Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Alison Fuata joined the BIIF party late at Odessa College, but she had a blast in her one year of eligibility.

The 2015 Waiakea graduate played at Minot State, a Division II school in North Dakota, then transferred to Odessa, a junior college in Texas.

The Wranglers featured four other former BIIF players: setter Raevyn Kaupu (Hilo), opposite Monica Muskat (Honokaa), libero Shaila Wilbur-Gabriel (Hilo), and utility Kyra Kaloi (Hilo).

Kaloi graduated from Aiea in 2016 and has a year of eligibility remaining. The rest have to move on from the junior college ranks.

Fuata, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter, was recently named as the Region 5 all-conference No. 2 player, three points behind the player of the year.

She made an immediate impact for the Wranglers, starting as the L1, the left-side No. 1 hitter.

But her high honor comes on the heels of something of a bummer: the top-seeded Wranglers lost to Western Texas College in five sets at the NJCAA regional tournament on Saturday.

The season is over for Odessa (25-6, 9-1 NJCAA Region 5), which wiped out Western Texas twice during the regular season in straight sets.

"I really don't know what happened," said Fuata, a nursing major with a 3.6 grade-point average. "We beat them in conference play. I guess we thought we had it in the bag kind of thing. Nothing worked out. There were a lot of tears.

"It was a pretty upsetting feeling. We were No. 1 in the conference, and everyone was expecting us to win and go to nationals. To lose in our first game was pretty upsetting."

Still, if Fuata puts that tough loss on a seesaw with the experience of playing with old BIIF rivals, it's a no-contest.

"It was pretty interesting to come here," Fuata said. "All we've known is playing against each other. We've never played together. It was pretty cool that we connected right away, especially being rivals at Hilo, Waiakea, and Honokaa.

"It was pretty funny. I never expected to be on the same team with them. It was a lot fun. I knew Raevyn, Lala, and Kyra from the East side. I didn't know Monica, but we're all pretty close now."

Things didn't work out at Minot State, and Fuata had doubts about playing college ball again.

But Odessa coach Kristi Gray was in Hilo for a vacation and saw Fuata at the Haili Tournament. She made an offer and landed a valuable L1.

"My advice for anyone is to believe in yourself, and if you keep working hard you can achieve your goals," Fuata said.

Her play attracted another pair of eyes. Odessa is surrounded by other schools. Our Lady of the Lake University, an NAIA in San Antonio, put an offer on the table and to Muskat as well.

The Saints (23-6, 13-1 Red River Athletic Conference) have one old BIIF player on their roster: senior opposite Leilani Smith, a 2013 Hilo graduate and former Wrangler.

"I heard Odessa was in the desert, but there's way more to do here than at home," Fuata said. "There's no beach. The closest thing is our swimming pool. We go to the mall a lot.

"But we've been so busy, we haven't had time. It's been homework in the library and volleyball. Now, we're making food together and spending time with the team. That's the thing about junior colleges. Time goes by so fast. You make memories then your friends are gone. We're trying to live it up with the time we have left."

Fuata's roommates are Kaupu, a Wrangler from Texas, and another from Serbia, who's 6-3.

"She taught us different words from her language and the stuff she does and eats," Fuata said. "She's 6-3, and I was intimidated at first by her. But she's really nice and sweet, and that's the team in general.

"We had people from Texas, Serbia, Brazil, the Czech Republic, and Hawaii. We all found similarities within our different lifestyles."

Fuata has only one regret.

"If a BIIF player was thinking about Odessa, I would highly recommend it," she said. "It's because of the way the program has started and continues to grow every year. You'll get a good education, your prerequisites done, and be on a good volleyball team.

"If I had a chance to come here last year, I would have been totally down with that. I'll come home in December and go to a new school in January."

Fuata had only one year at the BIIF party at Odessa, but she made enough memories to last her a lifetime.

Article by Kevin Jakahi