KEAAU – It just doesn’t seem possible that coach Sharon Peterson’s Hawaii Prep volleyball team, filled with players who don’t really play the sport, keep winning championships.
But her resourceful Ka Makani did it again, against the reigning champ, no less, working another miracle.
HPA defeated Konawaena 25-16, 25-23, 22-25, 25-20 for the BIIF Division II championship on Friday at Koai’a Gym, winning its first title since 2015.
Ka Makani (10-5) and the Wildcats (7-7) already have berths to the HHSAA Division II tournament, which runs Thursday-Saturday on Oahu.
Basically, only HPA senior outside hitter Ghar Pautz is a full-time volleyball player. The rest come out to fill the lineup. Peterson also promoted sophomores Kamuela Lindsey and Victor Chen, who were solid as defenders, from the junior varsity.
It’s not the first time Peterson has guided a squad full of greenhorns to a BIIF title. Her 2012 team pocketed the league title, and the 2015 ballclub also won it.
But HPA’s inexperience was replaced with valuable intangibles.
“I liked our energy and spirit,” Peterson said. “We hung together.”
She praised the leadership of Pautz, who finished with 15 kills and had hitting help from senior middle blocker Asa Twigg-Smith, who also slammed 15 kills.
“Ghar is the one who held us together,” Peterson said. “Before the match, he had a meaningful talk with the boys. He told them, ‘If you get upset or down, look to me.’ He led the team.
“Ghar is the only one who really plays volleyball. The rest just come out to play.”
Ethan Stake added 12 kills while also pulling double duty at setter. HPA’s other setter, Zach Chaikin, was also solid with his feeds, especially to the middle attack, set up by solid passing from libero Ryoma Sakabibara, Chen and Lindsey.
Villiami Kaea drilled 20 kills to lead the Wildcats, who struggled with their ball-control for most of the night. Nalu Frias added 10 kills, and Benjamin McKinley, a junior setter, had six kills.
In the first set, HPA started with a nice rhythm, racking up 15 kills against eight unforced errors while Konawaena struggled with its ball-control and had eight kills and nine giveaway points.
In the second set, HPA bolted to a 20-10 cushion, but Kona roared back to get within 24-23. Then Pautz smoked game point.
In the third set, it was tied 20-20 before Kaea knocked down three of Konawaena’s last four points.
Konawaena had better firepower with more kills, 47-43, and the two teams had the same amount of unforced errors (hitting, serving, ball-handling), 34.
But the Wildcats had their errors in long stretches, which allowed HPA to seize the momentum, such as Game 4.
At one point, Konawaena had four consecutive unforced errors. That pushed underdog Ka Makani to a 13-4 lead and later to a 23-15 cushion off a Wildcat bad set.
Then Kaea ripped three straight kills to get Konawaena within 23-18. But Twigg-Smith stopped that hitting streak with a kill. Kaea got another before Dylan Ngango Dikobo clobbered match point.
It was perhaps fitting that Ngango Dikobo nailed aloha ball. After all, he’s a basketball player, who just happens to play volleyball for Peterson’s Miracle Winning Machine.
