UH makes it official on 3 transfers
By Cindy Luis
sorry just got back in. email came in at 8. also up at hawaiiathletics.com. means they are officially in school.
Alyssa Longo (Penn State), Ashley Kastl (Arizona State) and Stephanie Hagins (Washington State)
this from the release
“All three transfers will add depth at their respective positions,” said Shoji. “We lost some quality players due to graduation and other reasons, and each brings top college experience to our team.”
Longo played in all 33 matches last season as a designated specialist for the Nittany Lions. She was second on the team in both service aces (32) and assists (90). “Ali played a significant role for Penn State last year and will bring energy and experience to our young team,” praised Shoji. “She scores points from her serve and passes a big part of the court.”
Kastl joins Hawai’i after leading the Sun Devils last season at outside hitter in both kills (424) and kills per set (3.82). “Ashley took the majority of swings for ASU last season,” said Shoji. “She brings to us the ability to create kills from all over the court. Ashley is a six-rotation player and will solidify our outside hitting as well as our passing.”
Hagins comes to UH after two seasons for the Cougars, the first as a redshirt. “Stephanie will add depth to our middle blocker position,” said Shoji of his 6-4 sophomore. “With the departure of Brittany Hewitt, we were left shorthanded and Stephanie will compete right away for playing time.”
The Rainbow Wahine open the 2012 campaign hosting the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational from August 24-26, playing Albany, Saint Mary’s, and Stanford.
Volleyshots
Cindy,
First thing, thank you for putting this information up.
Reading Shoji’s comment about Ali Longo, makes me think he is looking at her as being his libero, with Maeda most likely being the DS.
What Shoji mentions concerning Kastl, makes me wonder if he is thinking about using her on the Left Side, and moving Croson to RS. A position she has played before and was outstanding at that position.
What he says about Hagins, makes me think he is targeting Vorster and Adolpho to be his middles, at least at the start.
These are just my opinion, only.
Wow Steve, you got all that from a simple UH release. What’s your normal day job, cryptic decoder for the CIA? Saw a good Robert Redford movie about stuff like that once.
I have a good feeling about Longo, Spieler too. Kastl “six” rotations, Hagins “will compete right away for playing time”. It all sounds pretty good to me.
leftout,
Not really hard to do. For instance, Shoji says of Longo, “passes a big part of the court”. Something you want your libero to do, something Maeda has a hard time doing. As for Kastl, Shoji mentions, “a six rotation player”. Normally, Shoji does not have his RS play six rotations.
Croson WILL play 6 rotations whether she ends up L or R side. She IS the best passer coming back from last years team.
Actually, all 3 players, Hartong, Croson, and Kastl, can play all 6 rotations. In fact, those 3 players are interchangeable, between the L and R side, which can be a very good thing. Makes it hard for opposing coach to prepare for the Wahine.
Of those 3 OH Kastl’s backrow play is her weakest skill. Hartong and Crosons are better passers and diggers. I believe Kastl will be subbed out when she rotates to the backrow, at least at the start of the season. Shoji has to decide between the degree of her threat from the backrow and improving the defense by subbing her out. Croson’s weakest skill is blocking and Shoji will not put her on the RS, although in his system the 2 LOH plays 2 rotations on the left and one on the right, and the RSH vice versa. I agree with liveALOHA on Kastl’s passing ablility, even her serving has a lot to be desired, probably get subbed out by a DS on serving turns. All this talk maybe all for nothing cause sitting in the wings is Olevao.
Like always, new players will need to establish their presence and role on the team. Dave and staff may have ideas about what they will bring to the team and where they will fit in. But it all comes down to what they will actually show in practice and do in games.
I do have to admit it looks like the competition for positions will be better for what each new player should bring.
Steve you really got tons of good information from this. Very amazing that you gathered that much information. I also have a good feeling about Longo.
Kastl stats from ASU shows she wasn’t one of the team’s top passers and wasn’t consistent.
I remember seeing a clip of her play and she was a pretty average passer. Shanked a bunch of float serves. Keep her on the right, just hit and block, unless she’s improved.
