Despite its usual roster of inexperienced players, Hawaii Prep found a groove at the right time, and played really clean and efficient volleyball to knock out Kohala, the hottest Division II team.
The annually greenhorn Ka Makani beat the athletic Cowboys 25-16, 19-25, 25-23, 25-19 in the BIIF semifinals on Friday at Hilo Civic, claiming a HHSAA Division II state berth.
In the other semifinal, Ka’u defeated Konawaena 25-21, 25-21, 25-16. As the BIIF regular-season champion, the Trojans already have a state spot.
Kohala (8-6) had won eight of its last 10 matches since an 0-3 start. The hot streak included a four-set road victory against HPA, which threw cold water on that momentum run with a state berth on the line.
HPA (10-5) will play Ka’u (10-4) for the BIIF Division II championship at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Hilo Civic.
Ka Makani coach Sharon Peterson credited captains Ghar Pautz, a sophomore, and Tucker Higgins for inspiring the team with prematch speeches.
“That made a difference. It’s always better when it comes from within, instead of a coach giving a speech,” she said.
In an eye-opening stat, the Cowboys had far more unforced errors, 41-24. HPA was simply more effective with its ball-control with an emphasis on keeping the ball in play.
In fact, in every set that Ka Makani won, they had more blocks for points, and less giveaway points. HPA outblocked Kohala 9-4. Higgins, a 6-5 senior middle blocker, and Abe Binder, the other middle, did a smooth job turning their roofs inside to the floor.
But as coaches long preach, every team’s bread-and-butter is the first touch: serving and passing in service-receive. Ka Makani were better at both, especially serving. They had only one service error; Kohala had a whopping seven service errors.
Peterson was reminded of one of her favorite quotes from Karch Kiraly, the former U.S. Olympian.
“The one thing that tough serves have in common is that they’re all in,” she said. “I’ve always liked that quote from Karch.
“We’ve had matches where we had eight service errors. We only missed one. That made a big difference.”
Throw those lopsided stats out the window and the semifinal felt like a volleyball version of home run derby between Higgins, and Hana Caravalho, Kohala’s 6-1 senior.
Higgins often jumped higher than the block, and smoked 26 kills. Colin Yates added nine kills with smart placement shots, Pautz, the other outside hitter, had eight kills, and Binder chipped in six kills.
“It’s the first year Tucker has really done hitting,” said Peterson, highlighting his improvement. “Last year, he used to just put it over.”
Caravalho blistered fastballs for his 28 kills, including eight in the fourth set. It just wasn’t enough to offset all the easy points HPA picked up. Kahua Kualii added nine kills and Justin Agbayani nailed six kills.
One reason Peterson’s hitters took clean swings was because sophomore setter Ethan Stake put up balls nice and high, allowing his big guns like Higgins to get a liftoff and hammer away.
And when there were transition plays, other Ka Makani players stepped up to deliver a ball during the back-and-forth action. There was little drop-off when others recorded assists, a proud point for Peterson, herself a former setter.
“Ethan has good hands. I thought that was probably the best setting we’ve had,” she said. “It was more consistent and that really helped. People stepped in at setting, and our team has pretty good hands. This group is open to learning and that really helps.”
But for Peterson, there is always something better than a good pair of hands. It’s an intangible, and a reason HPA is going back to states for the first time since 2013. In 2012, it won its first BIIF championship.
“We had a lot of heart. I’m very proud,” she said. “We’re a green team to volleyball. We don’t have a lot of experience. But we really put our heart out there, and had great communication.
“It was like the first time against Kohala. We won the first set, lost the second, but this time we came back. Our fight was the best I’ve seen.”
• Ka’u 3, Konawaena 0: Kai Enriques slammed 23 kills to power the defending BIIF champion Trojans, putting on a highlight performance, and accounting for 64 percent of the offense.
The rest of his teammates had 13 kills. Brian Gascon added six kills, Damon Hertz had five and Joven Padrigo and Anthony Emmsley Ah Yee had one apiece. When they were ripping swings, Enriques was taking a quick breather and recharging his batteries.
Hard-swinging Lena Santiago had 14 kills while D’Angelo Vierra added eight kills for the Wildcats (8-7), who couldn’t find a rhythm and failed to make sustained runs.
It also didn’t help that Konawaena had more unforced errors than Ka’u, 31-25. The Trojans served tougher and dropped in more aces, 8-3.
But the biggest difference was Enriques, who was pretty close to unstoppable, especially in the second set when he blasted 10 kills.
Even when the Wildcats stacked their block on him with double teams, and aligned their back-row defenders, he still found a way to put the ball down, relying on a variety of shots.
Enriques hit balls all over the place, down the line, through seams, cross-court, and roll shots. His most impressive point was a descending kill in Game 3, when a double-block jumped up, and Enriques waited and unleashed his shot just before he landed on the floor.
In a nice note that other Trojans are able to shine, Gascon pounded down his team’s last four kills, including match point on a crafty dump shot.
Division I
Hilo swept Kealakehe 26-24, 25-22, 25-23 in the semifinals to secure its first state tournament berth since 2009, when it played in Division II.
The Vikings (12-2) will play top-seeded Kamehameha (14-0) in the championship at 7 p.m. Saturday. Defending champion Kamehameha, which already owned an HHSAA berth, swept Waiakea 25-15, 25-17, 25-19 in its semifinal.
Waiakea (9-5) saw its 19-year streak of reaching states snapped, while the Waveriders’ state drought was extended to 11 years. Kealakehe finished 11-3.
