Kubasaki's Yuri Biggins has been named Stars and Stripes Pacific girls volleyball Athlete of the Year for the second straight year. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – For Yuri Biggins and her Kubasaki volleyball teammates, the redemption they long sought after coming in second in last year’s Far East almost didn’t happen.
Just 15 days before the 2025 Far East Division I Tournament was to start, the government shutdown began. It lasted a record 43 days and also shelved DODEA-Pacific athletics for the first seven days.
Games, practices, everything.
“We were worried, but we were hopeful that there would still be a Far East,” said Biggins, a senior outside hitter for the Dragons. “We were mentally preparing for it.”
They got their wish a week into the shutdown. Word came from DODEA that interscholastic athletics and academics were considered “excepted activities,” allowed to go ahead despite the continuing shutdown.
Meaning Far East would go ahead Oct. 16-18 as scheduled.
“Super relief,” Biggins said. “Everybody was so happy that we were able to play as a team again. And it was time to redeem ourselves. I didn’t have another year. This was my last year. I was super motivated.”
And redeem themselves the Dragons did, after losing the D-I final in three sets to Academy of Our Lady of Guam in last year’s Far East.
With Biggins earning Most Valuable Player honors and repeating her D-I Far East Best Hitter award, the Dragons downed island rival Kadena in four sets in the championship Oct. 18 to capture Kubasaki’s fifth Far East D-I title and first since 2018.
And in so doing, Biggins earned Stars and Stripes Pacific girls volleyball Athlete of the Year award for the second straight year.
For three seasons, Biggins has been that “go-to” player for the Dragons. “This team went as she went,” Kubasaki coach Joshua McCall said. “We got to where we were last year with defense. This year, we got to where we were with offense.”
Biggins led the way, averaging 7 kills per set. That amounts to 336 total kills over 48 sets played by Kubasaki.
But both she and McCall insisted that she didn’t win anything by herself.
“Everybody sees the way she plays, but you don’t see what she puts into the players in practice, making everybody around her better,” McCall said, adding that Biggins herself asked that no team captains be selected this season.
“We have no superstars,” Biggins said. “We all work together.”
The government shutdown began the day before the American School In Japan YUJO tournament was to start. Unable to go there as a high school entity, Biggins and Kubasaki traveled as the self-funded Shisa Volleyball Club.
Throughout that ASIJ tournament, which took place Oct. 2-4, “we looked at how blessed we were able to play together … that it might be our last time playing together, but we still were hoping there would be a Far East,” Biggins said.
When that last point hit the floor and Kubasaki won the Far East title, “there was a lot of emotion,” McCall said.
“It gave us a great sense of appreciation,” Biggins said.
She doesn’t plan to put the sport down once high school ends in June; Biggins plans to attend Kyoto University and perhaps play there as well.
“I hope this is the first of many (titles) for her,” McCall said.
Year: Senior
Age: 17
Place of birth: Okinawa
Sports played besides volleyball: Track and field, sprints, hurdles.
Favorite school subject: Accounting, business
Least favorite school subject: U.S. government.
Favorite athlete: Yuki Ishikawa, Japan men’s volleyball player.
Favorite sport to watch: Volleyball
Favorite form of entertainment: Anime.
Favorite entertainer: Bruno Mars.
