Sharon Peterson won seven national titles during her 25 years as the University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s volleyball team’s coach. She was also honored with an inaugural induction into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1988. ADVERTISING Sharon Peterson
Sharon Peterson won seven national titles during her 25 years as the University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s volleyball team’s coach. She was also honored with an inaugural induction into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1988.
However, the energetic Peterson may be doing her best work with the Hawaii Prep boys volleyball program — pretty much an afterthought for decades until she took over in 2003.
Her perennial greenhorn Ka Makani toppled Ka’u 25-23, 25-17, 20-25, 25-14 to capture the BIIF Division II championship Saturday night at Hilo Civic, the school’s second crown after a historic first one in 2012.
HPA (11-5) and Ka’u (10-5) both have berths to the HHSAA Division II state tournament, which runs May 14-16 on Oahu.
Tucker Higgins, a 6-foot-5 senior middle blocker, pounded 15 kills and his fellow Ka Makani middle Abe Binder, a 6-6 senior middle, added 12 kills. Ghar Pautz had nine kills and Colin Yates chipped in eight kills, including match point.
Kai Enriques took out his toolbox of shots and knocked down 24 kills for the Trojans. Every time there was a seam in HPA’s block, he smoked a shot through or cut a curveball around it.
Brian Gascon, who always takes a healthy swing, added 17 kills to provide the Trojans additional firepower. They had far more kills than HPA, 52-43.
Ka Makani had wobbly ball-control and gave away a lot of free balls, and offered too many patty-cake soft hits. But they won because they didn’t beat themselves. They had just 26 unforced errors; the Trojans had a whopping 48 giveaway points.
It was also helpful that HPA’s block showed up after the second set, getting zero stuffs in Game 1. Ka Makani outblocked the Trojans, 9-5, for the match.
HPA stole the first set, digging itself out of a 23-21 deficit. Binder served the final three points.
In Game 3, Enriques and Gascon each had nine kills, and the Trojans finished with 20 kills. HPA had just seven kills.
Ka’u had their most unforced errors in the fourth set with a painful 14 giveaway points. HPA had just seven unforced errors. Yates served eight straight points for a 18-9 cushion.
From there, Peterson’s Ka Makani kept pulling away, going on a four-point run to close the match and set off a celebration for the small private school from Waimea.
While at UHH, Peterson had the good fortune of recruiting polished players, and the program produced competitive seasons and her last NAIA national championship in 1988.
Recruiting isn’t allowed in high school, and coaches have to play with the hand they’re dealt. And Peterson has a knack for molding green players into championship material.
In 2003, BIIF boys volleyball was still played during the fall season, where the stage was shared with football and cross country — two glamour Ka Makani sports.
That season, Peterson took over a boys squad that finished with a 5-8 record the previous two years. But she piloted HPA to the six-team BIIF tournament, when there wasn’t statewide classification, which started in 2005.
Her first Ka Makani boys team (she also coaches the girls) finished with a 10-5 record and lost in the BIIF playoffs to Ka’u, which claimed one of the three state spots that also went to Kealakehe and Waiakea.
In 2006, HPA qualified for the HHSAA state tournament for the first time in school history. It was the second year of Division II, but a major achievement because Peterson’s roster is usually filled with a ton of rookies.
The boys volleyball season changed to the busy spring season, joining baseball, golf, judo, tennis, and track and field, in 2008. HPA qualified for states that year, and in 2010 and ‘11.
Then the school grabbed its first BIIF championship in 2012, and made another state trip in 2013.
Decades passed before HPA’s boys volleyball program put any type of championship into the school’s Castle Gym trophy case. Peterson’s Ka Makani can now add a significant and memorable second one.
