HONOLULU – College decisions can be hard, especially in Hawai’i.

Plenty of students think they want to leave the islands after high school. Tons of others want nothing more than to attend one of the prestigious colleges located in their home state in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

For Hawai’i Pacific University setter Jordyn McCutcheon, the decision went a bit deeper than deciding on a location.

A 2022 graduate of Molokai High School, McCutcheon approached college with a few different needs in mind. She wanted to continue her education, she had hopes of playing volleyball after high school and really cared about how she would pay for her schooling.

Coming from the small island of Molokai, McCutcheon also thought about how she would adjust to the bigger, busier schedule that would come when she stepped onto a college campus. She graduated in 2022 as part of a class of about 60 kids, a stark difference from some of the other schools in Hawai’i that had hundreds of students walking across the stage each year.

“I knew coming out of Molokai High School, I was afraid to go to a big school,” McCutcheon recalled. “I didn’t question my abilities to play there, but it was more of a schooling aspect and what type of route I wanted to take academically … I knew coming out of high school that I was looking at [junior colleges] and that route.”

McCutcheon was a standout volleyball player at Molokai, but the smaller island didn’t provide an opportunity to play for a club team at home. With that in mind, the setter flew over to a neighbor island to join Maui Encore and help increase her exposure while continuing to challenge herself on the court.

While with the club, she connected with Rogue Community College head coach Christine Nelson and knew she had found a home for her future. Maui Encore had previously become a feeder program for the Ospreys, placing multiple young women from Hawai’i in the Oregon-based JUCO program.

“[Coach Nelson] said that she could offer me a full ride [scholarship],” McCutcheon remembered. “I was like I can’t turn down an opportunity like this to get my schooling paid for and play [volleyball] in college.”

Rogue and McCutcheon were a match made in heaven.

She wasn’t the only young woman from the islands making the trek to Oregon to play at RCC. It helped that Teiva Miller, Kailani Medeiros-Sodentani and Angel Camagay, three of her Maui Encore teammates, would be joining her outside of Hawai’i.

“It’s crazy because we all committed at different times,” McCutcheon said of the quartet of Maui Encore players that would push on to Rogue. “I was the first to commit in like December before we graduated, and then slowly everyone started to come along.”

The familiarity with each other allowed a foundational comfort and chemistry for the team at Rogue, an underrated part of the impending success McCutcheon would have with the program.

“I feel like team chemistry is such a big thing when it comes to volleyball,” the setter explained. “Already having built that chemistry through club and taking it to Rogue, it was just such an easy transition for us.”

It also helped McCutcheon combat feelings of homesickness and have “home away from home” in a few people that knew exactly what she was missing or feeling.

The Molokai product would enjoy a record-setting career in her two seasons with the Ospreys, dishing out 1,720 assists across 56 matches to set a new program record at Rogue while leading the team to back-to-back regional playoff appearances.

McCutcheon also earned the South Region’s “Setter of the Week” award on eight separate occasions while at Rogue and was a five-time NWAC Athlete of the Week. She also was named a first-team South Region All-Star in 2023 and RCC’s Most Valuable Student-Athlete as she wrapped up an incredible two years with the Ospreys.

“I feel like setters are really under-the-radar players, like they don’t get as much validation, especially in high school,” McCutcheon said when asked about her extensive list of awards during her RCC career. “In college, it was crazy to see that we actually do get recognition … I feel like setters do all the dirty work but hardly get noticed for it, but it was good to get noticed and acknowledged there at Rogue.”

Following her two campaigns with the Ospreys, McCutcheon felt it was time to return to her roots and come back home to Hawai’i. Homesickness had hit her hard during holiday trips back to the islands while she was at Rogue, leading her to look at her options in Hawai’i when the time came to move on.

McCutcheon considered Chaminade, the University of Hawai’i-Hilo and Hawaii Pacific University along with a few west coast schools, but the ability to continue getting financial assistance towards her education helped HPU pull away from the crowd for the talented setter.

“Coach Jenic [Tumaneng] was one of the only coaches who would offer me money to come play back at home,” McCutcheon said of her second college recruiting process. “I was like I can’t get [anything better] than going back home, going to the place I love, going around the people I love, wanting to play in front of my fans and my family and also getting my college still continued to be paid for.”

HPU setter Jordyn McCutcheon pilots the offense during a home match. | Photo Credit: HPU Athletics

Coming from the junior college ranks, McCutcheon redshirted her first year with the Sharks as she adjusted to the tempo and top-level athletes that HPU would face. It was difficult for her to just sit and watch after being a key cog in the Rogue team calculations during the two years prior, but the Molokai alum felt like she learned and got a good perspective while she was on the sideline.

“Watching from the outside, you just see the game from a whole different point of view,” McCutcheon said. “I think it helped my knowledge and my IQ of the game grow within that one year.”

She picked up where she left off last on the court when she got the chance to play again in 2025, leading the Sharks with 421 assists (4.39 assists per set) across 29 matches as a junior despite playing in a 6-2 system where she shared setting duties.

The Sharks have worked in a 5-1 system alongside the 6-2 during 2026, giving some comfort to McCutcheon in a return to a familiar style offense that she piloted during her two years at Rogue. It’s worked again as she upped her average assists per set by nearly two full assists and leads the team with 398 across just 20 matches.

McCutcheon is on the fence about if this will be her final campaign as a college volleyball player. She does have an extra year of eligibility after her redshirt but is approaching the final few weeks of the season as though they will be her last as a collegiate player.

“It’s definitely bittersweet,” the graduate setter said. “I want to go out and finish strong on the season that I do have left, but it’s just crazy to me that playing competitive, collegiately, is going to be over in a few weeks.”

She’ll look to spearhead a strong final effort for the Sharks with four games remaining in 2026. HPU hosts Point Loma on Wednesday, October 28 and will take on Concordia-Irvine on Halloween before wrapping up the season against island rivals in Chaminade and UH-Hilo during the first week of November.