University of Minnesota Athletics
Hometown Girl - Malama Peniata
9/29/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nobody embodies this local flavor more then Malama Peniata. For people that followed Minnesota high school volleyball it was exciting to see two of the best high school seniors in the state in 2002 (Kelly Bowman and Peniata) playing side-by-side on national television in the National Championship.
The fact that the Golden Gophers were playing in the National Championship in front of friends and family from Minnesota was not lost on Peniata.
“It is nice to play for the University of Minnesota,” said Peniata. “Because you get to play in front of your family, and people who followed you throughout high school can continue to do it easily. It is also cool to play along side some of the people you competed against in high school.”
Going into Peniata’s senior year of high school, Minnesota was unable to offer her scholarship, because current and previous scholarship commitments were all tied up for the upcoming year. Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert went through the proper channels in the recruiting process, letting Peniata’s club coach know up front before he was allowed to talk to her or the family.
“We knew Malama (Peniata) was a great player,” said Hebert. “We just did not have anymore scholarships available at the time. I wanted to be up front with her from the beginning and let her know the situation. We knew if she played for us that she would find a place to play, but unfortunately due to the previous scholarship commitments she would have to be a walk-on.”
During a President’s Day volleyball tournament, Hebert was contacted by Malama’s father, Kelly, who asked Mike if we would be interested in Malama playing at Minnesota. Her father told Mike they could figure out a way for her to be walk-on, and the rest was history. “Malama had other scholarship offers, but she wanted to play at Minnesota the whole time,” said Hebert. “She came and visited the school and loved the team right away. She walked on in 2003, and through some other circumstances has been rewarded by being on scholarship for one and a half of the two years she has been here.” The last two years, Malama has been an integral part of probably the best trio of defensive players in the nation. That group, dubbed the “Three Amigos” by Hebert, was made up of Lisa Reinhart, Paula Gentil and Peniata. Reinhart graduated and Peniata has taken a new challenge in this year’s preseason.
Since the first day of practice, Peniata has been working with the outside hitters. On the surface it seems an oddity for a 5-8 player to be playing that position, but Peniata has played it her entire life. “It has been surprising, because all through the summer and past two years I focused on defense and then I jumped in with the left sides on the first day of practice,” said Peniata. “It has been a cool experience though, because I still have the skills to play the position. I just need to improve and keep up with the other left sides.”
Hebert expressed little doubt in Peniata’s ability to keep up with the other left sides, and would not hesitate to throw her in the position in a match.
“The fact that she has been acclimating to the outside is new to us, but not to her,” said Hebert. “She has played the position since she was six years old. It is not anything new to here, although asking her to do it at this level is a new challenge. Despite her 5-8 height, she is a very crafty. Malama can hit for power and has all the shots. If a blocker so much as leaves a pinky out there she will get a point off the block.”
Part of the reason, Hebert is so willing to make this change with Malama is the immense respect he has for the way she plays the game. “I think Malama is right there with Paula (Gentil) in terms of knowledge of the game,” said Hebert. “She has such a high volleyball IQ, and there is nothing she can not do on the court. What I really like about having her on the team is she is one of the great communicators we have on the court. She clarifies things for everyone, and helps her teammates get in the right position. Malama is like a having a coach on the floor. Her value to the team can not be judged in statistics.”
One of the reasons for Malama’s volleyball IQ being so high is being part of a family who passionately loves the sport. Her dad loves the sport and taught everyone in the family to play it. With eight siblings (five brothers and three sisters), the Peniata family often is able to play six-on-six matches at family get togethers. “Even today we have family competition days,” said Peniata. “We will play six-on-six boys against the girls in our family. My dad was the main factor in us learning about the game of volleyball. He is a huge fan of the sport.”
All three of Peniata’s older sisters played college volleyball at one time or another. Peniata remembers going to watch their matches and wanting to play college volleyball.
“All through the years, I would go to their matches,” said Peniata. “I grew up wanting to be just like them. When I found out I could go to Minnesota I really wanted to compete at the Division I level.” On top of learning a new position, Peniata had another adjustment to make within the framework of the team. With eight new players coming into the program, Hebert sat down with the returning upperclassmen and let them know they were going to have to lead the way for the new players from day one of practice.
“In our spring meeting with Mike, he told us that we can’t just stand in the background anymore,” said Peniata. “We needed to be leaders to the new players and set an example. Our class has always had older players, who were leaders, in front of us and now it is our time step up, take responsibility and be more accountable.”
Peniata enters the season with the possibility of playing defensive specialist as she did her first two years with the program or moving to outside hitter. Either way, she is ready to do whatever she can to help the program continue the success it has had in her first two years with it.
“I just want to impact the team positively any way that I can,” said Peniata. “This is my third year in the program and I have learned a lot from our great coaching staff. I just want to use that experience to help be a leader for our younger players as they adjust to collegiate volleyball.” The Minnesota volleyball program enters the 2005 season, coming off heights the program had never seen before with a National Championship appearance in 2004 and back-to-back Final Four appearances. One of the underlying stories that has not been fully appreciated is the local contribution to both of those Final Four teams. In 2003, the Golden Gophers had nine Minnesota players on their roster in their first trip to the Final Four, followed by seven players on last year’s National Runner-up team.
