Welcome and thank you for joining the Wahine Volleyball Booster Club for the 2009 season and continuing your support of one of the premier women's volleyball programs in the country. Your membership dues and outright contributions help cover the ever-escalating cost of summer school scholarships for the student-athletes, which enable them to continue their studies towards their degrees while training and preparing for the upcoming season. You also help to supplement the program's recruiting budget, pay for unbudgeted items such as team awards for winning the WAC Championship and fund spring trips to participate in mainland tournaments (like April's trip to Riverside, California), among other things.

The 2009 spring season ended with the Rainbow Wahine first facing Nebraska at the SSC and then traveling to Riverside, California for an indoor scrimmage with UC-Riverside followed by participation in the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championships. Our girls will be back for summer conditioning and summer school in July and then will open fall training camp in August. The 2009 team will try to improve on last year's elite eight finish. One more win than last year, and they'll be making reservations for the Final Four in Tampa, Florida.

The 2009 edition of the Wahine will miss the 2008 seniors: Tara Hittle, Jamie Houston (who recently earned her bachelor's degree) and Jessica Keefe and Nickie Thomas, who both earned their degrees in December 2008. A new class of seniors will be stepping up to take leadership roles on the team. All-WAC and honorable mention AVCA All-West Region middle Amber Kaufman returns for her senior year in volleyball fresh off a record-breaking spring high jumping for the UH Track and Field team. In June, she won the high jump bronze medal at the NCAA Championships at Fayetteville, Arkansas, becoming UH's first track and field medalist in 25 years. Setter Stephanie Brandt, who teamed with libero Elizabeth Ka'aihue this spring as Hawaii's #1 sand volleyball duo, returns as one of the team's best all-around players, having started at setter for a whole season as a sophomore (and earning second-team All-WAC honors) and hitting from the outside during the spring match against Nebraska. Outside hitter Aneli Cubi-Otineru, who also earned her bachelor's degree this spring, will return for her senior season as a graduate student academically. Her ball-handling, powerful hitting and on-court leadership will be relied on heavily by head coach Dave Shoji and assistants Kari Ambrozich (returning after a year of maternity leave) and Mike Sealy. Libero and serving specialist Jayme Lee will return for her 5th year (she redshirted as a freshman) and will compete once again for the libero position that Tara Hittle occupied last year. Middle Catherine Fowler will also be entering her senior year and will vie for the spot vacated by Nickie Thomas alongside Amber Kaufman.

Position-wise, sophomore OH Kanani Danielson, 3rd team AVCA All-American and WAC Freshman of the Year last year, will anchor the outside, along with redshirt sophomore Stephanie Ferrell, an All-WAC freshman last year, who is recovering well from a broken ankle suffered in the spring, and Cubi-Otineru, who received AVCA All-American honorable mention recognition last year as well as being named to the AVCA All-West Region team and first team All-WAC.

Setting will once again be in the good hands of honorable mention AVCA All-American, All-West Region and All-WAC second team junior Dani Mafua and Brandt.

In addition to Kaufman and Fowler in the middle, 6-3 Brittany Hewitt comes off her redshirt freshman year to compete for playing time.

Joining Ka'aihue and Lee in the battle for backrow playing time will be redshirt freshmen Emily Maeda from Roosevelt High School and Sarah Prather from Bishop Montgomery High in Playa Del Rey, California.

Newcomers this fall will include freshman 6-2 middle Kristiana Tuaniga from Carson, California and two sophomore transfers: 6-4 middle Alexis Forsythe and 6-3 right-side hitter Corinne Cascioppo, both from California. Junior libero Alex Griffiths, a 5-6 transfer from Vanguard University, is expected to join the Wahine as a walk-on, as will junior libero Alexis Robins, a 5-6 transfer from the University of Portland (Kamehameha Schools Kapalama, 2007).

The pre-conference schedule will once again be challenging, with the opening match on August 28 being against NCAA Sweet Sixteen team Western Michigan. Other opponents who participated in the NCAA Tournament last year include UCLA, Santa Clara, Texas, California, St. Louis, Stanford and Pepperdine and all will be visiting the Stan Sheriff Center in August and September. D-II powerhouse BYU-Hawaii visits the SSC in October. The WAC season will again include challenges from New Mexico State, Nevada, San Jose State, Idaho and Utah State. The WAC Tournament will be held at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas November 23-25.

New booster club shirts will be available this year, and will be made by Under Armour, but arrangements for them have not yet been finalized.

As a member of the booster club, you are invited to attend a Preseason Preview (team practice, scrimmage and potluck, as well as the year's first general membership meeting) on Saturday, August 22 (time and exact location to be announced). Previews in past years were open only to booster club members, but members this year will be allowed to bring up to two (2) guests to enhance your membership experience and, hopefully, to encourage others to join in the support of the program. I hope to see you there. Go 'Bows!

Stanley Ching
Wahine Volleyball Booster Club President, 2007-2011