KEAAU — Inexperienced Waiakea still struggles with serving and passing in serve-receive, the first two and most important touches of volleyball.
Kamehameha was better at both and beat the scrappy Warriors 25-12, 23-25, 25-19, 25-12 in a BIIF Division I showdown on Friday night at Koaia Gym.
Kamehameha (5-0) had just 30 unforced errors, including seven on serves, but they neutralized that with 13 aces.
Waiakea (3-2) had 49 unforced errors, 21 of them on serves. The visiting Warriors had six aces, including five from junior Claymon Morante, who pounded a match-high 18 kills.
“Waiakea played a good game. We came out and took the momentum early. They came out and did a good job flipping it in the second set,” Kamehameha coach Daryl Masanda said. “It kind of woke us up in the third and fourth sets. We turned it on and took care of ourselves.
Kamehameha, the 2019 BIIF champion, also played the first match against Waiakea without one of its top players, 6-foot-2 senior outside hitter Kaimi Kealoha, who was on a college visit.
Kealoha slammed 14 kills, junior Micah Wana added eight kills and two aces, and senior Khayden Kahihikolo had five kills and five aces. Micah Mahuna served three aces.
“Those are two (Kealoha and Wana) of the better hitters on the island,” Masanda said. “I can’t wait to get them out to states and show what they can do. They never had to step up into a role like this, but they’re growing into it. We ask a lot of our outside hitters with the passing and defense, and they’re doing a great job.”
Kamehameha scored three straight points to tie Game 2 at 22-22. After a service error, Kamahoa Kaawaloa-Okita knocked down a kill for a 24-22 lead, and a Kamehameha error gave Waiakea its only set.
The last time the two played Kamehameha swept Waiakea in a sloppy game, which featured 36 unforced errors from Kamehameha and 41 from Waiakea, including 11 from the service line.
The rematch looked familiar for Waiakea, which had seven service errors in games 1, 2, and 4.
In the momentum-shifting third set, Waiakea trailed 20-19 after Morante’s ace. But he had a service error, and Waiakea followed with an unforced error. Wana dropped an ace, Kealoha hammered a kill, and 6-4 senior Christian Saiki put down game point for one of his four kills.
The fourth set wasn’t close at all. Kamehameha scored nine straight points, including three consecutive kills by Kealoha, to grab a 16-7 cushion. Saiki ripped an overpass for match point.
Morante is the only player with a rocket jump-serve, but had two of his aces in the second set, and for the most part Kamehameha was able to accurately pass to setters Dorian Roque-Kuamoo and Mahuna.
“We have a really good coaching staff, and even our servers can go back and practice,” Masanda said. “We try and show them what they’ll see beforehand. We finally settled in to our game plan in the third and fourth sets, and it worked out well.
“As I said before, we just needed experience. Dorian is a great athlete, and he’s still got a long ways to go. But he’s much better than where he was. He’s improving daily, both setters are. We can’t teach time so we got to keep getting them reps.”
Kamehameha had 35 kills, and Waiakea also had 35 kills, which got backrow kills during scramble plays from Morante, who again looked like the most well-rounded player. Kealoha and Wana were close behind.
“He’s normally a setter, but he has to hit,” Masanda said. “I’ve watched him play since he was in second grade with (son) Davin. He’s been chasing his older brothers (Clayton and Clayson) all these years. He’s a damn good player.”
Konawaena 3, Pahoa 1: Tevita Levaka slammed 21 kills Friday night and the Wildcats shrugged off a sluggish first set to win a battle of Division II unbeatens on the road, 21-25, 25-13, 25-13, 25-10.
Konawaena (4-0) posted 11 kills against nine hitting errors in Game 1 but quickly heated up, finishing with a .220 attack percentage. Exon Pimentero put down 11 kills, and Fabian Ruiz had 21 digs.
The Daggers (5-1) compiled 21 kills and 27 attack errors. Kailen Kamakeeaina led the way with eight kills and 11 digs.
Christian Liberty 3, Kohala 2: Jerry Becker smoked 19 kills Thursday night, Judah Shrinski added 11 and Caleb Vogt had 10 as the Canefire outlasted the visiting Cowboys, 25-11, 30-28, 10-25, 25-27, 15-8.
Lawson DeLeon has 29 assista for Christian Liberty (2-1) as Kohala (1-2) lost its second five-setter in a row.