In the late 1970s, Cindy Luis was a pioneer, a woman in what was considered the man’s world of sportswriting.
She was one of the first writers (and maybe the first) — man or woman — to have anything resembling a “volleyball beat” in the country. Hawaii loves its volleyball and she was there to write about those heady days of University of Hawaii Wahine national championships.
Up until May 8, 2021, Luis had not been present to cover one of those glorious UH national titles since that grand old year of 1987. That was the fourth of four for the women’s team, but that was 34 years ago!!!
Well, there were national runner-up finishes by the Rainbow Wahine in 1988 and 1996 … and then there were the runner-up finishes by the UH men’s team in 1996 and 2019. Very close.
We at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (where I worked until 2020) were beginning to wonder if Cindy was turning into a Las Vegas-style “cooler.” But no. Kismet was awaiting.
Not only did she get to go to the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio, for the 2021 NCAA Division I tournament, she watched a dominant UH men’s volleyball team dump BYU in three sets. National championship glory was in the Rainbow Warriors’ hands and the whole state rejoiced.
Volleyball writer Cindy Luis and her son Tiff Wells, the
KKEA, 1420-AM play-by-play announcer for UH volleyball.
(Image credit: VolleyballMag.com).
“A special group of guys,” Luis responded when asked about UH’s amazing run after she returned to the 808.
She knew they were very special in 2019, too.
“When I turned 65, I decided to hang on for one more season (at the Star-Advertiser) because, as I told people, this team WILL win the national title in 2020.”
The only thing that came close to a national title in 2020 was COVID-19. And another thing happened along the way. Luis was one of eight Star-Advertiser staffers who chose to take a voluntary layoff and, in effect, save someone else’s job.
With plenty of time on her hands, Luis started CindyLuis.com, a website dedicated to UH volleyball coverage. She wrote about the Wahine’s fall 2020 season and then wrote about the men while watching her prediction from two years ago came true (one year late).
Luis’ first volleyball writing assignment was in 1976-77 for the Daily Bruin, when she was a UCLA student. She started writing volleyball at the Star-Bulletin in 1981, about a year after Ann Miller began doing the same at the Honolulu Advertiser.
Miller, who retired from the Star-Advertiser a few years ago, and Luis is among four women who about to begin taking turns writing a weekly column for the Star-Advertiser. The other two are Star-Advertiser staffers Celia Downes and Mindy Pennebacker.
Cindy’s Son Tiff Wells Gets To Experience His First Time Covering A National Champion
Cindy’s son Tiff Wells didn’t follow his mom into the writing business, but he did go into broadcasting and is the play-by-play man for UH volleyball on KKEA 1420-AM.
He’s probably still on Cloud 9 more than a week after returning from Columbus.
“The year 2020 took away a lot from a lot of people,” he told Bedrock Sports Hawaii. “That also included a possible shot at a national championship for the UH men’s team. We all thought when the Big West Conference suspended spring sports on March 12, 2020, that that was going to be it for seniors Rado Parapunov, Pat Gasman, Colton Cowell, Jackson van Eekeren and James Anastassiades.”
All, however, were awarded another year of eligibility due to the special COVID-19 circumstances.
“There was some unfinished business to attend to,” Wells added. “Head coach Charlie Wade knew he had something special, that is if the Big West Conference would give spring sports a green light.”
And so all of those seniors were back on the roster for 2021, except for Anastassiades, who returned as a graduate team manager.
Sounds easy after coming so close in 2019, right? But it was far from easy. This team was preparing by practicing with masks on starting in late in December without knowing they would have a season.
Tiff Wells and Cindy Luis at a 1989 UH volleyball match.
But when that green light eventually came, there were very few bumps the whole way.
“A first-ever perfect regular season was something special, as was the third-ever perfect conference season in program history,” Wells said. “A stunning loss in the semifinal round of the the Big West championship to fourth-seeded UC San Diego (4-12 coming into the match) and a team UH had beaten four times left some doubt in the volleyball world of ‘Did the team have enough to win it all?’ ”
That was a real serious question on UH fans’ minds after the team received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I tournament.
After a win over UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals, in which UH held the Gauchos to a season-low .170 hitting percentage, all that stood in the way was rival BYU.
“Seeing a limited number of family and friends in attendance for the first time this season made a difference as well,” Wells said. “The Rainbow Warrior fan base and an entire state (was) behind them. Seeing the Hawaiian flags and ti-leaves were special. Seeing the family members in attendance again for one final dance was something I’ll never forget.
“Aggressive serving really limited BYU. Ten service aces and with the Cougars out of system almost all match long, Jakob Thelle could basically set whomever he wanted and it would work. Double-digit kills (12) from Most Outstanding Player Rado Parapunov and a highlight reel that included three straight aces, and UH hit .381 en route to a dominant championship performance. Seven kills on 11 swings with two blocks for Pat Gasman, seven kills and three aces for Cowell, six kills on nine errorless swings for Chaz Galloway and Guilherme Voss’ six-kill effort on nine errorless swings and three blocks.”
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Wells also noted that ESPNU announcer Paul Sunderland was very complimentary of UH’s primary passers (Gage Worsley, Cowell and Galloway) as they handled the tough BYU serve.
Now UH’s Infamous 2002 Season Is Really In The Past
The name Costas Theocharidis, the year 2002, and the UH men’s volleyball team are etched indelibly in the history of the UH volleyball program.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin’s coverage of UH’s 2002 men’s
volleyball national title that was vacated by the NCAA in 2003.
(Image credit: Newspaper.com).
That season, the Rainbow Warriors, led by the hitting of Theocharidis, won the national championship. (FYI, Cindy Luis was on another assignment, with Grace Wen covering it for the Star-Bulletin.) But that title was vacated in 2003 by the NCAA, when it learned that Theocharidis had been a professional player in Greece and thus ineligible to play in college.
Luis thinks of that 2002 championship as the UH men’s first and the 2021 version as the second. It irritates her when others do not acknowledge it.
“As the ESPNU guys said during this past NCAA tournament, it is a silly asterisk and we all know who won,” she said. “Theocharidis didn’t get paid when playing with professionals. I don’t understand the difference between him and collegiate golfers who play in Pro-Ams. In my humble opinion, this is the second title for the men. That the NCAA decided to apply a rule that they no longer use doesn’t change it. ”
Whether you believe in the asterisk or you believe Luis’ solid reasoning, for years, UH fans could say, “We kind of won a men’s national title.”
Now they can say it with conviction.
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Editor’s note: This post was updated with new information on Luis’ timeline as a volleyball writer and her thoughts about UH’s “first” national title.
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ALSO AT BedrockSportsHawaii.com:
>> Former Honolulu Star-Advertiser sportswriter Cindy Louis Starts New Website: CindyLuis.com
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