Women’s volleyball players blend hometown cultures in ‘America’s Team’

“America’s Team.”

It’s a name given to UCLA’s unusual beach volleyball partnership of seniors Karly Drolson and Rachel Inouye – the unique duo each standing at 5-foot-6, often dwarfed by their counterparts on the other side of the net.

“(Coach Stein Metzger) coined the term ‘America’s Team,’” Inouye said. “Because in every practice, every game, everyone is cheering for us underdogs because we’re so little.”

The two defensive specialists operate as coaches on the floor for the indoor volleyball team, back-row leaders who make sure the No. 13 Bruins are operating at the top of their game.

Their styles are different, though.

Drolson is the Bruins’ captain, a fiery vocal leader on the court, while Inouye is a quieter but well-respected influence, a cerebral player whose few words are held in high regard by the rest of the team.

It’s no surprise, considering they grew up 2,600 miles apart, in places with prominent – but very different – volleyball scenes.

Volleyball Central, California, USA

Drolson’s volleyball career is not all that unusual for a San Diego native.

“I didn’t play volleyball until sixth grade. My two best friends were trying out for a little club team, they asked me if I wanted to do it, and I was like, sure, because I love sports,” Drolson said. “I tried out and made the team. That’s kind of how it all started.”

After her first taste of club volleyball, Drolson craved more. Through her mom’s suggestion, Drolson tried out for Wave Volleyball, one of the top clubs in San Diego.

In playing at various tournaments around the country with the Wave Volleyball club, Drolson began to gain recognition.

At these tournaments, hundreds of college coaches would be visiting different courts, taking notes and looking out for the future of their respective programs.

It was at one of these tournaments where Drolson would discover her next step in the volleyball world. This time it wasn’t through a best friend, but rather an opposing coach.

“My junior year we played the Long Beach Volleyball Club. Their coach was the assistant at UCLA, and I had a really good game against them,” Drolson said. “After the game, their coach came up to mine and said, ‘We were really looking at your libero, she was awesome, tell her my number and tell her that we’re really interested.’”

After that, everything was a blur. As a high school junior, the libero went on a visit and, by the time she entered her senior year, had committed to playing indoor volleyball for the Bruins.

Volleyball paradise

Inouye comes from a place that makes for an instant conversation starter: Hawaii.

More specifically, Inouye attended Punahou School – a hotbed of athletic talent and a powerhouse volleyball school in the state of Hawaii.

Inouye’s volleyball career was, quite literally, homegrown. She was introduced to the sport at a young age by her dad, who played with her in the backyard.

Cid Inouye, Rachel’s father, was a volleyball player himself. The elder Inouye also played at Punahou, eventually joining the University of Hawai’i team for two years before transferring to the University of New Hampshire.

“My dad used to take me to the UH, the Wahine, games (when) I was little,” Rachel Inouye said. “I always idolized them.”

The volleyball culture in Hawaii is rather similar to that found in San Diego, albeit with a couple of stark contrasts – mainly for club athletes.

Traveling to the mainland to play in tournaments is generally too expensive for most clubs to afford so most only do so a couple times a year. As a result, club volleyball athletes in Hawaii end up playing the same small group of teams every weekend at the local tournaments. Some might see that as a downside, but Inouye sees it as an incredible benefit to the community.

“The volleyball community is so close in Hawaii because you see each other every single weekend,” Inouye said. “Your parents are all there, all the same coaches, all the same players, and everyone knows each other.”

And even without the scouting recognition that some mainland players receive, Hawaii is still able to produce amazing talent for the sport. In Inouye’s case, she didn’t even have to leave home to find her college volleyball opportunity. Inouye’s club team – ‘Imi ‘Ike – is loosely affiliated with the University of Hawai’i volleyball program, with UH coaches doing a lot of the coaching for the club.

Current UCLA indoor coach Michael Sealy was an assistant coach at UH during Inouye’s time with ‘Imi ‘Ike.

“He coached me for about half a season before he got the job (at UCLA),” Inouye said. “That’s how we made that connection, which was really fortunate for me.”

When Inouye’s college decision came around, there were offers on the table from California, UCLA and hometown UH.

Eventually, she narrowed it down to Cal and UCLA before finally making the decision to move to Southern California for indoor ball.

Converging worlds

Arriving at UCLA in 2012, both defensive specialists began to carve out a niche for themselves on the indoor team – Drolson with an intensity that belies her organized, competitive club background and Inouye with a calmness that calls to mind the more relaxed community from which she emerged.

Despite differing personalities, both defensive specialists are often described in the same great light.

“Both of them are extremely selfless, both give everything they need to to the team without any glory. The way they play may be different but the result is the same: The ball doesn’t hit the ground,” said assistant coach Tony Ker. “And at the end of the day that’s what matters. They are absolutely leaders.”

With such success on the indoor court, moving to a sand one provided a great but relatively new opportunity for both players.

“Honestly, everyone thinks that since I’m from Hawaii, I grew up playing beach all the time when I was little, but I didn’t,” Inouye said. “Maybe a couple times a year I would go down with friends, but I never really knew how to play.”

Drolson’s beach experience was also more fun than serious.

“When I was little I did these things called CBVA, California Beach Volleyball Association, tournaments,” Drolson said. “You sign up, get a partner, and you just play. I started beach with that because it was fun, it was on the beach, and I lived only about 20 minutes away.”

During their freshman year, and first real season of beach volleyball, Drolson and Inouye were paired up with different partners. But one day they found themselves together during a drill and, as Inouye describes it, they “killed it.”

Metzger, UCLA’s beach volleyball coach, saw the incredible potential and kept the pair together for the next three years, a move that has paid dividends for the team and the duo, alike.

“America’s Team” came together through a tiny bit of luck and an immense amount of work, two young athletes caught up in their hometown cultures somehow finding themselves side by side, competing at some of the highest levels of volleyball.

And is there anything more American than that?