elite coaches
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DAVE SHOJI

Legendary AVCA Hall of Fame Coach Shoji was the Head Coach for the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine for 42 straight seasons, winning 4 National Championships. When he retired in 2016, he was the all-time winningest coach in NCAA volleyball history. He is just the second women's volleyball coach to win 1,200 NCAA Division I games. He finished his stellar career with a record of 1,202-204-1 record. In 2016, he led the Rainbow Wahine to a 15-1 Big West record to capture the program's fourth BWC title in five years (since returning to the league). It marked their ninth total Big West crown and 25th overall conference title (16-Western Athletic Conference). He guided UH to 24 straight and 35 overall NCAA Tournament appearances. Coach Shoji never had a losing season in his 42-year career at Hawai'i. He led the Rainbow Wahine to four national championships (1-AIAW, 3-NCAA) and nine NCAA Final Four appearances. His teams amassed 20-plus win seasons 38 times and 30-plus win seasons 19 times. He coached 86 All-American selections (14 AIAW, 15 USVBA, 57 AVCA); 25 conference Players of the Year; and 175 all-conference selections. Academically, he has also coached 107 conference all-academic players. The honors piled up for Coach Shoji over the years. In addition to being a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Hall of Fame, he is a 14-time conference and 11-time all-region Coach of the Year. He is a five-time AVCA National Coach of the Year (1982, '87, '88, '95, '09). Shoji was named one of the all-time great coaches by USA Volleyball in 2002. He was inducted into the Hawai'i Sports Hall of Fame and was named coach of the NCAA 25th Anniversary team. Since the AVCA started its national poll, Hawai'i has been ranked for 499 total weeks, which ranks them at No. 3 in the poll's history. Only Nebraska and Stanford are ranked higher, tied at No. 1 with 510 times ranked. Coach Shoji's sons, Kawika and Erik, starred at Stanford University as All-Americans, are two-time (2016 Bronze Medalist) and three-time (2016 & 2024 Bronze Medalist) USA Olympians, respectively, and play professional volleyball. Kawika is also one of our coaches and Erik runs Clinics when he is home in Hawaii.

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KAWIKA SHOJI

Coach Kawika Shoji is a two-time USA Olympic volleyball player (2020 -10th, 2016 Bronze Medal), 12-year professional volleyball player, USA national team player (2011–2021), 2014 World League and 2015 World Cup winner, three-time German Champion with Berlin Recycling Volleys, and a First-Team AVCA All-American player, AVCA Player of the Year, and National Champion at Stanford University. His father is the legendary University of Hawaii Head Coach Dave Shoji, who retired as the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history. His brother, Erik Shoji, is also a three-time Olympian (2020 -10th, 2016 & 2024 Bronze Medal), a Professional and USA National Team player, and the first player to be a four-time First Team AVCA All-American player. His mother, Mary, played basketball at the University of Hawaii.

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MATT SONNICHSEN

Coach Sonnichsen is the county’s leading volleyball recruiting authority, a former Division I Volleyball Coach for 15 years, and a former Women’s Professional Volleyball Coach.  Coach Sonnichsen was the Head Coach at Iowa, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech, and Newberry College.  He also served as an assistant coach at Clemson, Iowa, and UC Santa Barbara and was also the Head Volleyball Coach of the Guaynabo Mets of the Puerto Rican Women's Professional League. Coach Sonnichsen can also “walk the talk” as the Texas native was a four-year letter-winning setter for UCLA where he earned three All-America honors and helped lead the Bruins to NCAA championships in 1987 and 1989. Coach Sonnichsen also competed professionally before beginning his coaching career.  Some of his other accolades: 2-time NCAA Champion at UCLA. MVP of the NCAA National Championship, 1989. Three-time All-American Setter. USA National Team Setter. 2 years playing Professional Volleyball in Europe. A 5-year touring member of the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour. Coach Sonnichsen also created the collegevolleyballcoach.com site a number of years ago for two reasons; 1) To provide information and to answer questions about the often-confusing world of college volleyball and recruiting, 2) To have a venue to express my opinions about the sport of volleyball and collegiate athletics. In addition, each summer, he does many volleyball camps at high schools across the USA, which he calls his Volleyball Road Camps. Recently, Coach Sonnichsen was Director of Volleyball Relations and an Educational Speaker for NCSA Athletic Recruiting, whereby he put on Recruiting Clinics at the Hawaii Volleyball Combine for many years. He runs Championship Combines as well as Athletic Recruiting Consultants.

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​DUKE ROBINS

Coach Robins is an Assistant Coach at Portland State University. He has been involved with club volleyball for over 20 years as a coach and parent. Coach Duke has three daughters who won Hawaii State High School Volleyball Championships for Kamehameha Schools Kapalama, and they all went on to play Division I volleyball. Alexis (c/o 2007) played at Portland and Hawaii. Kili (c/o 2018) played for Nevada and the University of Portland, and Maui (c/o 2022) is currently at the University of Portland. Coach Duke has coached club volleyball at Maunalani and High Intensity. He served as a practice coach at Iolani School and Kuikahi VBC for four years, from 2013 to 2016. He also was an Assistant Coach for the Varsity Kamehameha Kapalama, and has been a court coach at the Hawaii Volleyball Combine. Coach Robins played for the University of Hawaii Men’s Volleyball team in the early 90s.

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NATE KANESHIRO

Coach Nate has been involved with club volleyball for over 20 years. He has coached countless players that have went on to play Division I college volleyball.

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