Volleyball
21 games into the season, the No. 6-ranked SLCC volleyball team (18-3 overall, 4-0 Scenic West Athletic Conference) will face their biggest test this Saturday at 1 p.m. when they play No. 4 Snow College (18-3, 3-1) at home.
Students can see the game for free at the Lifetime Activities Center.
Bruins head volleyball coach Shay Goulding-Meurer talked about the significance of this game and what it means going forward for the team.
“This match is big in terms of conference as well as in national ranking,” she said. “It is going to be very good volleyball. It is going to be a battle.”
Goulding-Meurer wants her team to not think too much about their past accomplishments and focus fully on the challenges in front of them.
“It can get easy to get comfortable when you experience some success,” the coach said. “We talk a lot about not getting caught up in results or outcomes, but to stay present in the process. These athletes love the game of volleyball, and they love each other.”
Over the course of this season, Goulding-Meurer said, that foundation of solid fundamentals, in addition to making small improvements every day, established a strong defense which transitions to a great offense.
Volleyball is a team sport, and the Bruins have proven their strong chemistry on the court. One player, however, has gained national recognition this season.
“Hikialani Kahohelaulii has stepped up her play and leadership in big ways this year,” Goulding-Meurer said.
Kahohelaulii has won the Scenic West Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week 3 times, and the NJCAA National Defensive Player of the Week once. Along with the weekly awards, Kahohelauii leads the nation in digs per game.
“She is fun to watch play and she gets more out of all of her teammates,” Goulding-Meurer said.
Women’s basketball
The SLCC women’s basketball team won over 76% of their games last season. Coming off the success of last year, Marcilina Grayer’s squad enters the 2021-22 season with an abundance of size and experience.
“Our lineup is actually pretty big this year,” she said. “We have returned our 3-point guards from last year and lost our 5-foot-10 forward, however, we gained two 5-foot-10 forwards and one 6-footer.”
Speaking on experience, Grayer was excited about the players returning from last season.
“We actually have seven sophomores this year who happened to play a lot of minutes last season, so we are excited with the amount of experience that we will have on the floor,” she said.
For teams as big as SLCC’s, spacing and shooting can be an issue, but Grayer is confident that her team can pound the rock inside, as well as shoot efficiently from beyond the arc.
“We are very athletic with the ability to stretch the floor,” she said. “We like the transition game and take pride on the defensive end to get early offense.”
Grayer turned offense into defense often last season. Her team averaged about 10 steals per game, and that turned into a lot of easy baskets in transition.
The Bruins will host their annual tournament, the SLCC Jamboree, on Oct. 15 at the Lifetime Activities Center.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misreported the records of the SLCC and Snow College volleyball teams. The updated version lists the correct win-loss records of the two teams at the time of their upcoming match.
