Someone willing to carry her team on her back — that is how University of Utah volleyball head coach Beth Launiere describes middle blocker Tawnee Luafalemana.
Luafalemana’s best friend and teammate, Adora Anae, noted other characteristics that make up the senior.
“She’s just young, spirited, free-hearted and she is always there to help,” Anae said. “[She’s] like the mom of the team.”
Luafalemana’s path to Utah was unique, but she credits that path and family support as the reasons she has become a successful student-athlete at Utah. Luafalemana attended the College of Southern Idaho, a junior college, before making the jump to compete at a Division I school. She is one of only two Utes on the team who played at a junior college before transferring.
“Staying confident in having to take different paths and routes than everyone else, it was different,” Luafalemana said. “But definitely worth it.”
Starting at a lower division level and working her way up to a four-year institution taught Luafalemana irreplaceable lessons.
“I was always raised to work hard no matter what,” Luafalemana said. “Even with me having to go junior college for a couple of years, starting a little lower as people would say, it was the best two years of my entire life. Just having to actually come to something that’s worth it, coming DI and playing against these schools, it’s a blessing.”
When she first began playing at Southern Idaho, she thought she didn’t belong. Once she became more integrated with the program, though, she realized that all the girls she was competing with were just like her.
“The connection … was unreal,” Luafalemana said.
She knew how to play when she headed to a junior college, but playing with emotion was something she needed to learn; that was one reason for taking a road few athletes wish for.
Nowadays, she’s a vocal leader on the team, and she has already earned Pac-12 honors because of how she handles her business. With it being her senior year, she knows she has to leave everything she has on the court. This attitude has shaped Luafalemana into who she is today, and Anae recognizes that.
“On and off the court she is very strong-minded,” Anae said. “If she believes in something, she’s going to go for it all the way. If she knows about something, she’s going to support it 100 percent. She’s always prepared. So that’s something I look up to her for as well. She’s very confident.”
As Luafalemana enters her final season with the Utes, she hopes that she can instill that same confidence in those around her.
“My goal this year was having the younger girls and the younger people stay positive,” Luafalemana said. “It’s hard to be down in games when you’re playing against these hard teams. Confidence is the key to anything.”
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