KAILUA-KONA — The last time Konawaena won a BIIF boys volleyball championship, the majority of the current crop of Wildcats were not alive.
How times have changed.
Konawaena defeated Pahoa 19-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-21 in the BIIF Division II championship on Saturday night at Kealakehe High School, capturing the program’s first title since 1998.
In the BIIF Division I championship, Kamehameha swept Waiakea 25-19, 25-19, 25-14.
“Finally, we did it,” Wildcat senior Anthony Ward said after the win. “It feels great.”
Adorned in lei and shaking hands at every turn, Konawaena head coach Ainsley Keawekane was all smiles after the win. However, the perfectionist head coach still had a bit of criticism after the victory.
“We did it, but not necessarily the way I would have wanted to. They came out flat,” Keawekane said.
During his three years at the helm at Konawaena, Keawekane’s squad has grown accustomed to his tough love tactics on the court. The pointers are what helped the Wildcats turn the corner. But that era is coming to a close.
The win not only marked the end of Konawaena’s title drought, but also Keawekane’s final league game as the boys head coach.
“I had a good talk with them before the game, telling them the reason I get on their case so much is because I want them to succeed,” Keawekane said. “My job is just to guide them to the right choices.”
For his players, letting their coach ride off into the sunset with a BIIF title added extra importance to the match.
“We wanted coach to go out on top,” Konawaena senior Kauila Wall said. “It’s been an awesome experience to have him as our coach.”
The season isn’t over for runner-up Pahoa, which heads to the HHSAA state tournament from Wednesday to Friday on Oahu with Konawaena.
“The boys can’t hang their heads. They still made it to states and had a great season,” Pahoa head coach Sheri Kaehuaea said. “We just have to keep pushing and work for that next game.”
The first set was a bit of déjà vu for Konawaena. The Wildcats let the Daggers control the start of the game, which ended with a serve going into the net for set point. In the semifinals on Friday night, Konawaena let Hawaii Preparatory Academy dictate the pace before reeling off a four-set victory.
“The whole time I was just thinking to myself, this is just going to be like last night,” Wall said. “We had been in that situation before.”
With the first set and nerves out of the way, Konawaena looked like a different team going forward. The Wildcats held a four-point cushion for the majority of the second set, which ended with Troy Aukai and Benjamin McKinley registering the finishing touches.
McKinley was a kill machine for the Wildcats, and outside of some stellar digs from Pahoa libero Kaelen Padilla, the Daggers just didn’t have an answer once the sophomore found his groove.
“He’s just a 10th grader, so he is still a work in progress but he has really come along,” Keawekane said. “I see a lot of big doors opening for him playing on another level, besides high school.”
Keanu Caldwell, another Wildcat sophomore, was also singled out by his coach for helping Konawaena turn the tide.
“We call him the credit card jumper. He gets just high enough you can slide a credit card underneath,” Keawekane said with a laugh. “But he plays so smart. He stood out to me.”
The third set was more of the same, with Kealii Kuahuia slamming home the set point, and it wasn’t until the latter stages of the fourth set with history in sight that the Wildcats found some resistance. Up 20-16, they suddenly couldn’t find that well-worn gas pedal to finish the match off.
“Instead of the gas, I think we pulled the e-brake,” Ward said.
“I was trying so hard not to think about that it was the championship game and we were so close,” Wall added. “The last couple of points are usually the hardest. We just had to keep pushing.”
After a timeout, Konawaena just misfired on a few potential championship match points, but were finally able to make the right choice.
“I called my last time out and told them they were just making the wrong decisions. I knew they had the right choice in them,”Keawekane said. “Next thing you know — boom, boom, boom.”
