are undersized at times, but they can benefit here in a lot of different ways.”
That has been proven through the years with Yogi, Sarah Palmer (Hawaii Baptist), Kat Brooks (Punahou), Jhenna Gabriel (Maryknoll) and Saige Kaahaaina-Torres (‘Iolani) all making their way through the program.
It continues with Kahahawai and Akana, who have been part of the last two national championships Texas has won with Akana serving an ace on match point to win the title in 2022.
“It’s been nice having that ladder of people from Hawaii that we overlap and then also when I leave, Devin and Rella will be here too,” Akana said. “It’s always awesome to have someone from home just remind you of what it’s like at home.”
Akana joined the Longhorns after spending two seasons in Nebraska at the same time Kahahawai entered the program as a true freshman out of high school.
Akana, who made the national final in her sophomore season at Nebraska, can lay claim to having played in the last three national finals.
As many big matches as she has played in, the one tonight against her hometown team is something she dreamed about for a long time.
“It is so special. My whole college career I have been kind of wanting this moment,” Akana said. “Not only to play at a competitive level but to see the coaches. I have played for all three of the coaches and then seeing some of the girls on the team and connect with them. It will be a huge thing for us for sure and especially for our families too.”
Akana’s mother, Joselyn, played volleyball at Hawaii as did her older sister Braelyn, who was at UH from 2019 to ’22.
Kahahawai has also played volleyball for some of UH’s coaches and was high school teammates with current UH freshman Adrianna Arquette.
Arquette came off the bench to make her season debut on Tuesday in a five-set loss to UNLV and Kahahawai was watching the match live.
“It was like a full circle moment. I watched her start in high school and now to see her in college I am really happy for her. Hawaii is truly lucky to have her.” Kahahawai said. “I think I can say this for almost all Hawaii girls that play volleyball. The goal is always to play for home or play at home at some point in your career in college.”
Kahahawai said she was a ball girl for UH when she was 10 and remembers watching Tai Manu-Olevao and Kalei Adolpho playing for UH.
As much as she has experienced since then, it is still hard for her to believe she will be playing on the same court with those UH jerseys being worn on the other side of the net.
“To have this moment now to experience what it’s like to play against Hawaii is something that I’ve dreamed up for years,” Kahahawai said. “(Assistant coach) Nick (Costello) was my club coach growing up and I went to all of the UH camps so I played with (head coach) Robyn (Ah Mow) and (associate coach) Kaleo (Baxter) growing up. Jackie (Matias) was my setter in club, I played with Adri. It’s really a full-circle moment.”
Texas is expecting a 32nd consecutive sellout tonight when the two teams meet at 1:30 p.m. Hawaii time.
Over the last 15 seasons, Texas has a .934 winning percentage (214-15) at home. Hawaii has never lost to the Longhorns in Austin, going 3-0, but it’s the first meeting here since 2013.
