KEALAKEKUA – Another night, another sweep for the Konawaena Wildcats.
Thursday’s victim: the Waveriders of Kealakehe. Konawaena quickly took care of business against their crosstown rivals, taking the match 25-12, 25-16, 25-10.
The Wildcats took complete control midway through the second; tied at 14, Konawaena went on a tear, closing the set on an 11-2 run to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
From there, the rest of the contest was a foregone conclusion; the Wildcats never trailed in clinching the third and final set to put away the Waveriders. Much of the damage was done via the Wildcats’ middle blockers Chelsea Velez and Braelyn Kauhi, who were constantly in good position, set up for kills throughout the match.
“We stressed setting the middles tonight on every opportunity that we could,” Konawaena assistant coach August Dias said. “Good passes, try to get them involved early and as often as possible.
“When they’re on, they’re hard to stop.”
Dias was particularly impressed with his team’s resiliency after a first set that saw the Wildcats commit more errors than usual.
“Coming back from a lot of unforced errors in the first set, sticking with the gameplan, following through and winning in three…” said Dias. “It just shows that if we do what we’re supposed to do, we can finish off teams.”
Konawaena now sports an unblemished 5-0 record with the playoffs looming, while Kealakehe’s record drops to 3-2. A stellar start to their season has given the Wildcats high hopes to make a deep run in the postseason.
“We just keep working hard,” said Dias. “We have a non-league game against Kamehameha next week; that’s going to get us prepared for the playoffs and hopefully states.”