By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
PAHOA — Hilo coach Bubba Baldado and junior Kennison Rowe both talked with caution, pointing to room for improvement, after a season-opening win over Pahoa on Thursday night.
Rowe slammed 12 kills and provided accurate hitting to spark the Vikings over the Daggers 27-25, 25-19, 25-20 in a Big Island Interscholastic Federation volleyball match at Pahoa’s new gym, rolling to a sweep without the taste of full satisfaction.
“We’ve still got a lot more to practice,” Baldado said. “We’ve got a good bunch. It’s the first time I’m coaching again in seven or eight years. With the new schedule, we only had three weeks for players to make the team.”
Brothers Makoa and Makana Tandal added 12 and 11 kills, respectively, for the Division I Vikings, who compiled a tad more kills, 42-39.
Nick Fisher hammered 12 kills, Jarret Kamaka 11 and Khalil Luis six to lead the Division II Daggers, who made far more unforced errors — hitting and serving — than the Viks, 34-23.
Both teams had a rough start in the first set. Hilo had 11 errors. Pahoa had 12, the last a hitting error on game point after a bad set.
“It was a tough match. Pahoa pushed us all the way,” said Rowe, the grandson of the late volleyball legend Raymond Rowe. “We were down, but we brought ourselves back up. We motivated each other to finish. That’s what we needed.”
Hilo survived the first set despite Fisher’s seven kills and losing an early 14-10 lead.
“Our defense was all right. Our serving was all right,” Rowe said. “Our posting on the block and offense will get us through.”
In the next two sets, Hilo was efficient and chopped its unforced errors to five and seven; Pahoa had 10 and 12 giveaway points.
The free points harmed the Daggers, who not too long ago were a state power. They were the Division II state runner-up in 2010.
What also hurt was the Vikings made scoring runs when Fisher rotated out of the front row. And after Rowe and the Tandal brothers shook off the rust, they gave the offense a boost with bullets coming from different directions.
Hilo’s last appearance at states was in 2009, the last of four straight trips to the Division II state tourney. Rowe’s cousin, Kaulana Kaluli-Rowe, was on that team.
Rowe knows about that connection. But he shadowed his coach’s thinking and talked one match at a time.
“Everybody is like family on our team. We all push each other,” he said. “I think we have to keep working hard. There are tough games on the way for us to have a possible chance at BIIFs.”
Reporting scores
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