In the 2025 BIIF girls volleyball season, it’s been business as usual for Kamehameha-Hawaii.
The Lady Warriors — who are a veteran-loaded roster with 11 upperclassmen (including eight seniors) — have been on a tear through their conference schedule. The team is currently 14-0 on the season, and well on its way to clinching its seventh straight unbeaten season in island play. KSH has only lost one total set thus far, beating the likes of Waiakea, Hilo, Kea‘au, Pahoa, Connections, Ka‘u, Christian Liberty Academy and Laupahoehoe. The team has just two matches left before island playoffs begin this week.
So, what has been the driving force behind this particular team’s success in 2025? Senior setter Kealohi Dudoit believes it stems from the group’s ability to buy into the system and embrace new challenges and roles. Dudoit’s personal hurdle was transitioning from being a three-year libero to a setter in her final season — a change that head coach Zoe Leonard said she took with great pride and responsibility.
“She was the starting libero for this team since she was a freshman,” Leonard told the paper of Dudoit. “Setting was not something she had done a ton of before, but she has incredible ball control. She put her head down and worked really hard to lead our offense. In past years, she’s led our defense, so I think that leadership and composure for her to step into a new role has been really awesome.
“We’ve got a lot of really strong firepower on offense, and I think that’s helped set us apart with Shay Beals, Kdynse Apaka and Ahinahiilaiku Enos.”
“What separates us from other teams is that some of our players have taken on new positions or roles, so we’ve had to learn to be comfortable in the uncomfortable, adapt and grow together and still stay competitive,” Dudoit added.
With so much history and success within the program, a culture of excellence is clearly in place. This season, the first-year coach Leonard has added to the storied program with her leadership. A 2015 Kamehameha graduate, Leonard was a four-time BIIF champion with the Lady Warriors, going on to play collegiately for Dartmouth College and briefly serving as an assistant under her father Chris Leonard with the women’s volleyball program at UH-Hilo.
Making her way back to Kamehameha three years ago to serve as the school’s transition specialist, Zoe Leonard took advantage of the opportunity to lead the girls program this season. She views her position as a rewarding chance to give back to the program that helped shape her direction in the sport.
“(Coaching this team) is something that I always had in the back of my mind, and thought it would be really cool to be a part of the program,” Leonard said. “Because I work here at the school, I’ve gotten to know the volleyball girls pretty well over the last couple of years in my other capacity. I had that foundation with them outside of volleyball, which made the transition a lot easier.
“I’m super excited to be able to give back on this front. I enjoyed coaching college, but now I get to work with girls who are from this community going through the same process and journey that I went through. I want to let them know that playing at the next level is possible, but it takes a lot of work. And if you don’t want to play at the next level, we want to continue to develop you as a young woman.”
Beals, who has been a four-year contributor on varsity, has enjoyed Leonard’s approach of hard work, discipline and having fun. She enjoys her coach’s pursuit of pushing them to be better people, on and off the court.
“Something that makes us different from other programs would definitely be the culture,” Beals said. “Coach Zoe uplifts us, and always pushes us to not only be great volleyball players, but great people, too.
“She has set positive foundational values for our team. Which carries us, but also grounds us to who we are as a team.”
Although the Lady Warriors have gone unbeaten on the Big Island, they technically have lost matches this season. The team flew to Las Vegas in mid September for the Durango Fall Classic, where KSH faced some of the best high school competition in the nation. While the Lady Warriors lost some matchups in the tournament, they learned quite a bit about themselves and what it would take to reach their full potential.
“I think that was a really defining moment for us,” Leonard said of the Vegas trip. “We did lose a few matches up there, but the team was still very much together and had each other’s back. I think that makes a difference when you come back home and continue trusting in the process and trusting in each other.”
The remainder of the Lady Warriors’ roster consists of seniors Callie Chong, Ziona Launiu, Camryn Grace, Taliya Nashida, Carmen Otake and Kauilani Intendencia, juniors Kira-Lynn Palea and Lili Thompson-Ua, sophomores Hannah Acob, Lili Goodhue and Stella Black and freshman Sienna Frederick.
Despite being the standard of Big Island volleyball for many years, the program has never won a state title. While the Lady Warriors certainly believe they have enough to finally reach that mountaintop, Leonard cares more about the journey than the destination.
Growing closer together and becoming better young women — on and off the court — is what ultimately matters to her the most.
“The legacy of this program is always in the back of your mind, but we’re not necessarily talking about the wins,” Leonard said. “We’re focused on the process, focusing on one day at a time. We are never taking a day or game for granted. We hope our process will lead to a BIIF championship and a good run at states, but for us, it’s more about the journey and trying to become the best versions of ourselves, and the rest will fall into place.”
Leonard also noted that attitude, communication and effort have been core themes for KSH this season, and that they will need to abide by those values in order to accomplish something special this postseason.
For Beals and Dudoit, playing clean volleyball and having an energetic approach will be critical when it comes to determining how far the Lady Warriors go.
“We really have to focus on our foundational goals of relentless defense, tough serving and minimizing errors on our side,” Beals said. “But also uplifting the goal of identity we have as a program. Which is seen all the time through our energy we have as a team, and our energy equals our identity.”
“We’re focused on improving every day and fine-tuning a few areas, especially with some of us in new roles,” Dudoit added.
See the paper over the next several weeks to find out how the KSH Lady Warriors finish the 2025 season.