KEALAKEKUA — Konawaena head coach Ainsley Keawekane admits it’s been a roller coaster ride of a season for his usually steady Wildcats.
But through the trials and tribulations, what has stayed consistent is the veteran head coach’s message to his team: have fun and love the game.
Both of those things were on display Wednesday night, with the Wildcats having the time of their lives in a thrilling five-set victory over Hawaii Preparatory Academy in the BIIF Division II semifinals at Ellison Onizuka Gymnasium.
The four-time defending champion Wildcats (10-7) fell behind twice, but continued to claw back for a 19-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-14, 15-10 victory over Hawaii Prep (11-6) to advance to the BIIF D-II championship.
“It’s been a battle this year,” Keawekane said. “Early on, some of the kids were not buying in, so us as coaches had to come up for a way for them to buy in. Our adjustment was just having more fun with the game. If you love the game, anything can happen.”
The victory avenged a straight-set regular season loss to Hawaii Prep. However, that defeat came without the services of Keala Acol, who made her presence known in the rematch with 16 kills and some big plays at the net.
“We had to dig deep for this,” Acol said. “We have never yelled for each other so much in a match. I’ll never forget that last set, running in together and screaming.”
Konawaena junior outside hitter Maile Grace added a match-high 23 kills to go with 13 digs in the win.
The Wildcats remain a thorn in Ka Makani’s side. Konawaena’s last four league titles have all come via wins over Hawaii Prep, and the Wildcats also bested Ka Makani in the 2013 state title game.
“We have done more coaching this year than ever,” Keawekane said. “A lot of our girls don’t play in the offseason so it has been a lot of learning volleyball IQ. We had to learn why we do what we do.
“I’ve always said it’s not how you start the season — it’s how you finish,” Keawekane added. “You can have an ugly start to the season, but if we are lighting things up at this time of year, we will be good.”
As the No. 3 seed, Konawaena didn’t garner home court due to their record, but instead by fortune of being selected as the site for BIIF tournament. It turned out to be a nice break.
The crowd gained in population and volume as the match advanced. By the time the fifth set rolled around, the cheering was nearly deafening.
“Hey, you know the story,” the Kealakekua crowd yelled to the beat of bleacher stomps, “this is Kona’s territory.”
They were right. The Wildcats rode the noise and never trailed after the third set loss.
“A lot of my club kids were here and many of them play with the girls on this team,” said Keawekane, the long-time club coach with Hoopa Hawaii. “I got chills. Just to have them here with that energy helped push us to the next level.”
The Wildcats move on to face Kohala, which handily defeated Ka‘u in the other semifinal game 25-20, 25-18, 25-23.
There was little drama in the matchup until the third set, with the teams knotted up at 23-23. However, Mikayla Kekoa and Cheylin Imai fired off the final two points to secure the championship berth.
Kekoa led the way with 13 kills, while Shania Fuertes followed closely with 12. Five different Cowgirls had double-digit digs, led by Gabby Tomas with 14. As a team, Kohala racked up 14 services aces, four from Mekaila Pasco.
Kiani Medeiros-Danal (13 kills) and Chaunalisa Velez (12 kills) accounted for 86 percent of the Trojans’ kills.
The Cowgirls earned an automatic berth to the state tournament as the top team in D-II during the regular season, but have their eyes set on history. Kohala has never won a BIIF title in girls volleyball, and is now one win away from doing so.
Kohala defeated Konawaena in a comeback effort of their own just last week, 14-25, 13-25, 25-22, 25-20, 15-12. That loss is still fresh for the Wildcats.
“They are very smart and they have big hitters,” Alcos said. “We just need to play our game.”
The Trojans will face off against Ka Makani for the league’s final state tournament berth in a third place matchup today at 5:30 p.m.
Ka‘u hasn’t been to state tourney stage since 2012, when the program won its only BIIF title. Hawaii Prep hasn’t missed the tourney in more than a decade.