Nobody embodies this local flavor more then Malama Peniata. For people that followed Minnesota high school volleyball it was exciting to see two of the best high school seniors in the state in 2002 (Kelly Bowman and Peniata) playing side-by-side on national television in the National Championship.
The fact that the Golden Gophers were playing in the National Championship in front of friends and family from Minnesota was not lost on Peniata.
“It is nice to play for the University of Minnesota,” said Peniata. “Because you get to play in front of your family, and people who followed you throughout high school can continue to do it easily. It is also cool to play along side some of the people you competed against in high school.”
Going into Peniata’s senior year of high school, Minnesota was unable to offer her scholarship, because current and previous scholarship commitments were all tied up for the upcoming year. Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert went through the proper channels in the recruiting process, letting Peniata’s club coach know up front before he was allowed to talk to her or the family.
“We knew Malama (Peniata) was a great player,” said Hebert. “We just did not have anymore scholarships available at the time. I wanted to be up front with her from the beginning and let her know the situation. We knew if she played for us that she would find a place to play, but unfortunately due to the previous scholarship commitments she would have to be a walk-on.”
During a President’s Day volleyball tournament, Hebert was contacted by Malama’s father, Kelly, who asked Mike if we would be interested in Malama playing at Minnesota. Her father told Mike they could figure out a way for her to be walk-on, and the rest was history. “Malama had other scholarship offers, but she wanted to play at Minnesota the whole time,” said Hebert. “She came and visited the school and loved the team right away. She walked on in 2003, and through some other circumstances has been rewarded by being on scholarship for one and a half of the two years she has been here.” The last two years, Malama has been an integral part of probably the best trio of defensive players in the nation. That group, dubbed the “Three Amigos” by Hebert, was made up of Lisa Reinhart, Paula Gentil and Peniata. Reinhart graduated and Peniata has taken a new challenge in this year’s preseason.
Since the first day of practice, Peniata has been working with the outside hitters. On the surface it seems an oddity for a 5-8 player to be playing that position, but Peniata has played it her entire life. “It has been surprising, because all through the summer and past two years I focused on defense and then I jumped in with the left sides on the first day of practice,” said Peniata. “It has been a cool experience though, because I still have the skills to play the position. I just need to improve and keep up with the other left sides.”
Hebert expressed little doubt in Peniata’s ability to keep up with the other left sides, and would not hesitate to throw her in the position in a match.
“The fact that she has been acclimating to the outside is new to us, but not to her,” said Hebert. “She has played the position since she was six years old. It is not anything new to here, although asking her to do it at this level is a new challenge. Despite her 5-8 height, she is a very crafty. Malama can hit for power and has all the shots. If a blocker so much as leaves a pinky out there she will get a point off the block.”
Part of the reason, Hebert is so willing to make this change with Malama is the immense respect he has for the way she plays the game. “I think Malama is right there with Paula (Gentil) in terms of knowledge of the game,” said Hebert. “She has such a high volleyball IQ, and there is nothing she can not do on the court. What I really like about having her on the team is she is one of the great communicators we have on the court. She clarifies things for everyone, and helps her teammates get in the right position. Malama is like a having a coach on the floor. Her value to the team can not be judged in statistics.”
One of the reasons for Malama’s volleyball IQ being so high is being part of a family who passionately loves the sport. Her dad loves the sport and taught everyone in the family to play it. With eight siblings (five brothers and three sisters), the Peniata family often is able to play six-on-six matches at family get togethers. “Even today we have family competition days,” said Peniata. “We will play six-on-six boys against the girls in our family. My dad was the main factor in us learning about the game of volleyball. He is a huge fan of the sport.”
All three of Peniata’s older sisters played college volleyball at one time or another. Peniata remembers going to watch their matches and wanting to play college volleyball.
“All through the years, I would go to their matches,” said Peniata. “I grew up wanting to be just like them. When I found out I could go to Minnesota I really wanted to compete at the Division I level.” On top of learning a new position, Peniata had another adjustment to make within the framework of the team. With eight new players coming into the program, Hebert sat down with the returning upperclassmen and let them know they were going to have to lead the way for the new players from day one of practice.
“In our spring meeting with Mike, he told us that we can’t just stand in the background anymore,” said Peniata. “We needed to be leaders to the new players and set an example. Our class has always had older players, who were leaders, in front of us and now it is our time step up, take responsibility and be more accountable.”
Peniata enters the season with the possibility of playing defensive specialist as she did her first two years with the program or moving to outside hitter. Either way, she is ready to do whatever she can to help the program continue the success it has had in her first two years with it.
“I just want to impact the team positively any way that I can,” said Peniata. “This is my third year in the program and I have learned a lot from our great coaching staff. I just want to use that experience to help be a leader for our younger players as they adjust to collegiate volleyball.”
