Janelle Gong’s perseverance paid off.

On the eve of the first practice of the University of Hawaii women’s volleyball team’s training camp back in August, a seemingly routine meeting to review team rules instead turned into a moment of validation for the Rainbow Wahine defensive specialist.

Gong was assigned to read aloud a message from the coaching staff that transitioned from a team address into a personal note and had to pause when she reached the final paragraph.

“Congratulations on being on scholarship for this fall semester.”

Although Gong’s voice came through a mask, the impact of the moment — captured on video and shared on social media — was unmistakable as her Wahine teammates cheered her on.

“I really had no idea,” Gong recalled. “They just had me read off one of our rule things and I saw it on the back and I was so speechless. It really meant so much to me.”

With the scholarship for her final season in hand, Gong has seen an uptick in her playing time at the service line and in the back row as the Rainbow Wahine enter the Big West schedule this week with matches at UC Riverside on Thursday and at UC Davis on Saturday.

After redshirting in 2017 coming out of Campolindo High School in Moraga, Calif., Gong was largely on the periphery of the playing rotation in her first two seasons on the active roster. She made appearances in 13 matches in 2018 and just three the following year.

She was among the players who remained on campus as the rest of the team packed up for road trips, and those moments, “really made me (think), ‘OK I have to make sure I really want to do this’ and I did.”

When the 2020 season was canceled, she earned a spot on the UH beach volleyball roster in the spring and her persistence and positivity in the practice gym earned her the scholarship for the indoor program’s return season. She was quick to share the news with her parents back in California.

“I called them after and they were so surprised but super excited,” Gong said. “It’s really meaningful coming from them, because they’ve really known how hard I’ve worked and how much this meant to me.”

When the Wahine embarked on a three-match road trip to Utah earlier this month, this time Gong was on the travel list.

“She stuck it out for five years,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “This is what she wanted to do, she made a traveling spot this past trip and that’s a huge thing for her.”

Gong appeared as a serving substitute early on in the season and saw increased court time in UH’s two-match split with Southern California. She served up two aces in UH’s four-set win in the opener with the Women of Troy and contributed 14 digs in the series.

“The more opportunities and chances I get it’s more like, ‘OK, I’m getting back into it, I’m getting used to it,’” Gong said. “Even if I were to make a mistake it’s not the end of world. I’m still going to get another opportunity, and other chance to show what I have.”

Listed as a redshirt junior on the roster, Gong plans to finish out her UH career academically and athletically in December. A three-time UH scholar-athlete award winner, Gong is on track to graduate this semester with a degree in Animal Sciences and spent part of her offseason volunteering at a cat shelter in Kaneohe.

“One of the great things about her is she doesn’t help people for show,” UH middle blocker Amber Igiede said earlier this season. “She does it for her own fulfillment, for the betterment of the team. She works hard off the court, she works hard in school, she’s hilarious. … She’s amazing, she’s one of the nicest people ever.”

She will complete her playing career this season along with seniors Brooke Van Sickle and Skyler Williams. Gong and Williams entered the program together in 2017 and have remained close over their five years with the Wahine.

“Throughout the time we’ve been here we’ve had a bunch of other friends, but it’s been really nice because at the end of the day we really relate to each other a lot,” Gong said of her connection with Williams, who helped the coaches craft Gong’s scholarship reveal.

“We’ve been here the longest, there’s a lot we’ve gone through together. It’s just been great to see how much we’ve grown.”