From an early age, Isaiah Laeha had an opportunity to be a wrestling force on the ground, but he found a passion to jump in the air and pound a volleyball.
Good thing for Kamehameha, which has made a habit of winning the BIIF Division I title, making a serious run at states, and cleaning house for the postseason’s top honor.
Laeha is the latest Warrior to be named the BIIF Player of the Year in the Red division in a vote by the league’s coaches.
The 5-foot-11 senior outside hitter follows last year’s winner Emmett Enriques and Evan Enriques, a three-time POY.
“He’s the closet to Evan and Emmett as far as putting his heart and soul into his trade,” Kamehameha coach Guy Enriques said. “He’s just a workhorse and dedicated to what he was doing. He’s a very good athlete and has good character. He’s a stable, solid kid. He’s one of the guys who trained probably harder than anybody else.”
Laeha is joined on the first team with three teammates: junior setter Addie Enriques, junior outside hitter Avery Enriques, and senior opposite Pukana Vincent.
The other first-team members are Waiakea senior hitter Clayson Morante, senior setter/opposite Ty Nishimura, senior libero Tyson Nishimura, and Kealakehe senior setter Kanoa Snively.
Waiakea’s Ecko Osorio was named the BIIF Coach of the Year in the Red division.
Laeha has served a long apprenticeship to become Kamehameha’s L1 or left-side No. 1 hitter. He was an opposite as a freshman and sophomore but saw limited time.
Last season, Laeha worked like a dedicated workhorse to become the team’s L2 and continued his progression in his final year.
At the HHSAA tournament, he flourished against Kamehameha-Kapalama in a four-set quarterfinal win with 25 kills on a .345 hitting clip on 58 swings and just five errors.
But Laeha hurt his left ankle in the fourth set, and the three-time BIIF champion Warriors never regained their footing. They lost to eventual runner-up Moanalua in the semifinals and finished third.
Still, Laeha’s workhorse effort earned him a reward, the POY honor.
“I’m very honored to have this recognition and everyone involved, my coaches, teammates, family, and teachers helped me to stay focused,” he said.
One of Laeha’s goals was to raise his grade-point average. He started his senior year with a 3.8 GPA and finished with a 3.9.
“I had an interest in math-based classes and took AP statistics and AP calculus and that helped bring up my GPA,” he said. “That was a main accomplishment for me.”
Unlike the Enriques brothers who are playing college ball (Evan at Stanford and Emmett at Cal Baptist), Laeha will concentrate on being a full-time college student.
He’ll attend UNLV and major in architecture; the Rebels don’t have men’s volleyball. It also helps that his brother Makia Laeha lives in Reno as well as an uncle.
His dad is Keith Laeha, a longtime BIIF wrestling coach at Waiakea and now at Kamehameha. Makia played football and volleyball, and sister Rachel competed in soccer and water polo at Kamehameha.
Laeha grew up at Waiakea’s gym running around with his older brother and sister while his dad was coaching wrestling.
So why not wrestling?
“Good question. When we were little we used to hang around at wrestling practice,” he said. “Over the years, I never grew a thing for wrestling. I was involved with a lot of other stuff, soccer, basketball, paddling for a year. I wanted to try other things and found a passion for volleyball.
“I like the team aspect of it. As a kid, I loved to jump around, and volleyball is all about jumping. When I first started in sixth grade, I thought, ‘Hey, I’m not bad at this sport.’ I stuck with it, and that’s where I am now.”
Laeha’s career highlight is winning the BIIF title against Waiakea because fellow seniors Vincent, Kainalu Whitney, and Israel Mata all shared in the glow of being champions.
“That was the biggest thing for me, finally being a leader along with Pukana, Kainalu, and Israel,” he said. “We were ready to take on a bigger challenge and hopefully win the state championship.
“Things turned out differently. My injury happened out of nowhere. You have to expect the unexpected, and sometimes stuff does happen. Other people have to fill in and keep moving forward.”
The best part about Kamehameha’s recent run of POY winners is that each one has set a good example: hard work on the court and classroom, and a goal of Imua or to keep moving forward in college.
