By Ray Hamill — Tiarah Maualuga has been a force for the Eureka Loggers in both volleyball and basketball ever since she took the court for the first time at the high school level as a freshman.
The two-sport Eureka star has steadily gotten better and better over the past three years, and she will go into her senior year as one of the most feared opponents in the H-DNL in both sports.
In her first six seasons of high school sports, Maualuga has accumulated six all-league honors — an MVP award, three All-League selections and two honorable mentions, the latter two coming as a freshman.
She can now add Humboldt Sports Big 5 Girls Athlete of the Year honors to that growing list of accolades.
Maualuga has continued to develop in both sports since her freshman year, but took an important leap this past year, not just with her game but also with her leadership.
And that helped pave the way to a Big 5 championship in volleyball and another outstanding winter in basketball.
Eureka volleyball head coach Stephanie Napoleon described Maualuga as “the heart of the team” and someone who embraced a leadership role last fall.
She carried that into the winter, where the Loggers pushed rival Arcata all the way in the final of this year’s Dick Niclai Tournament after placing second to them in the Big 5.
“It is something special when you have someone who is athletic, powerful, kind and so passionate about winning that they can motivate others to play their best,” Napoleon added. “That is Tiarah. We saw it several times this year, when we were down and she encouraged and inspired the team to keep fighting, and they did just that.”
The result was a first Big 5 championship for the program in seven years, something the Loggers would not have achieved without their junior MVP.
Maualuga beats out a talented and deep pool of finalists for the Humboldt Sports Big 5 Girls Athlete of the Year Award, but few who saw her perform this year would doubt she deserves it.
She was the best volleyball player in the H-DNL and one of the most dangerous on the basketball court, someone who opposing coaches and teams always have to focus on and build their game plan around.
If she continues to develop the way we expect, Maualuga may yet walk away from high school with a pair of additional Big 5 MVP awards, and who knows, but she may end up earning a second Big 5 Athlete of the Year award next summer as well.
The future is certainly bright for this young standout and there’s every reason to expect she will only continue to grow as an athlete and as a team leader, as well as a player her teammates can look to when they need to dig deep.
Congratulations to Tiarah Maualuga and all of this year’s finalists for outstanding years and for everything they brought to this year’s Big 5.
And as always a big thank you to our award sponsors, Mendes Supply Company and Bode Construction.
