2018 Volleyball

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote: It would be amazing if these girls had a real good crowd supporting them, because they deserve it.

Stonehouse wrote:Latest poll is out!

https://www.avca.org/polls/di-women/9-17-2018.html

Pilots receiving more votes than last week... moved up from #41 to #32!

LMU (whom we play this week) checked in at #28 in the receiving votes. BYU is still #1 and San Diego is #24.

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:Marketing and students, if you are paying attention, the time is now.

John Tawa wrote:The 2018 nonconference schedule is in the books for the vast majority of Division I teams and a total of six have yet to taste defeat. Five of the six are blueblood programs that appeared in the NCAA tournament a year ago.

The sixth unbeaten team?

None other than the University of Portland (12-0), which not only has never been to the tournament but, since joining Division I full-time more than 30 years ago, has neither finished a season more than four matches above .500 nor with more than 17 wins!

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:Certainly not the result we had hoped for. I was able to watch the first set and felt that Pepperdine were truly the better team. My fear going into the WCC season was, and still is, just that our conference is very tough when it comes to volleyball.

It does make me happy to hear that the atmosphere in Chiles was good for the match! Hopefully, the one loss does not scare anyone off! I completely agree that the girls still need the support against LMU.

After a few seasons building their college volleyball resumes, Seabury Hall graduates Shayla Hoeft and Dylan Hamilton have found their home court in Oregon.

Each in their first season with the University of Portland, they have clearly made a difference for the Pilots.

Hoeft, a 6-foot-2 junior from Kihei, started her college career with a pair of solid seasons at Nevada, including an All-Mountain West Conference honorable mention nod last year, but she has exploded to the forefront for the Pilots this fall.

“Personality-wise, I just decided to find another school and I’m really lucky to have found UP,” Hoeft said.

She was player of the week in the West Coast Conference in late August after being named the Most Valuable Player of the Aztec Invitational.

The middle blocker swooped into the Stan Sheriff Center with the Pilots two weeks ago and put down 16 kills, had eight blocks and hit .536 in a five-set win over Hawaii.

She is hitting .394 overall — highest on the team among the regulars — is second on the team in kills and total points and third in blocking.

The number she cares about the most is 12-0 — the Pilots are off to the best start in school history and are receiving votes in the AVCA coaches poll for the first time ever.

“UP is really very similar to Seabury in the size,” Hoeft said. “Honestly, I really thrived at Seabury with a small class size. I went to Nevada and it was a really large class size, where you were pretty much a number to your professors. Here, it’s very personable — I just really like the school aspect of it. It’s a very prestigious school, so it was a really good choice for me school-wise.

“Then volleyball, I got recruited by them in high school, too. … I immediately knew the culture here when I was being recruited the second time.”

The Portland school record for wins came in 2016, when the Pilots were 17-13. In 2013, they were 0-27.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun in volleyball,” Hoeft said. “Just learning and owning my process of getting better. It’s been very fun to be in a new environment with new girls. Just really clicking.”

Hoeft has only been playing the sport since the beginning of high school — a former tennis standout, she developed into the Maui Interscholastic League Division II Player of the Year as a senior.

Hoeft watched her best friend, UH beach standout and fellow Seabury alum Amy Ozee, help the Rainbow Wahine finish third in the NCAA tournament last spring.

Hoeft credits several of her former Seabury Hall teammates for pushing her to be better, but none more than Ozee.

“I want to be good because she’s good — we have this best-friend rivalry,” Hoeft said. “It’s probably good that she’s on the beach and I’m mostly indoor, just so we can keep our relationship healthy.”

When the Pilots outlasted UH in Manoa, Hoeft outblocked Hawaii 8-6 by herself.

“It was amazing,” Hoeft said. “As a kid, as a volleyball player in Hawaii, if you don’t dream about going to UH, you dream at least about playing in the Stan (Sheriff Center) and that was just amazing. … That atmosphere is indescribable.”

Hoeft hopes the political science degree she is working on leads her into the non-profit realm, but that may have to wait — she now has realistic thoughts of playing professionally.

“Oh, for sure, that’s like really one of my dreams,” she said. “It’s just incredible to do something you love, like be in new places. Being overseas would be so cool.”

Hamilton, a member of Seabury Hall’s 2010 Division II boys state title team, is in his first y­ear as an assistant coach at Portland. He arrived in March, about a month after Hoeft decided to make the move.

Hamilton will guide Hoeft as Portland’s beach volleyball head coach in the spring. He has worked at Washington in both beach and indoor capacities and most recently was the interim head coach at the Academy of Arts in San Francisco. He was a three-year manager at Washington after transferring there from UH as a sophomore.

“It’s been great — I think I kind of got lucky,” Hamilton said. “I just kind of walked into their office and said, ‘Hey, I’d like to stay involved in Division I volleyball.’ … I had no idea when I walked in there that they were even good at volleyball, much less some of the best. … I took that opportunity and got to learn a lot.”

Hamilton says he sees a bright future for Hoeft.

“Her presence here is definitely felt,” Hamilton said. “I think probably the biggest reason is she’s just an awesome kid. She fits in with our culture really well.”

The most important common bond they share is Seabury Hall coach Scottie Zucco. Hoeft still talks to Zucco on a weekly basis and “I really generally value Dylan’s opinion on things because he really knows volleyball.”

Both know Maui volleyball is in good hands.

“I think we have an amazing culture,” Hoeft said. “We have coaches on Maui who really want to push their kids to just do better in general. It’s amazing to see, just really cool to see volleyball bloom over the years.”

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:I know we are all a little bit down after the poor start to the WCC season, but if it helps anyone feel better to know this: our volleyball team is ranked #56 in the first RPI standings.