Player of the year

Bred-for-the-court Panther takes Gatorade Award

SM/SL/VIEWPalo Verde High School senior Trina Kauliakamoa (CQ) receives the Nevada Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year award at the school's Winter Sports Assembly Friday, Feb. 4, 2005.---View Photo Ronda Churchill The Kauliakamoa family poses. Tuesday, June 22, 2004. From left, Joe, Trina, Joe Jr., Tamara and Debbie all participate in Volleyball.

Despite being voted the Sunset Region Northwest Division's Most Valuable Player in volleyball by area coaches after the season, Palo Verde High School senior Trina Kauliakamoa was truly amazed when she found out she won the Gatorade Nevada Volleyball Player of the Year Award.

"I was surprised," Kauliakamoa said. "I was like, cool! Me?"

After wrapping a career with the Panthers in which she approached the 2,000 kill mark, Kauliakamoa, who comes from a family steeped in volleyball tradition, won the prestigious award from the sports drink company as the best girls' high school volleyball player in the Silver State.

Palo Verde (18-3) had one of its strongest years ever, going 10-0 in Northwest Division play, winning the Sunset Region crown and making it all the way to the state semifinals before losing to the No. 2 seed from the North, Douglas, in four games.

The only other two losses for the Panthers, led by Sunset Region Coach of the Year Amy Rogers, were to Sunrise Region heavyweights Green Valley and Silverado.

The loss in the state semifinals stuck in Kauliakamoa's mind.

"I was kind of mad because I knew we could have done better," the setter/outside hitter said. "We just didn't play together."

Kauliakamoa, who had 439 kills, 218 assists and 168 aces this past season, was quick to praise her coaches, teammates and family members who helped her become the dominant player she is.

"Coach Rogers really helped me grow a lot as a player. I listened carefully to everything she said," Kauliakamoa said. "Without September Wilson (her coach during freshman and sophomore years) and Coach Rogers and my teammates, I don't think I'd be as far as I am in the sport right now. And playing club volleyball through the years on my parents' team has really helped me a lot."

After playing volleyball for four years for Palo Verde and with her legacy at the Summerlin school well established, Kauliakamoa, who sports a 3.5 grade-point average, has decided to take her game to Chandler, Ariz., where she will attend Chandler-Gilbert Community College in the fall.

"I just want to work my way up," she said. "I want to build myself up and get stronger and in one or two years transfer to a really good college ... and maybe try and win a junior college championship."

When she begins playing volleyball for the Coyotes at CGCC, she won't be the only family member in the collegiate ranks. Her older sister, Tamara, also a former Palo Verde star and two-time Northwest Division Player of the Year, will begin her junior year on the UNLV squad.

Volleyball runs deep in the family as Tamara and Trina's grandfather, Fred Hiapo, still competes in the men's national 60-and-older senior volleyball league and her parents, Joe and Debbie Kauliakamoa, run the local Las Vegas Wahines Volleyball Club for girls, which Trina has played on since she was 6 years old. The family also runs the Las Vegas Warriors Volleyball Club for boys, and Debbie Kauliakamoa played volleyball for Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

Trina Kauliakamoa said she has learned a lot through the years from her grandfather. Besides her grandfather, father, mother and sister all being actively involved in the sport, Trina's younger brother Joe and her cousin D.J. Kaanaana also play at Palo Verde. And Trina's cousins Nalei and Kaui Piena have volleyball in their blood as Nalei also played for Palo Verde and Kaui was a junior on Green Valley's team this last season.

Palo Verde honored Kauliakamoa at the school's Winter Sports Assembly on Feb. 4, when Rogers presented her with the Gatorade Nevada Volleyball Player of the Year Award.