KEA‘AU — Saturday’s weather was pristine and the bleachers at Nae’ole Aquatics Complex on the campus of Kamehameha-Hawaii were filled with enthusiastic Big Island water polo fans, as the top-four teams fought it out for the Central Pacific Bank/Big Island Interscholastic Federation Championship and the three spots in the upcoming HHSAA championships.
The semifinals were held Thursday, with HPA prevailing over KSH by a score of 12-6, and Hilo dispatching Kealakehe 11-6 to set up the championship match featuring Hilo versus HPA. KSH additionally faced off against Kealakehe for third place and the final spot in the state tournament, which begins Monday on Oahu.
Hilo came into the title match with an unbeaten record in BIIF competition, having previously beaten HPA 9-4 on March 29 and 9-7 on April 19. However, Ka Makani girls came into the matchup determined to prove that the old sports saying, “it’s hard to win three in a row against the same team,” was true.
Once the ball hit the water on the opening drop, HPA executed its game plan to perfection. Ka Makani out-swam Hilo and played sticky defense — leading to turnovers, poor shots, fast breaks and easy goals. The first goal of the match for HPA was a thing of beauty — a crossing pass in front of the goal that was tapped in by senior Maile Imonen. Freshman Kai Wood scored two more goals, while Rosy Wawner added one to give HPA a 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Hilo finally got on track in the second quarter, with Noelani Moleni and Marisa Oishi each adding a goal for the Vik Queens. Unfortunately for Hilo, HPA goalie Neha Singh and the defense stopped a number of other scoring attempts. Meanwhile for Ka Makani, Imonen and Wawner each scored their second goals of the match and Ione Chicone notched her first to give HPA a comfortable 7-2 halftime lead.
The Vik Queens made some adjustments at halftime, and Hilo goalie Maya Robello recorded a shutout in the third quarter. However, HPA’s defense continued to impress and only gave up one goal — the second for Oishi — leading to a 7-3 score in favor of the Ka Makani after three quarters.
Hilo opened the fourth quarter in aggressive fashion and quickly scored two goals — one by Lilinoe Tonelli and Oishi adding her third goal to cut the HPA lead to 7-5 with 3:36 left in regulation. Imonen was not to be denied though, as she bracketed by Hilo’s Stella Raye with two more goals of her own to add to the final score of 9-6, giving HPA the victory.
Once the final buzzer sounded, Ka Makani girls wasted little time in performing the time honored water polo tradition of having the whole team jump in the pool with the coaches to celebrate the victory.
Once HPA head coach Greg McKenna had a chance to dry off, he had told the paper that, “today we came in, we had a good mindset, the defense was on and we played our game.” McKenna went on credit his team for out-swimming Hilo and winning the battles when it came to 50-50 balls and forcing poor shots.
Imonen led the Ka Makani in scoring, picking up four goals. She also has a team-leading 26 goals this season.
“I have been on this team for four years, and every time we have fallen short in the last quarter of the championship,” Imonen added. “My mindset was, ‘this is my last year, we have an amazing team, and we are so close,’ and I just wanted to do everything I could to help our team end up on top.”
While Imonen scored two goals, Ka Makani freshman Kai Wood was a defensive standout during the match, always willing to get in the middle of the action and mix it up. When asked about what goes on underwater that the spectators can’t see during these defensive battles, she explained that, “it’s brutal, there’s a lot of grabbing and a lot of pulling; I love the aggression.” Ultimately, her aggression resulted in an ejection with 30 seconds left, but with a three-goal lead and the BIIF championship secured, she took it in stride.
In the match prior, KSH and Kealakehe matched up for a ticket to Oahu. In two previous matches, the Lady Warriors came out on top by scores of 9-4 on March 29 and 10-5 on April 19. This time around, the Waveriders jumped out to a 2-0 lead early, and held a 5-3 at halftime. Kealakehe kept the pressure on, leading 6-4 quarters. However, the fourth quarter was dominated by KSH, who shut out the Waveriders while scoring four goals of its own to capture third place with an 8-6 victory.
Oliliu Wise and Lauren Kamauu scored two goals each for the Lady Warriors, with Hannah White scoring three goals for the Waveriders.