I agree with Kastl being subbed out in the back row. It is most likely going to be same as the end of last season where Maeda started and Satele came in the front row.
When you said they are officially “in” school, do you mean enrolled or they are here?
vballfreak808,
Since Shoji can talk about them now, they are enrolled in UH’s second summer session, and to do that, they must be here, also. At least that is what Cindy has been saying about when Shoji could talk about the 3 players.
officially accepted for enrollment. supposed to be in summer school second session.
Only 10 weeks until the start of the season! Many astute comments being made on who will start and what role each player will play. The biggest mystery to me is who will step up to play the middle. We have 4 solid candidates for the 2 middle positions. (not counting E.H.) Longo in the back row should help replace Kanani’s contributions last year. Setting, hitting, serving, and digging should be fine. Now we need to find some blocking
Emily OH1
Jane OH2
Adolpho MB1
Vorster/Haggins MB2
Kastl/Haggins RS
Uiato S
Longo Lib
Goodman and Stauber will be first off bench
Maeda/Spieler will be DS
Olevao will redshirt
Long will see sporadic play once we get to 23 in games. Maybe some game 3′s.
Unless Tuaniga can stay healthy and show something, she will be a role player again this year.
All the other million DS’s….will get their time on the rare moments. Dave really needs to cut some of them so the starters and role players can get more reps in practice.
Am I missing anyone? I’m tired….
From what is known, I agree 110%……
Spieler? Unless she is better than Longo and Maeda, she is going to redshirt. If she is good, why burn a year when she isn’t going to start? Lelepali, Kam and maybe Kawamura will get their occasional serving turns.
And Hagins? She may be 6-4, but hit .191 at WSU. And I hear she’s had her share of injuries, like Tuaniga. At this point, I think she’s there for depth and not exactly expected to have immediate impact, unlike Kastl and Longo.
Haleiwa, good observations. the competition at middle will be interesting and agree much hinges on Tuaniga’s health. of the three transfers guessing Longo sees the most playing time.
As for the comment about Kastl’s passing she was the best player on a poor team, took a lot of swings and in the main serve-receive setup.
lot of options for DS. likely a few redshirts maybe Spieler and Olevao.
As for the release, it states Longo as a defensive specialist for Penn State. Wasn’t she the libero? And it also says she finished second in aces and assists, but fails to state what was the most important stat: she led Penn State in digs!
I can hardly wait for practice to start. Only time will tell how much these three transfers will contribute. On paper it looks like they will bring much needed depth and competition to RS, MB and the libero position. No matter where they end up playing we needed the transfers to fill the pukas left by the great players that have used up their eligibility. Coach Shoji will sort things out during practice and put together another quality team for the season. Go Wahine.
HOT seems to be on to something here….UH better hope that there is a better option than Hagins at middle and right. This reminds me of the Falyn feeding frenzy. Maybe they should practice once before they get starting positions.
who knows how practice will go and where people will be put? they’ll have plenty of time during July for open gym to get familiar with the system and then they’ll have a couple of weeks before the first match.
Two of the transfers were pretty decent players on bad teams. things will be different when they’re surrounded by a high level of competition.
Cindy,
Are the coaches allowed to work with individual, or a small group of players, like coaches are able to do in Basketball, during the off-season?
no, they are not allowed to work with the players during the offseason.
Until we see these players in practice or in a match hard to judge how good they are or will be when playing for UH. A little premature to make some of these assessments, IMHO.
They can work out on their own, no coaches allowed.
Sorry Cindy your first sentence didn’t register in this old man’s noggin.
Players usually work the camps then have open gym after. Coaches aren’t supposed to be in the gym when that’s going on.
Cindy,
Do you know when the girls have open gym? Also, what gym will it be, or will it be SSC? I would not mind getting a glimpse of the transfers, since Shoji normally has closed practices.
As I said earlier, at least in the past, players have worked the UH camps then did open gym later in the afternoon-early evening.
first camp last week. Shoji and staff take a break to scout JOs and other tourneys. they come back July 12-15, July 20-23, July 24-27, Aug. 1-4.
don’t know what gym they’ll use IF they do have open gym again. most of the time been in the SSC if Rich keeps the lights on. or Gym 1.
