By KEVIN JAKAHI By KEVIN JAKAHI ADVERTISING Tribune-Herald sports writer KEAAU — Kamehameha junior Evan Enriques’ offensive output — 29 kills with just eight errors on 68 swings for a .309 hitting percentage — was eye-catching, but what really stood
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
KEAAU — Kamehameha junior Evan Enriques’ offensive output — 29 kills with just eight errors on 68 swings for a .309 hitting percentage — was eye-catching, but what really stood out was teammate Dennis Silva’s defensive effort, especially the way the senior libero blanketed the volleyball court for his 18 digs.
The Warriors relied on that double-edged sword approach to chop down rival Waiakea 22-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-16 in a key Big Island Interscholastic Federation showdown Tuesday night at Koai‘a Gym, remaining the only unbeaten team in the Division I standings.
The BIIF regular season champion earns an automatic berth to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I state tournament. Kamehameha (6-0) is the defending BIIF champion and state runner-up and is sitting in the driver’s seat, but not comfortably. The Warriors still have to play Hilo and Hawaii Prep in the three-team cluster on Saturday, April 20 at home.
Don’t count out Waiakea (3-1), because the two schools nicknamed the Warriors have traded the BIIF title for the last five years. According to recent history, it’s Waiakea’s turn to take the league crown.
However as much as the two share in common — both also return only two starters (Enriques and right-side hitter Kaipo Woolsey and Waiakea junior hitter Mamane Namahoe and senior setter Daniel Thomson), Kamehameha showed it’s a tad sharper, at least defensively.
Enriques contributed 15 digs and freshman Isaiah Laeha prevented balls from finding the floor for a helpful 10 digs, when not taking swings as the second left-side hitter and ramming seven kills.
“Isaiah is just steady. He hits smart and has a great all-around game,” Kamehameha coach Guy Enriques said. “When we need him, he’s there. What’s nice is he’s only a freshman.”
Still, when it was time to play defense, Silva was the star of the show. He not only impressed Guy Enriques, but also Waiakea coach Ecko Osorio as well.
“We played dang good defense,” Enriques said. “We did a hell of a job in the back row. Dennis Silva kept balls in play and turned points around. He was aggressive and in the right spot all the time and calling balls. That’s what you want from your libero, to take as many balls as you can and be in the right spot.”
Silva sat out last season, missing Kamehameha’s impressive run at states. He was on the junior varsity as a sophomore. The time away didn’t deteriorate his ability to bump accurate passes to sophomore setter Emmett Enriques when balls leaked through the block.
“Kamehameha out-dug us big-time. The difference was the defensive effort and Dennis made every play,” Osorio said. “Their other guys made plays, and they’ve got good volleyball players, but Dennis made more plays.”
Evan Enriques drilled nine kills from the back row, and also took a lot of rescue swings, hitting the ball when the passing broke down with his brother or someone else setting him, and hoping something good would happen. Most times, Kamehameha was feeling good about itself.
Even when double or triple blocks went up, the 6-foot-1 hitter found a way to put the ball down. He had several timely roll shots, sometimes on second or third attempts after the defense backed up while in scramble mode or when a neon sign pointed to a big hole.
Much like baseball, it’s the sign of a good hitter when the hitting percentage is north of .300. When someone hits smart, finds a crack where there’s an inch of daylight and piles up points on a consistent basis, that’s no accident. Osorio knows star quality when he sees it, and apparently that also applies to University of Hawaii men’s volleyball coach Charlie Wade, who was in attendance.
“You can’t really stop Evan. You just hope the other guys don’t come around,” Osorio said. “When he hits the ball, it has eyes. He hits it over the block or around it and mixes it up well. But it was our side, too. We have to do better. We need more discipline and teamwork to get more confident.”
At least Waiakea has its own primo workhorse in Namahoe, who drilled 20 kills and committed seven errors on 45 swings for a .289 hitting percentage. Dillon Rellez, an ambidextrous junior right-side hitter who serves with his right hand and hammers rockets with his left, added eight kills. Anthony Dollwet made the middle a presence with seven kills and Brett Harrington had six kills.
In the first set, Waiakea looked like the team to beat. Thomson spread the ball, the offense had nice balance and the visitors brought a full tank of enthusiasm. Namahoe knocked down seven kills on 11 swings. Rellez and Harrington had three kills each and Dollwet had two.
Then Waiakea went into a prolonged hitting slump. Over the next three sets, the visiting Warriors had more errors than the home team. The third set was rather lopsided. Waiakea was generous with 12 giveaway points; Kamehameha was far more efficient, making only four errors.
“Kamehameha outplayed us. Their defense covered every ball. Basically, they passed every ball on the money,” Namahoe said. “They made way less errors than us. Our defense is better than last year. What we have to work on is more the mental part than physical.
“We had Rellez swinging from the outside (on the right), Dollwet in the middle and Bronson Napoleon, and me and Harrington from the outside. We have to figure out how to connect and get our team chemistry going.”
Coaches always preach the importance of the first touch — serving and passing on serve-receive — because that’s the volleyball equivalent of pitching and defense. Basically, it’s the best way to not beat yourself, to always remain in the ballgame.
Kamehameha had five aces (Evan Enriques had a pair) while Waiakea had three aces, sort of canceling each other out. The difference was on the defensive end, something Enriques noticed every time his offense played connect-the-dots volleyball: ball going from Silva to Emmett Enriques and to another part of an open floor as a finishing touch.
“Dennis reads really well, and he’s quick enough to make the play” Evan Enriques said. “With him stabilizing the passing and defense, that really pulled us through.
“Waiakea had a really good first set. We realized that we weren’t doing enough. We had to push harder. For us, we had to do the little things, our communication, get easy digs and run our offense and it worked for us.”
