By Ed Morrone
The distance between Honolulu, Hawaii and Hofstra University is 4,979 miles. London, Paris and Rome are all closer Hempstead. However, Hawaii is home to over one million people, including Shellane Ogoshi, the Pride volleyball team’s starting setter.
With the quickness of a squirrel, Ogoshi has helped the Pride to a 9-5 start on the eve of conference play. She leads the team in assists with 577 (11.5 per game) and digs with 176 (3.5 per game). Despite being 5-foot-2, she has been an integral part to the team’s overall success thus far, and her story is fascinating.
Ogoshi, whose smile lights up a room, was a treasure that Pride coach Fran Kalafer happened to stumble upon at the junior Olympics in Texas last summer. Kalafer immediately liked what she saw and decided to offer Ogoshi a scholarship.
As it turns out, Ogoshi and her family had been visiting schools on Long Island beforehand, especially LIU-Southhampton. However, Kalafer was able to woo the already interested Ogoshi to come play, and the rest is history.
“It was something very sudden,” Ogoshi said. “Fran offered it to me on the spot and I signed the paper as soon as I could. It was a done deal right then and there.”
Ogoshi was actually recruited to play defense, or libero, but the setter spot was left vacant when last year’s starter, Silvia Maier, left the team three days before the start of fall camp to return home to Argentina because of homesickness. That left the starting setter spot wide open, and Ogoshi gladly jumped in.
“I honestly didn’t think I was going to have that much playing time this year,” she said. “But situations came about and we had to deal with it. Fran trusted me into the setter spot and the girls are good supporters. They really help me out.”
As for Kalafer, she never doubted Ogoshi, despite the fact that she was extremely far away from home and was inserted right into the starting lineup as a freshman.
“She’s just a terrific athlete,” Kalafer said. “She’s stepped up in every way, shape, and form. I had every faith in the world that she was going to be terrific.”
As long as Ogoshi and the rest of the team continue to click, a conference championship is well within striking distance.
“This team is unbelievable,” Ogoshi said. “I’ve never played on a team like this where everybody helps each other. We just jell and there’s so much potential here.”
Even though Ogoshi is nearly 5,000 miles away from home, she’s making quite an impact here. Even if she misses Hawaii, you would never because she just keeps on smiling.