Technically practices aren’t closed but Shoji prefers the public not to be there. Steve you showed up to at least one last year and you know there’s no seating in Gym 1.
The trouble with Kastl is that she primarily played left back on defense at ASU while their libero was middle back. From the matches I watched, the majority of swings she took out of the back row were out-of-system. It will be interesting to see how her ball control develops and whether or not she will become a viable option out of the back row. It’s not an easy adjustment to make, moving from left to middle back.
I am not to worried about Kastl passing ability, cause in Shoji’s serve-receive, Hartong, Croson, or the Libero will be the main passers. If Shoji needs to go to 3 passers, he will bring in a DS for Kastl. He has always done that. It was extremely rare that he kept Satele in, if he needed to go with 3 passers last year.
Shoji had three passers last year in Danielson, Maeda and Croson. He brought Griffiths in for Satele when Croson was being targeted, or if he needed the front row OH to be freed from the passing pattern and concentrate on offense. With Longo and Maeda available, there is no need for Kastl to pass. Or even the front row OH to pass all six rotations. I think Croson will be asked to pass all six rotations this year along with the libero (most likely Maeda in the beginning) and Hartong. I am pretty sure the primary DS (Longo if she is not the libero) will be subbed in for three rotations, replacing Kastl (or Goodman). That would free the front row Left Side from passing.
Croson won’t be passing all six rotations, she likely will be in the passing formation in the three rotations when she is in the back row.
Yes Cindy I think Hot is all Confucius here. Who ever is struggling pass/receive will get subbed out. We have a few DSses and a new 15 sub rule to do it with.
Roofer, is that supposed to be an insult? LOL.
Cindy, I agree. I think if there is a player that could pass all six rotations aside from the libero, it would be Croson. But like I said, Longo’s presence means the right side won’t need to play back row and the front row left side will be freed from the passing formation. It could be similar to the 2002 rotation that had Hedder Ilustre playing three rotations in the back.
Hot, agree Croson could pass all rotations but it does wear players down when they have to pass then re-set quickly for an attack. if she’s going to have as big a role as last year, and Hartong as well, better if they don’t have to pass all rotations. they’re going to have to make up for the loss of offense by Danielson and Satele, and to some extent Hewitt. but Hartong being moved to OH gives her more room to swing and get more sets.
Agree with everything you said, Cindy. Adding Longo to the roster makes a lot of difference, allowing the front row LS to concentrate on offense. I am hoping Maeda continues to improve, and still get a shot at libero. I’m curious about Goodman. I wonder if she’ll get the opportunity to start. She hasn’t been used as an offensive option, but I think she’s become a very good line blocker.
Next year looking brighter for the OH position. Diggin just posted that Nikki Taylor made the USA Junior A2 team with 21 other girls.She evidently didn’t miss a beat with her leg injury and impressed the selectors.
With the talk about tough serving, reminds me of another Tayler, Higgins coming in 2013 who has a very effective jump serve.
nikki taylor AND 2 other local girls made the roster
Arielle Botelho from Waianae HS & Sienna Rae Davis from Kam Schools Maui also made the roster.
Yes, Hawaii and Texas with the most with 3 girls, surprising Calif with only 2.
Thank god the Wahine employs a sports psychologist because one of these new additions to the team who spends a lot of time on twitter is in desperate need of some professional help.
is it almost as bad as the amount of time you spend reading their twitter?
you’re either following them (which is a bit scary) or you’re constantly checking if they have any updates (which in this case is daily and 10x worse).
i have a solution. maybe you should stop FOLLOWING her and then you won’t see how many times they update on a daily basis.
this is why i seldomly decide to post. idiot remarks like this.
Oh please Croson had to get a court order to stop you from stalking her.
Actually it’s when you show up here that this place goes in the crapper.
LOL whatever you say.
just take my advice and stop following the young girl. if not, stop complaining about how many times she tweets.
Only Steve misses you . Oh wait your are Steve.
did someone tweet that information to you?
