Hawaii gets a huge assist on Reft’s success with San DiegoBy Jason Kaneshiro
Dec. 12, 2022, Honolulu Star-Advertiser
COURTESY SAN DIEGO ATHLETICS
Alfee Reft
JAMM AQUINO / 2006
Hawaii libero Alfee Reft passes the ball in 2006.As Alfee Reft looked ahead to the most momentous match in San Diego’s women’s volleyball history, a notification on his phone prompted him to allow his thoughts to drift back for a moment.
A former All-America libero for the University of Hawaii men’s program, Reft has been immersed in his current duties as San Diego’s associate head coach through the Toreros’ landmark season.
But in the midst of preparing for USD’s showdown with Stanford in Saturday’s NCAA Tournament regional final, a text from former UH coach Mike Wilton “put me in a place of reflecting and being grateful for the opportunities that Hawaii gave me,” Reft said.
“I’ll forever be grateful for that and I’ll take that with me.”
Reft expressed that sense of gratitude for his years in Manoa about an hour after San Diego earned the opportunity to finish its season in Omaha, Neb.
Down 2-1 to Stanford in the program’s first appearance in the regional finals, the Toreros battled back to force a fifth set then ended the match with a six-point run to stun the host Cardinal and earn a spot in this week’s final four.
Reft’s presence on the San Diego bench will add to the significant Hawaii influence among the four teams converging on the CHI Health Center for Thursday’s national semifinals.
The Toreros will face a Texas team featuring three players from Hawaii — setter Saige Ka‘aha‘aina-Torres (‘Iolani), defensive specialist Keonilei Akana and outside hitter Devin Kahahawai (Kamehameha) — in the first match of Thursday’s doubleheader.
The second will feature Pittsburgh, with Kamehameha alumna Lexis Akeo sharing time at setter, taking on Louisville. Akeo’s older sister, Kamalani, serves as the director of volleyball operations on a staff led by head coach Dan Fisher, who spent time as a player and associate head coach in the UH men’s program.
“Good volleyball always comes through the islands and there’s so much richness,” Reft said.
Even when there aren’t direct island connections across the net, “there’s such a shared experience and a common denominator and it’s always nice when you get to a stage like the final four and there’s an understood respect and outward gesture of aloha,” Reft said.
The island ties were thick in the opening weekend of the season in College Station, Texas, where San Diego, Pittsburgh and Hawaii convened for the Texas A&M Invitational.
After the host Aggies held off the Rainbow Wahine in five sets in the tournament opener on Aug. 26, San Diego began its season by taking on then-No. 6 Pitt, a final four participant last season. With no video stream available, only a couple hundred or so fans in Reed Arena witnessed the Toreros’ five-set win that set the tone for a campaign that stands at 31-1.
“At the time it’s one match,” Reft said. “Now that we’re at the point that we’re at, it’s such a huge match. … One, just for the trajectory of our RPI and our positioning in the country, it was huge. But it was also a boost of credibility for our team and for our players knowing they can battle with the bigs.”
With a veteran roster augmented by experienced transfers, the Toreros entered the statement season bonded by a question — “why not us?” — and answered any doubts of their qualifications with a 28-match winning streak on their way to Omaha.
USD capped a 3-0 start with a sweep of UH in Texas, then dropped a four-set decision to Louisville. The Toreros haven’t lost since, sweeping through a West Coast Conference season at 18-0, and rising to No. 2 in the AVCA coaches poll.
San Diego’s prospects to be awarded one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament was one of the hot-button topics leading into Selection Sunday. But when the bracket was revealed, the Toreros found themselves at No. 2 in the Stanford Quad.
“It probably added a little bit of fuel to the fire,” Reft said. “I think our players used that as a little more motivation to really come out and prove ‘why not us.’ Regardless of where we’re playing, who we’re playing, what time we’re playing, we have a job to do and they did just that.”
San Diego may be able to trace the spark for its blazing season back to the Stan Sheriff Center. The Toreros opened and closed the 2019 season with losses to UH, a five-set defeat on opening night and a four-set loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Libero Annie Benbow and outside hitter Katie Lukes were sophomores and opposite Grace Frohling a freshman that year. They’ve since developed into senior pillars of a roster augmented through the transfer portal with the additions of setter Gabby Blossom (Penn State) and outside hitter Breana Edwards (Indiana) this season.
While Reft hadn’t yet joined the program in 2019, “it’s really neat to see them mature through their years here and they pull on that experience a lot.”
“Those moments of suffering might stick with players and I think they learned a lot, so I think that was a big part of their journey.”
Since Hawaii’s final four berth in 2009, a team outside of the Power Five conferences reached the national semifinals just twice — BYU in 2014 and ’18. San Diego will represent the midmajors this week on the collegiate volleyball’s biggest stage, taking up a role the Rainbow Wahine had frequently held throughout its 40 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Toreros are also looking to become the first mid-major to win a national championship since Long Beach State’s 1998 title.
“Hawaii was the trail blazer on that. It has always been a formidable program that slayed the giants, if you will,” said Reft, who played for the Rainbow Warriors from 2004 to ’06.
“There are a lot of programs that are consistently pushing the curve on what mid-majors can do, and I think it’s so important because we offer a very unique and special experience for these student-athletes, and it’s just nice for the volleyball community to see that you can be successful and compete at the highest levels and not have to be at a Power Five. We take a lot of pride in that.”
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