Hawaiian volleyball players making impact at Siena

PHOTOGRAPHER: COURTESY OF SIENA COLLEGE

Kalehua Katagiri is one of two juniors on the Siena College women's volleyball team who hail from Hawaii, the other being Bobby Lin Kalama. Both have adapted to the vastly different climate of Upstate New York.

Whether you remember the old “Hawaii 5-O” TV series with Jack Lord, or the more modern one, it seems like everybody was always having fun surfing in the sun with that old familiar theme song in the background, if they weren’t being chased by the bad guys.

So why would a pair of Hawaiian volleyball players make the long trip to Upstate New York and Siena College to play a sport seasonally indoors that they grew up with and could play outdoors from morning to night?

“I tell them it’s only for four years. It’s cold, but they know I’m going to take good care of them,” longtime Siena head volleyball coach Garvey Pierre, a native of Haiti, said. “They end up really liking it here at Siena.

“We are all one big family, and everyone in the volleyball world in Hawaii knows each other. They talk among themselves and give us good references. Their families also know that we will keep them safe.”

That’s as good an explanation as any as to why the Hawaiian junior duo of Bobby Lin Kalama, from Wailuku, and Kalehua Katagiri, from Kaneohe, are both playing — and excelling — on the back line for the Siena College volleyball team.

“It wasn’t hard for me to convince them,” Pierre said. “In fact, we’ve always had girls from Hawaii on this team. I think we’ve had a minimum of six from Hawaii. When Bobbi Lin and Kalehua are on the court together, they are amazing. They play everything. If they were on another team, they would be the best on that team. They each would be No. 1.”

Kalama, 5-foot-8, is a skilled libero (defensive specialist) with excellent ball control; she was originally recruited as a setter. She led the Saints with 4.54 digs per set last year, good for fifth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

“I’m used to it now, but it sure does get cold here,” she said. “It’s in the 80s all year-round in Hawaii, but here, I had to buy a lot of winter coats. Still, when I talked to some of the other girls from Hawaii who played here before, they told me to come. I figured why not go somewhere far away to get an experience I would never get again? As it turns out, my family loves coming here to visit me.”

When Kalama brings her relatives around the area, they visit Panera Bread or Chipotle.

“We don’t have places like that in Hawaii, but we do have McDonald’s and Burger King,” she said. “My favorite snack in Hawaii is called li hing mui. It’s sort of like a salty prune. You either love it or hate it. I’m addicted to it, but some people hate it.”

Kalama said she knows why so many players from Hawaii excel at Siena.

“We are all kind of short there, and we are all taught to play good defense,” she said. “We learn defense quicker and we literally dig everything we can. We also run quicker offenses in Hawaii.”

Although the 5-7 Katagiri was originally recruited by Siena, she ended up attending Washington University in St. Louis, a Division III program. She played there for two seasons and is among that program’s all-time leaders in digs.

“I originally just wanted a change, and I decided the

St. Louis area would be nice,” Katagiri said. “It was definitely a huge change for me originally. But it turned out not to be the right place for me. When I heard that Siena already had a girl from Hawaii, I thought it would be nice to have a familiar face. And coach Pierre is very convincing. I was nervous when I came here, at first, but they made it an easy transition for me.”

Katagiri said that she loves playing alongside Kalama.

“It’s great that we are both defensive players,” she said. “It’s nice having someone similar to my style, and together, we give each other great support.”

Katagiri went to the NCAA tournament last year with Washington University, but it was at a different level. Now, she would love to help the Saints, historically the MAAC’s dominant team, make another NCAA tournament run of its own.

“Kalehua went to Washington University because of academics, but she wasn’t happy there,” Pierre said. “It’s a different level of volleyball here.”

“Coach Pierre is a very good coach,” Katagiri said. “It’s very cool to see how Siena is such a successful program, and I

really love the campus here. For me, I’ve already been through a couple of tough winters in St. Louis, so I’m not afraid of the weather here. I’m making a smooth transition. I’m studying biology, physics and psychology, because I want to be a physical therapist.

“I think I bring a unique perspective, because I’m kind of an outsider, coming in here as a junior from another program. But they’ve done very well here already, and I’m just going to try to make them even better.”

“Like I said, we are all one big family here,” said Pierre, who has won nine MAAC titles in his previous 12 seasons as head coach. “All the players we’ve had from Hawaii have always helped our program, and I don’t expect anything different this year. They know how to play defense, and that’s one of the reasons we are one of the best defensive teams year after year.”