You currently have no messages in your inbox.
such a sad day
Sure, for you it is.
lol i always have sad days, what’s new?
@ Vinny,
Got a reply to you up above a bit.
robin
The continuous over use of positive affirmation quotes is interesting.
im po’okela, steven, jesse, robin, uncle vinny, LC and Cindy Luis.
Every time you show up here you turn this place into a pile poop.
This is the second posting of the same information, for some reason my first posting was not in sequence, got lost among the others.
Read on the Ohio State website that Andrew Palileo(Waipahu) has been hired as an assistant coach. His family hosted the Buckeyes during one of the Wahine preseason tournaments in 2011. He previously was the HC at Washington State.
Thanks Leftout. used it on a new thread.
he is obsessed with Ashley. he should take all that negativity to his crappy digginnawahine blog lol
Something to think about, with the new 15 sub rule, could we know see Shoji run a 6-2 offense. He has the depth to do it with this year. Also, he now has a 6-4 player who has played both middle and outside, in Hagins.
you have a valid point. with additional subs a 6-2 could happen but he’s never been a big fan of it. Still it would provide a bigger block all rotations. I personally don’t like the 6-2. it would be like subbing a quarterback every first down. you lose the rhythm
Cindy,
I understand what you are saying, but how can you argue subbing a 6-4 for a 5-8 player. Maybe, not running a 6-2 offense on a permanent basis, but using it more often then he did last year, when he subbed in Stauber and Goodman at the same time.
wasn’t arguing about 6-4 vs. 5=8. but that Stauber-Goodman sub wasn’t a true 6-2. it was more a blocking sub and to get both players a little court time. it rarely last more than 1 or 2 rotations.
I was thinking the same thing. Might as well take full advantage of the players you have on the bench PLUS having a BIG BLOCK & ATTACKER on the right in all 6 rotations will allow for a more versatile Wahine offense. It’ll give the setter 3 to 4 options with a decent pass. Something the Wahine will need against the top teams.
Thinking just that, Steve has brought up good points as well now that we have 2 6’4 players who can potentially post an offensive threat given their skill set is where its needs to be game time ofcourse. In addition, I think the team will be able to utilize Goodman more given her experience as a blocking specialist LY. A 6’2 offense will definitely change things up from an opponents point of view. I guess one disadvantage for having a coach like Shoji being a legend and all is a lot of people has studied his style and coaching and use it against the Wahine. We need to change things up a bit as they become somewhat predictable. Last time I saw real offensive versatility was on 2009 when Wahine went on to the final Four. We’ve got a young team with a lone senior in Maeda, now is the time to try new things as Wahine grow to a team capable of being the last one standing.
For some reason, I see 2013 as being the year Shoji finally gets another National Championship. Not to say, if the Wahine get some luck they could win it this year. But with only one senior, Maeda, and a replacement for her already on the team in Spieler and with another 6-3 player supposedly coming in, that 2013 team will be loaded. Not to mention if by some, Hale Mary Mother of God, chance FF becomes eligible, for the 2013 season….
Goodman got better at blocking the line, forcing the hitter to go middle or cross court where it is easier to dig. High hands tips will also play to our strength with a fast and mobile back line. If the middle blocker is quick to move and seal we are even better off. It’s going to be fun!
I agree with you on Goodman, she and Hartong are the two better blockers for all the OHs we have. Kaela will give the enemies LOH a lot of problems and force them to change their hitting tactics. I hope she surprises us with hitting improvements from last season and give Shoji second thoughts on who to start on the RS. Being probably the 3/4 option she’ll end up more 1on1 and a better chance of putting the ball down.
To run the 6/2 two things gotta happen IMO. The flow of the offense has to be uninterrupted by the change of the setter and you have to have 4 players who can put the ball down. We lost Kanani and Chanteal and gained only Kastl as a proven D1 OH. Hagins, Long, Olevao, and Goodman are unproven. So unless one of those players can step up, I don’t see it happening.
roofer68,
Do not forget, besides Kastl, the Wahine have Hartong and Croson, not to mention Adolpho. So with your logic the missing ingredient would be who would step up to be an offensive threat between Vorster, Hagins, and Tuaniga.
