KEALAKEKUA — Playing out of the top tier in the BIIF provided its fair share of learning moments for Konawaena, and it also rarely gave the Wildcats a night off or an easy out. In an iron sharpens iron type of way, routinely facing off against the Big Island’s best primed Konawaena for playoff volleyball.
So after a grueling regular season, it might have appeared that a matchup against Christian Liberty (12-4) — which played out of the BIIF’s lowest Blue Division — would be a picnic for the top-seeded Wildcats.
However, the Canefire proved to be anything but that, forcing the Wildcats (7-7) to tap into their experience battling adversity — especially early — to dispose of their Division II semifinal foe.
After overcoming a tense first set, Konawaena rolled to a 25-22, 25-17, 25-20 victory over CLA at Ellison Onizuka Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
“We knew they were good — you have to be good to win 12 games, even in the Blue Division. They had a lot of quality wins this season,” Konawaena head coach August Dias said. “They really made us work for it.”
The Wildcats’ northerly neighbor, Hawaii Prep (6-8), had to do the same. Ka Makani were tested by Ka‘u (7-10) in their semifinal victory on Tuesday night, pulling out a 25-21, 25-20, 19-25, 26-24 win over the visiting Trojans.
The Division II championship between Hawaii Prep and Konawaena is scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday at Konawaena. Both the D-II championship and the D-I title tilt between Kamehameha (12-2) and Kealakehe (12-2) will be broadcast on Na Leo TV on Spectrum Channel 54 and streamed online at naleo.tv/channel-54.
“It means the world to have another shot at a title,” said Konawaena senior Andre “Nalu” Frias. “It’s big we get to do it here, too.”
Hawaii Prep and Konawaena split the season series, each winning at the opposition’s home court. Ka Makani took the most recent matchup in the regular season finale for both squads, winning in four sets.
The teams have combined for the last three BIIF titles — Hawaii Prep winning in 2015 and ’17, while the Wildcats captured their first banner in nearly two decades in 2016.
But first up for Konawaena was the Canefire, who entered brimming with confidence, fresh off a straight set quarterfinal victory over Kohala.
Konawaena fell behind early in the first set, giving points away to CLA with some unforced errors. An ace from Zack Suffern forced a timeout from the Wildcats with the Canefire holding a 9-5 lead.
Much to the pleasure of the dozen or so committed Canefire fans that made the trip, CLA continued to stick around, even holding a small lead late in the first set. But down 21-20, the Wildcats would score five of the next six points to take the first set and extinguish the Canefire’s early spark.
Dias didn’t need a lot of time to think of a word to describe his team’s play.
“Sloppy,” the first-year Wildcat skipper said without hesitation. “Very, very sloppy. There definitely were some nerves. But they settled down and played our brand of volleyball.”
Konawaena has been playing without setter/opposite hitter Benjamin McKinley — the team’s only returning All-BIIF pick from a year ago — for the last month. It’s something the Wildcats have grown accustomed to, but it puts more pressure on the team’s bigs to produce.
Luckily, the size of Alan Cancino Magana (6-foot-2), Osaiasi Muti (6-3), and Sergio Cancino (6-5) is hard for most D-II squads to handle. Muti led the way against CLA, notching 12 kills.
“When things got tough, we just had to stick with the basics and run our middles,” Dias said. “Our setter Darren Poopaa did a great job making good decisions and setting them up.”
The Wildcats dominated most of the second set, but the Canefire refused to go away. The visitors got as close as 22-17 before Muti and Co. shut the door, taking it 25-17.
It was deja vu in the third, with CLA creeping back into the game at 22-20 before eventually succumbing to the power of the Wildcats.
“The best part of this team is even though we go down, we all help each other back and keep our energy high,” Frias said. “We are ready for HPA.”
Tuesday
Division II semifinals
Konawaena def. CLA 25-22, 25-17, 25-20
Hawaii Prep def. Ka ‘u 25-21, 25-20, 19-25, 26-24
Wednesday
At Konawaena
Division II championship
No. 2 Hawaii Prep (6-8) vs. No. 1 Konawaena (7-7), 5 p.m.
Division I championship
No. 1 Kamehameha (12-2) vs. Kealakehe (12-2), 7 p.m.