Volleyball seniors thankful for ‘huge blessing’
Club tournament hosted by Maui Prep gives players sense of closure after season was canceled
For 19 Maui Interscholastic League seniors, it was the chance to play volleyball one more time with their high school teammates.
The Pueo Volleyball Classic — a four-team girls club tournament — was won by the Lahaina Volleyball Club on Saturday at the Bozich Center gym on the Maui Preparatory Academy campus, and it was clearly a special day.
It was the first competitive action for most of the players in more than a year due to COVID-19 concerns and cancellations.
“For us it’s actually a pretty big blessing, you know COVID hit us hard, it hit everyone hard, so the fact that there’s an opportunity for the girls to even experience like a shred of court time and to be able to play is a huge blessing,” Lahaina coach Jordan Saribay said via phone on Saturday.
Shanelle Pasalo was one of three seniors on the Lahaina team, along with Jhene Saribay and Alexia Andaya.
“Starting out as a freshman playing volleyball for Lahaina, I’ve always dreamt about playing my senior year, it’s what I’ve always looked forward to,” Pasalo said. “So just having this opportunity to play one more time with my teammates is a huge blessing for me. I lost my MIL season this year and I think that it’s just amazing that I get to play one more time.”
The tournament was put on by Maui Prep officials after they held a similar four-team boys basketball tournament in February.
“I definitely thought that this opportunity wouldn’t come along,” Pasalo said. “I’ve spent all year of my senior year wondering if I was going to have a season this year and when I heard they weren’t going to have an MIL season, that really bummed me out … and I’m just happy to have this opportunity to play with all the girls.”
Andaya plans to continue her career at Olympic College in Bremerton, Wash., and Saturday was an opportunity to prepare for that.
“It’s just great that I got that opportunity to continue playing,” Andaya said. “Very grateful because we haven’t played on a court for over a year. We’ve been practicing in the park on the grass — it’s not the same as playing on the court.”
Toa Siua was one of five seniors for the Mixed Plate team that was made up of St. Anthony students.
“When we found out we weren’t going to have a tournament this year we were really sad, but then we found out we were going to have the tournament and all of us got happy and we started practicing,” said Siua, a 6-foot-1 middle blocker. “It’s just nice to be on the court for one last time. … This was the best we’ve played out of the four years we’ve been playing.”
Kysha Valdez, Kassidy Rambaud, Tina Abrew and Keala Robell made up the rest of the Mixed Plate seniors. Siua and Abrew, the team captains, both plan to play club volleyball at St. Martin’s University in Lacey, Wash.
Kaili Johnson, a guidance counselor at St. Anthony, stepped in to coach Mixed Plate so the team could participate in the tournament.
“At first we didn’t have anyone to help us run practices, so it was just us doing it,” Siua said. “(Johnson) came to one of the practices and she stuck to it. It’s nice to have somebody to guide us. She’s been playing this year with us, playing when we were practicing.”
Abrew, a 5-1 setter, is excited to join her classmate for college volleyball. One or both may try to walk on to the varsity team as sophomores.
“It’ll be interesting and fun,” Abrew said, adding, “I’m really grateful that we got to at least have this opportunity to play once in the tournament with each other since it’s our senior year.”
Lahaina Volleyball Club def. Pueo Volleyball Club 18-25, 25-22, 15-12
Haleakala Volleyball Club def. Mixed Plate 25-16, 25-19
Lahaina Volleyball Club def. Mixed Plate 25-18, 25-17
Haleakala Volleyball Club def. Pueo Volleyball Club 27-25, 25-19
Lahaina Volleyball Club def. Haleakala Volleyball Club 25-14, 25-18
Pueo Volleyball Club def. Mixed Plate 19-25, 25-14, 15-7