If you read what I posted carefully, I’m talking about the outside hitters not middles. To run a 6/2 you need 4 legit outside hitters who can put the ball away. Hartong, Croson, and Kastl is 3 so I’m saying we need one more outside hitter. I don’t see Hagins on the outside, she herself said that she’s a natural middle. I don’t see Shoji putting Croson to start on the right, because her blocking needs a little to be desired. Even Satale was a better blocker than Jane. So in order to run a 6/2 Goodman, Olevao or Long has to step up bigtime to be a terminator.
Have Hagins or Kastle ever even played right. It will be interesting to see if either one can jump….UH has seen 6’4″ with no vertical.
TW,
Do not know if Kastl can play, or ever played RS, but I know Croson can. Also, I read somewhere that Hagins played RS in high school. As for Hagins vertical, I have no idea.
I really hope Long will get some decent amount of playing time. I really like her athleticism but she doesn’t have the height to start.
I like Long, she reminds me of Satale, little on the undersize and hits a heavy ball. Ginger is a touch quicker, and covered a lot of court in the back. I read somewhere that her nickname was Avatar because of her quickness covering the back.Oh well she’s only a RS freshmen and has time to develope and show what she’s got for D1 college ball.
I do not see Long seeing much court time, this year or next year. She needs to hang in there, hit the weight room and learn as much as she can during practices, so that come 2014 she will be ready to challenge for a starting spot.
No, no insult Hot, just playing with words. What Cindy and I’m trying to say is nobody passes for six rotations, only 3 when in the backrow. First contact on serve/receive to pass to whoever’s going to set the hitter.
Yeah, I agree roofer. Having both Maeda and Longo can free the OHs from being six-rotation passers. It’s just that if they need a six-rotation player (OH) to pass, it would likely be Croson. Last year, Griffiths didn’t play every set of every match and when Maeda wasn’t libero, she didn’t get a lot of court time either, which meant Kanani, Jane and Blake passed six rotations on several occasions. Obviously, there may be no need for that this year.
so who’s this euro outside hitter that has committed to charlie?
when will they announce his arrival besides the obvious “upon academic acceptance”?
15 sub. rule/complete player specialization(s) = little momentum/cohesion to propel teams victorioulsy
The goal *besides the win* is to keep things simplistic; the less hodge-podge on the floor, the better a team’s synchronicity (and hence floor ‘chemisty’)…vb is TRULY a simple game as that goes.
Croson passes the same as all the other OHs on this team. Unless she makes some DRAMATIC improvement this summer, she passes 2.0-2.5 like all the others.
*Mita will be working her okole off this next season no doubt.
Kaela–in her Sr. year–replaces Jane @ OPP (’13).
—
NOT to cast any “shade” but some of you haven’t really played the sport at the most competitive levels; it is evident.
ST mentioned on his blog about a recent commit for the men’s team. An OH prospect from Euro. Anyone here have a hunch who that might be?
Cindy,
Where is Po’okela, have not seen that person on your blog for quite some time now. See that person contribute on V-Talk, but not here lately. Hope that person comes back to contribute on your blog soon.
yup..I am excited for Nikki Taylor and Taylor Higgins to come aboard…two players that will compete for playing time and push returnees right away. We have once in awhile gotten 1 player coming in that is exciting and able to push for playing time right away, but rarely do we have two coming in that are highly ranked and highly recruited like these two are in the same year. I think 2013 will be the year Hawaii will seriously compete for a title. They could have a shot 2012, but with those 2 coming in and, gulp, FF getting qualified???, gulp, 2013 will be scary…even without FF…haha…(i had to go there)
Tsai mentions a new commit for the men’s volleyball team. An outside hitter from Euro. Anybody here have a clue who that might be?
it’s too damn early to assess how much each player will contribute to the team. all i can say is we hit gold with the 4 transfers and they’ll add the much needed depth dave needs to push this team to get better throughout the season.
Po’okela,
Welcome back, missed your insightful contribution to Cindy’s blog. Try not to be a stranger to long, ok.
