Kubasaki senior Yuri Biggins was named Best Hitter in last October’s Far East Division I Tournament. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – Ria McGriff sat in the stands three seasons ago, watching as her older sister Risha helped Kubasaki’s volleyball team win two in-season tournaments and go undefeated.
Now, the senior outside hitter, who with her family transferred back to Okinawa after two years at Clovis, N.M., says she’s hoping to replicate, if not exceed, the feats of her older sister.
“I’m glad I could come back,” McGriff said during a practice Tuesday.
Did Risha give Ria any tips that she could use on the court for the Dragons’ betterment?
“Just that I should go out there with a good attitude, keep pushing myself and help out my teammates,” McGriff said.
She joins a Dragons team that reached the final of last October’s DODEA-Pacific Far East Division I tournament final, losing in three sets to Academy of Our Lady of Guam.
Among McGriff’s teammates are senior Yuri Biggins, the reigning D-I tournament Best Hitter, along with returning junior setter Rameghlyn Doctolero and a move-in hitter, junior Brooklyn Wilson.
“It all revolves around Yuri,” coach Joshua McCall said, “but we picked up a couple of key pieces.”
Biggins, for her part, says she would gladly trade in the Best Hitter and runner-up hardware for a D-I championship to close out her career.
“We’re going to build up the team to win,” Biggins said. “We may not win right away, but we’ll progress our skills (in an effort) to win the tournaments.”
The Dragons and their island arch-rival Kadena Panthers will travel to the 11th American School In Japan YUJO Tournament. Kubasaki hosts the D-I Far East for the second straight year. The Dragons host Kadena on Tuesday in their annual four-match season series.
Senior Ria McGriff’s older sister, Risha, helped Kubasaki run the table with an unbeaten season and two tournament titles three years ago. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Sophomore Samantha Kehe is hopeful her Kadena volleyball team can be smiling at season’s end. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kadena’s volleyball team is hopeful senior setter Christina Kehe can stay healthy after missing the last three weeks of 2024 with an injured wrist. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Volleyball
For the first time since 2003, the Panthers won that season series against Kubasaki. They reached the YUJO final last October, but lost one of their key players, setter Christina Kehe, to a wrist injury just before Far East.
Kehe’s back, along with her sophomore sister Samamtha, senior outside Jazlene Vergara and Jade Naughton, a senior transfer from North Dakota.
“We’ve been working really hard, growing together as a team,” Samantha Kehe said. “With every point, with every set, with every game, we’re going to get better every single day.”
Freshman Camryn Cominski is new to Kubasaki’s tennis lineup. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Senior Drake Garza returns for Kubasaki’s boys. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Tennis
After a smashingly successful junior school year, Brooke Brewer is back on the courts for Kadena, aiming for a repeat of the island singles championship she won last October.
“I just want to leave it all out there on the court and have no regrets,” Brewer said. In addition to the island tennis title, she was named All-Far East for the second time in the Division I soccer tournament and went 14-0 in girls wrestling last winter.
Brewer has been taking tennis lessons over the summer to build up her game. “The goal is always to get better and to win, no matter who it is” she’s playing, Brewer said.
Kadena’s boys team fields a strong contingent of returners, seniors Maddux Fisk and Kaeden Truong and junior Gabriel Fino.
“The boys are going to be strong,” Kadena coach Shawn Ryan said. “The girls will be rebuilding; we have a lot of young players.”
Kubasaki veterans Maximus Ramos (senior) and Cam Fisk (junior) are also baseball players, as are sophomore tennis newcomers Rey Koja and Marcus Waltz.
Junior Sophia Wurdinger and seniors Mia Perez, Valerie Deguzman and Monique Liqueto return for the girls; junior Josephine Zwieuzmski is a newcomer.
Cross country
As are most Division I schools around the Pacific are asking, Kubasaki and Kadena are wondering if anybody can stop Guam High in next month’s Far East meet at Nile C. Kinnick.
Coach Abe Summers says he would like to think his team could match up, given the projected strength of the boys and girls lineups. Four of Kadena’s top seven boys and girls runners return, and the lineups are bolstered by additions of freshmen not new to running.
Seniors Brock Oliver and Jeremiah Williams are back, along with junior William Rhoads. Freshman Justin Brady joins the team and “could be our new No. 4 runner,” Summers said.
Senior Allie Sims and sophomore Adriana Williams return for the girls and are joined by freshman Mia Clark, whom Summers said would have placed at least in the top three if her middle-school times counted.
“If we stay healthy, we can be competitive” with Guam High as well as Kinnick and Humphreys in Division I.
Kubasaki will be rebuilding, under new-old coach Joseph O’Connor, who has coached the Dragons previously and coaches Kubasaki’s track and field distance runners.
Losing Adriana Parra, who transferred to Texas, hurts the girls lineup, which still returns senior Parvani Killian and junior Maggie McCall. Two soccer players joined the girls lineup, sophomore Victoria Facchini and junior Reina Eastman.
On the boys side, junior Adam Sisneros and sophomore Rei Vives return. Cross country begins Saturday at Cape Zampa, northwest of Torii Station.
AloJapan.com