Long before sunrise Wednesday, Synnove Robinson had peace of mind.
The Punahou water polo standout had her eye on West Coast universities like UCLA and Stanford at one point. A visit to Cambridge, Mass., in February of 2024 changed everything. By 7 a.m., the senior signed a letter of intent to play for Harvard.
“I actually had canceled all East Coast schools out of my plans during sophomore, junior year. I thought I loved the West Coast so much,” Robinson said. “Then I was able to go on a visit out to Harvard. The coach is amazing and I was able to see the community. It’s such a cool place for a college experience. I loved the visit. It was a good surprise.”
Robinson wore a crimson Harvard sweatshirt to the NLI signing ceremony hosted by Education 1st at the Honolulu Elks Lodge. With one game left in the regular season, Punahou is 11-0. Robinson, an attacker, has scored 43 goals.
Last year, the Buffanblu went 17-0 en route to the state championship as Robinson scored 68 goals.
As a sophomore in 2024, Robinson had 45 goals while Punahou went 10-2, losing to Kamehameha in the state final, 9-8. As a freshman, she had 39 goals during Punahou’s 12-4 season, which also ended with a loss to Kamehameha in the state championship match.
Senior year is flying by. The state championships begin in less than three weeks.
“It’s pretty crazy how fast it’s come. Our team is super fun. We all work really hard at practice, which makes the games easier,” Robinson said. “We can go as we want against each other at practice, and when practice ends, there’s no bad blood and we’re still friends.”
The signing event was a gathering of student-athletes taking a wide spectrum of paths to the next level. Kaiser outfielder Caleb Hamasaki is going to Jessup, near Sacramento, Calif.
“It’s the culture. The coaches. They made me feeling like I’m wanted,” Hamasaki said.
Kaiser is having another stellar season and is No. 4 in the Baseball Top 10.
“Coach Josh (Halemanu) and his coaching staff, all credit to them. They did a very good job developing the program throughout the years,” Hamasaki said. “We’ve had a young team and he developed us. We just stuck with his program, and now everyone wants to come to Kaiser thanks to him.”
Waipahu setter Leah Camello is on her way to Columbia Community College.
“I’m excited to move on to college, be independent and learn to live on my own. I want to gain residency after my first two years, then transfer to a four-year institution and pay in-state tuition,” she said. “I want to play because it’s fun and it keeps me busy.”
Camello will graduate with a 4.0 grade-point average and has already earned early college credits.
“I want to go into pharmacy (eventually), but it might change. They only offer biology and chemistry so I’m majoring in that my first few years,” she said. “I’m going to miss (Hawaii) weather a lot. It’s going to be cold and sad over there, but I’m excited to meet new people.”
Her father is former Roosevelt and Pearl City coach Darren Camello. He guided Roosevelt to the OIA Division I championship in 2006.
Punahou’s Cameron Porter, the 2025 Star-Advertiser boys volleyball player of the year, signed with UC San Diego. The 6-1 outside hitter played a key role in Punahou’s state-title run last year. The Buffanblu are currently 9-0 in ILH action.
Mid-Pacific senior Sava Miocinovic is in the midst of his volleyball season. The Owls are battling for the second seed in the ILH behind their leading outside hitter. The 6-3 Miocinovic signed with Sacred Heart (Fairfield, Conn.).
“I feel good that I have my next state of my life set, going to a Division I school to play,” Miocinovic said. “I feel fulfilled after signing, something I’ve been pursuing all my life. Of all the schools that were pursuing me, Sacred Heart has the mechanical engineering program I was looking for.”
The opportunity to pursue his academic and athletic dreams took priority over proximity.
“Since it is on the East Coast, it is far from home. I would rather have it on the West Coast, but I think it’s a good fit for me,” Miocinovic said. “I’ll miss my mom, dad, my brothers. All my friends here that I can’t go to college with.”
Miocinovic was born at The Queen’s Medical Center, but visits his parents’ home country, Serbia, every summer. He and younger brother Nikola, a 6-5 sophomore setter, are on the Serbia U20 men’s beach volleyball team.
Sacred Heart is in the Northeast Conference (NEC) for men’s volleyball. So is Long Island University, which picked up Le Jardin’s two-sport standout, La‘akea
Kamahele. Former Kamehameha-Maui standout Kale Spencer, now a senior at LIU, was first-team All-NEC last year.
Kaiser softball teammates Lia Hamamura and Rylie Yamasaki will become foes next season. Hamamura, a catcher, signed with Hawaii Hilo and Yamasaki, a shortstop, will suit up for Chaminade.
Yamasaki is batting .581 in OIA play with six home runs, 30 RBIs and 18 runs scored for a Cougar team on the rise.
“I’ve known Lia a long time. We throw together every practice and game,” Yamasaki said. “Today is very rewarding. I feel very accomplished, not having to worry about where I’m going next year. It just shows that all my hard work paid off.”
Yamasaki may enter the early education program, but is aiming for radiology/ultrasound eventually.
Hamamura is hitting .360 while handling a young pitching staff.
“I’m glad to be going away, but I’m really glad that Hilo’s close. I’ll be back pretty often. HPU and Chaminade are in our conference. I’ll be OK. And there’s a lot of Oahu girls on the team,” she said. “Hilo’s a perfect fit.”
Hamamura celebrated the moment with family and friends. Two of her classmates, Bruce Yun and Gavin Knott, were busy at 6 a.m. making lei out of freshly picked puakenikeni.
It was an interesting sight on a day when most friends and family buy lei rather than make them.
Kailua basketball player Dylan Kunz signed his letter with the University of Providence (Great Falls, Mont.).
“I have some hanai family there. I’ve been there every summer since COVID. I have a nice support system there,” the 6-3 guard said. “This was really the only option for basketball that got to me. I reached out to them in the summer and we stayed in contact. In November, I got a call. We were on Maui.”
A 3.5 GPA helps. So does his development as a point guard over his prep career, when he began as a 3-point specialist.
“That was so valuable. Defense still needs to get better, but I brought the ball up and it was a lot of fun,” he said.
Kunz will depart in July.
“I’m thankful for my mom and thankful for this opportunity,” he said. “Not a lot of people get an opportunity so I’m going to take advantage of it.”
Original source: US