College volleyball: Tuioti-Mariner flourishing in second season with Hounds

PORTALES — There aren't any beaches in Portales, but Eastern New Mexico sophomore outside hitter Sarah Tuioti-Mariner doesn't seem to mind that as much anymore. The California native grew up near Los Angeles, and after an initial culture shock, Tuioti-Mariner has really taken a liking to her new surroundings.

"The transition was so different — I went from being a city girl and having the beach, to being a cowgirl and having all these farms," Tuioti-Mariner said. "The transition was pretty drastic, but I like change. It was pretty new to me, and I do get homesick from time to time, but the friends over here make it worthwhile. The volleyball program is very nice and I just came here for school and sports — that's my main priority."

Mariner, who has blossomed this season, has 224 kills, second place on the team behind Brooklyn Biel's 229 as the Greyhounds get set for their home Lone Star Conference match Monday against Western New Mexico.

Eastern coach Sia Poyer said he found out about Tuioti-Mariner through friends that coach club and junior college teams out in California. Poyer says that the program has slowly began to recruit more heavily in California and west of New Mexico in general, and Tuioti-Mariner is showing it's a worthwhile investment of time.

Even if he almost ran out of it.

"It was interesting," Poyer said, "because when mom and dad drove her here, they got here the day before we started preseason practices.

"Coming from California to Portales, I can still see the look on her face. She's like, 'Oh no, don't leave me here.' She's the baby of the family. She came in at the right time, because last year we had quite a few seniors. She slowly worked her way into the lineup."

Poyer said that Tuioti-Mariner took the first few weeks to get into shape, as well as adjust to the speed and timing of the college game. However, by the second week of the season, she was already outperforming veteran teammates in practice and Poyer had to scrap plans to redshirt her.

In 2016, Tuioti-Mariner recorded 128 kills in 77 sets played. Being on a veteran squad gave her some protection on the court, as she was able to focus on hitting the ball.

Now she's responsible for nearly everything.

"Now that I play all six rotations, I have to pass and serve-receive," Tuioti-Mariner explained. "Those are like the main focus, because without the pass, we can't do much with the offense."

Poyer says that Tuioti-Mariner never played the back row, prior to this season, because she was never an outside hitter before. However, after a bit of a slow start through the first few matches of the season, Tuioti-Mariner is starting to emerge once more.

The Los Alamitos High School grad is the youngest of seven, all college athletes. Her three older brothers played football at Hawaii, Colorado, and currently, UCLA. Her three sisters were volleyball standouts — one went to Arizona State.

"I started volleyball when I was in third grade. I fell in love with it around sixth grade, but my mom put me in volleyball because my older sisters played volleyball," Tuioti-Mariner said. "It's just a thing to do — the girls played volleyball and the boys played football. To me, for volleyball, you can't like it, you have to love it. Volleyball is like my stress-reliever."