Cornell University Athletics

Risa Ka'awa Career Stats

At Cornell
Senior (2011): Ka’awa has been named a team tri-captain for the 2011 season.

Junior (2010): The team's libero, Ka'awa played in all 93 sets for the Big Red as a junior and registered 3.58 digs per set, good for ninth in the conference. She posted double-digit digs in 14-of-24 matches on the season, reaching 20+ digs six times, including a season-high 31 digs at Dartmouth on Oct. 8. Ka'awa also ranked second on the team with 44 assists and was third overall with 13 service aces.

Sophomore (2009): Ka’awa saw action in 21 matches as a sophomore, as the team’s primary defensive specialist. Over the course of 66 sets, she averaged 2.21 digs. She had four matches in which she posted double-digit digs, including a career-high 18 vs. Penn on Nov. 7. Ka’awa finished the season with 146 digs, 12 kills and seven service aces.

Freshman (2008): As a freshman, Ka’awa spent her time in the Big Red lineup as a defensive specialist, appearing in 25 matches. On Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, she recorded back-to-back double digit digs, including a career-high 13 against Brown. Ka’awa played a crucial part in the season-ending 3-2 victory over Harvard on Nov. 15, recording 10 digs and one kill. On the season, Ka’awa had six matches where she had 10 or more digs, and totaled 164 digs, nine aces, and five kills. 

Prior to Cornell
Ka’awa helped her team to a second-place finish twice at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association and Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships. She is a two-time participant in the Junior Olympics and placed first in Salt Lake City in 2005. Ka’awa led her teams to a second and third place finish at the USAV Aloha Region Championships, and also participated in a high school select Japan training camp in Hiroshima, Japan. In Las Vegas, she helped her team to a seventh place finish at the Durango HS Fall Classic, and was also invited to the USA junior girls’ development camp in Colorado Springs, Colo. At the Iolani School, Ka’awa also participated in canoe paddling and track and field, and was on the honor roll all four years of high school.

Personal
Risa-Marie Kekaiokalani Ka’awa is the daughter of Calvin and Mami Ka’awa and Noriko and Yasushi Yoshizawa, and has a younger brother and sister. She is enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.