KAILUA-KONA — Konawaena head coach Ainsley Keawekane feels like this season has been a roller coaster ride for his Wildcats. But after some twist and turns to go with the highs and lows, that ride is finally hitting its best part.
The Wildcats knocked off defending Division II champion Hawaii Preparatory Academy 22-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-17 in the BIIF Division II semifinals at Kealakehe’s gym on Friday. The win advances Konawaena to the D-II championship vs. Pahoa, which defeated Kohala 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 25-13 in the other semifinal. The D-II title bout is set for 5:30 p.m. at Kealakehe’s gym.
“It’s been a long season,” Keawekane said. “They really wanted it and left it all out there.”
The Daggers and Wildcats also locked up berths in the HHSAA state tournament, which will be held on Oahu from May 4-6.
The teams met twice in the regular season, splitting the series. The loss was the lone blemish a on Konawaena’s 9-1 regular season record, but it came without the talents of outside hitter Benjamin McKinley and libero Anthony Ward on the court — key cogs in the Wildcats’ system.
McKinley was one of the stars against Ka Makani in the semis, pounding multiple momentum-swinging points.
“He’s a killer,” Keawekane said.
Meanwhile, Ward — a senior — was feeling a bit lighter after the win.
“It feels like a huge ball of stress has been lifted off our shoulders,” Ward said. “It’s unbelievable. Everyone played with so much heart.”
The season is over for Hawaii Prep, who just couldn’t find their playoff groove.
“We were out of sync and didn’t have rhythm out there. It wasn’t meant to be, but their hearts were in it.” Hawaii Prep coach Sharon Peterson said. “Despite the loss, this was probably one of the most fun seasons I’ve had and it was with a great group of young men.”
Konawaena didn’t have many playoff prep games in the BIIF’s weaker blue division, and were not firing on all cylinders out of the gate against Ka Makani (who played in the tougher Red Division during the regular season), dropping the first set.
However, the Wildcats never seemed to get down, and instead embraced the competition.
“The boys have a tendency to play to the potential of the other team,” Keawekane said. “So actually, it worked out today playing against a quality opponent. They stepped up.”
The teams played tight in the second set, but the Wildcats were gifted a handful of late points off unforced Ka Makani errors — a few that led the Hawaii Prep players to look down at their hands and wonder what was going on.
On the other side of the net, Konawaena’s confidence was growing by leaps and bounds.
“The key was really confidence,” Keawekane said. “They had to make the right choices at the right time. I kept telling them, great choice, but there’s a better one, just to keep their brains going.”
To make some of those choices easier, Keawekane said he breaks down the game into three parts for his team.
“From points 1-10 we take all our chances and set everybody up. From 10-20 we fine tune our game. Once we get to 20, we push the finish — no mistakes,” he said. “They are finally getting that concept down.”
Konawaena certainly pushed to the finish after the two back-and-forth sets.
In the third set, Hawaii Prep battled back to make it 20-16, but a solid spike from Konawaena’s Kealii Kuahuia stopped the momentum. McKinley closed out the set with a kill and block.
In the fourth set, down 23-14, Ka Makani made a run to keep their title hopes alive, but McKinley shut the door, tallying the final two points.
Keawekane also coaches the girls program at Konawaena, leading the team to state titles in 2013 and ’14. The boys program, however, has not had the same success. The state tourney ticket is the first in nearly a decade for Konawaena, and the Wildcats last won a BIIF championship in 1998.
A banner hanging in Kealakekua is a reminder of that last title and serves as a source of inspiration for the current crop of players.
“We want to take it all the way. This is the furthest Konawaena has been in a long time,” Ward said. “We just have to play with heart.”
