HOMEGROWN REPORT
National title hopes spiked
By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Chanelle Esteban decided to play volleyball for the College of Southern Idaho for the very realistic chance of winning a national title.
But numerous violations led to the program being ineligible for the postseason this year and the firing of Ben Stroud, who coached the program to a 926-169 record over the past 20 years.
"Everybody who came to play for this team came because of the coach and because we knew we would have a chance to play in regionals and nationals," said Esteban, a 2006 Kaiser graduate. "It's heartbreaking because we had such a great chance."
The College of Southern Idaho went 50-2 last season and won its eighth national championship. No team in the National Junior College Athletic Association has more national titles.
This season four players from Hawai'i were on the team's roster: freshman outside hitter Kawena Cubi-Otineru (St. Francis '06), freshman setter Leslie Aki (Kamehameha '06), freshman libero Esteban, and sophomore outside hitter Aneli Cubi-Otineru (Punahou '05). Assistant coach Babes Kalulu is the older sister of the Cubi-Otinerus.
Fifteen minutes before the start of its first match on Aug. 25 in the Outback Invitational, school President Jerry Beck told the players of the NJCAA sanctions. The team decided to forfeit the tournament's four matches and discuss its options.
The program was penalized for seven violations of NJCAA eligibility rules, according to a CSI press release.
Some of the violations include:
The program was placed on probation for the 2006-07 year and can play regular-season matches but not the Region 18 tournament or the NJCAA National Tournament.
Because of the sanctions, Aneli Cubi-Otineru — The Advertiser's All-State Player of the Year in 2003 — decided to redshirt this season.
"It's sad, it's hard, but it's just something that happened," she said. "You can't dwell on it."
Aneli Cubi-Otineru hopes to fulfill a verbal commitment to the University of Hawai'i that she made out of high school. She said "everything is looking good so far, I'm where I need to be" in terms of her receiving her associate degree, which is required to transfer to UH.
She chooses to look upon this experience in a positive light.
"I have three years to play (at UH) instead of two," she said.
But the other Hawai'i players aren't so fortunate.
"It was heartbreaking, very emotional," Aneli Cubi-Otineru said. "It was a chance for them to shine and move on to a higher division. It was hard on my sister (Kawena) because we were expecting to play together."
Esteban decided to play because "I didn't know if I would be playing four years after this, so I just decided to play because I have nothing to lose. I could play the season and possibly get seen by another school.
"Some of the girls feel there is no reason to play any more because there is no postseason," Esteban added. "I guess you just have to play for the (love of the) game."
Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.