I agree with what you said, especially about the 4 transfers.
I saw the UCLA National championship rings today,very cool
https://twitter.com/UCLAWomensVB/status/215224274980585472/photo/1
Very nice rings they have
thanks. they are nice looking.
What conference will Fresno State play in after this coming season? An article on their website says that they will play their only volleyball season in the Mountain West in 2012.
@Vinny
I’ve seen her twitter (had to check what people were saying when she was in the transfer decision process) and scanned over it a few times since (actually since I typed in the address that was given, its stuck in my dropdown menu, so I use it everytime I want to check twitter for something, but rarely look at what she posts before looking elsewhere on twitter.
Anyway, I know what you are referring to…
praying about everything in her life, seeing every little thing that happens to her as answers from God. My take is: whatever gets someone through the day…through their lives is their business.
If she or her relatives, etc reads this, big deal. First of all, its not a criticism, just an observation. And if someone has that thin skin, which I doubt being a competitive athlete, then they won’t be successful in a new place with the increased spotlight.
The pysho Vinny aka LC is back to attacking kastl. Poor dude probably has a crush on her lol
Jesse,
I’m not LC or Vinny. Looking at Tweets of college or pro athletes ain’t uncommon. I see the Wahine as athletes, and have played the sport for many years as well. Love to play and watch it. If I wanted to ‘girl watch’ there are a lot better places than on the court at Stan Sheriff and even at Stan Sheriff (cheerleaders/dancers). In general, female student/athletes are no better, no worse as whole in terms of ‘lookers’. That said, looking forward to the season, especially since there won’t be as much of a conference ‘drop-off’ after the pre-conference tournaments:)
po’okela and jesse have something in common,they use the same computer.
You folks do make summer interesting.
As for Fresno State, I don’t understand what they’re doing. I believe they’re supposed to come to the Big West in 2013. I could be wrong.
Interesting…I understand that UOP is leaving for the WCC & SDSU is rejoining the Big West…I wonder if another team will leave to make way for Fresno…
This is how rumors start. Fresno State is not moving to the BW. Boise State wants to move their Oly teams to the BW from the WAC.
so much bickering.
Slim pickings when people begins to turn on each other… Next blog entry please.
I know there’s not much to report, but would rather hear something about Warriors and other UH sports rather than this back and forth bashing.
In reply to jmy:
I have searched the Fresno State Athletic web site and have yet to read anything about them being in the MWC for only one year maybe you can point us to where you read it.
I asked a Fresno Bee reporter and they also knew nothing about it.
It’s on the Fresno State volleyball page under “Top Stories.” The specific story is called “Volleyball inks Bowens To NLI.” If you click on the story, the first line reads:
“As the ‘Dogs get ready for their only volleyball season in the Mountain West Conference, Fresno State will add the power and versatility of Zana Bowens to its roster for the upcoming 2012 season after she signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Bulldog family.”
This is the link: http://www.gobulldogs.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/021512aaa.html
Thanks for the link.I have asked the writer of the article for clarification and I’ll let you know if he responds.
I just heard back from Stephen Trembley the writer of the article who is the Assistant Director, Athletics Communications at Fresno State. He told me it was a typo and he meant their first year in the MWC not their only year.He corrected the mistake in the article.
http://www.gobulldogs.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/021512aaa.html
Thanks…that makes more sense.
Come on people now…
Jane continuing to make the rounds in the sand volleyball circuit. She and Summer Ross partnered up for a Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series in New Jersey. It’s the first bullet point.
http://notbyreason.blogspot.com/2012/06/friday-roundup-june-22-2012.html
How many players does the NCAA allow on the travel team?
NCAA allows for up to 15. Some conferences have lower limited. I’m not sure what the Big West number is. Number changes in the postseason.
Read on the Ohio State website that Andrew Palileo(Waipahu) has been hire as an assistant wvb coach. His family hosted their volleyball team when they were here during one of the 2011 Wahine preseason tournaments. He was the HC at Washington State a few years ago. Congrads to him, he has four kids. Coachings a tough profession.