Pani Napoleon targeted playing in Hawaii as a goal to begin her collegiate beach volleyball career.
After competing against the Rainbow Wahine indoor team for four years, Harlee Kekauoha decided to take a shot at finishing her eligibility in the island sand.
While they took different paths to Manoa, Napoleon and Kekauoha will find themselves bidding farewell to the BeachBows’ home courts together this weekend in their final appearances in Manoa.
Kekauoha and Napoleon play their final home matches when the 14th-ranked Rainbow Wahine play host to No. 6 Cal Poly at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex in Manoa. The BeachBows (7-5) and Mustangs (14-4) open the series today at 6 p.m. and meet again in a doubleheader on Saturday, with the dual matches scheduled for 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. The teams will finish off the weekend with an exhibition pairs tournament starting at 10 a.m. Sunday.
Although Napoleon is a sophomore in eligibility, she is in her fourth year at UH and will graduate with a degree in public health. She plans to transfer to pursue graduate school after finishing out the season with the BeachBows.
After a redshirt year, she was named the Big West Freshman of the Year in 2019 when she went 30-9 overall and partnered with Morgan Martin to win a school-record 40 consecutive sets.
“Before coming to UH, this has been probably the only school I wanted to play volleyball at,” Napoleon said.
“I didn’t really know how big volleyball was in Hawaii, and getting to learn how important it is here on Oahu … no words can describe how thankful I am to be here and to be able to say I play for Hawaii beach volleyball.”
Napoleon is 8-4 so far this season and went 6-0 with freshman Jaime Santer before the duo dropped two matches at the No. 1 flight in last week’s home-opening series with Long Beach State.
Kekauoha was a three-time All-Big West first-team selection during her indoor career at UC Irvine. She posted double-digit kills in four matches against UH and had nine in another three. But playing in Hawaii had always intrigued her while growing up in Southern California.
“Knowing that I had an opportunity to play beach volleyball to extend my eligibility that was always something in the back of my head like, ‘Oh, that’d be really cool if after I do my four years at Irvine I transfer over to Hawaii for my fifth year,’” Kekauoha said.
Upon joining the BeachBows, Kekauoha went 3-0 with Norene Iosia at the No. 5 flight in last year’s abbreviated season. With eligibility for spring sports extended a year, she returned this season and has gone 4-0 with sophomore Kylin Loker since they were paired together during UH’s first road trip.
Kekauoha and Loker hadn’t practiced together before teaming up for a match against Cal Poly on March 27 on the final day of The Challenge, a round-robin tournament featuring Big West teams on the Mustangs’ home courts in San Luis Obispo, Calif. They came out with a sweep in the No. 4 flight in UH’s 3-2 loss to the Mustangs.
“It just clicked, and they just took it and ran with it,” UH coach Angelica Ljungqvist said. “They have had great chemistry on the court, they communicate really well. It just turned out to be a perfect match for both of them, so they’re having fun playing.”
Big West Beach Volleyball
At Clarence T.C. Ching Complex
No. 6 Cal Poly (14-4) vs. No. 14 Hawaii (7-5)
>> When: Today, 6 p.m.; Saturday, 3 p.m., 7 p.m.; Sunday (pairs tournament), 10 a.m.
>> TV: Spectrum Sports, Saturday, 7 p.m. match
>> Radio: none
