The Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF) kicked off another week of spring sports Monday across the isle, ranging from baseball and volleyball games to a golf outing on the sunny west side.
Awaya wins first outing of season
BIIF golf hosted its fifth all-schools match of the season at Kona Country Club. In the boys field, Waiakea and Kealakehe tied with a 330 (+42) collective score. Over in the girls competition, Hawaii Prep won comfortably — shooting +41 on the afternoon (257). Ka Makani beat next-best finisher Waiakea by 13 strokes.
Waiakea’s Madelyn Awaya won her first individual competition of the season, shooting a 79 and beating second-place finisher Anna Sailer (HPA), who shot just one stroke behind.
Awaya’s teammate, boys star Noah Otani, won his second individual match of 2024 by shooting par in his respective competition. Otani also won the boys field on March 13 at Hilo Muni with the same score. Teammate Ryder Ng placed second at KCC, shooting a 74.
For more results from Monday’s outing, please see Page 3B. The BIIF’s golf season will continue at 9:30 a.m. Friday at Mauna Lani North Course.
Volleyball: Kona remains unbeaten
Konawaena boys volleyball remained undefeated in 2024 with a straight-sets win over Hawaii Prep in Waimea — 25-14, 25-23 and 25-19.
The Wildcats (8-0) will look to keep their magical season going with their next matchup against Ka Umeke at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the road.
Ka Makani (3-3) will try to get back in the win column at 6 p.m. tonight against Ka‘u in Castle Gym.
KSH gets back on track
The Warriors boys volleyball team got back in the win collumn, defeating Kealakehe High in three narrow sets of 25-19, 25-23 and 26-24 in Kea‘au.
Kullen Pua and Nainoa Paio led KS-Hawai‘i’s offense with ten kills apiece. Tanoa Laititi also played his part on the Warriors’ front line, notching eight kills and leading his team with three blocks. Setter Kalena Launui led the Warriors with 14 assists.
Monday was KSH’s first win since suffering its first loss of the season — a five-set game against Hilo last week. The Warriors’ next matchup will be Thursday at home against Kea‘au High. The next day, the Warriors will play their senior night game against Waiakea High — then they will wrap up the regular season with road tests next week at Kealakehe and Hilo, in order.
The Waveriders dipped back below .500 to 3-4 — but will look to recover their record tonight in Hilo against Waiakea High.
JV Score: KSH in 2 sets, 25-12 and 25-18.
Daggers dominate Canefire
The Daggers won their second straight, dominating Christian Liberty Academy in straight sets of 25-10, 25-21 and 25-17 in Kea‘au.
Pahoa also won the bragging rights of being Puna’s top Division II team, as the Canefire is the only other BIIF DII league competitor in the district.
The Daggers improved to 6-1 on the season, and are tied with Ka‘u High for the No. 2 standing in BIIF DII behind undefeated Konawaena — which beat Pahoa 3-1 last week and Ka‘u 3-0 in mid-March.
After a Tuesday night road matchup against Ka ‘Umeke Ka‘eo PCS (1-4) (results will be reported soon), the Daggers will round off their regular season within the week — playing their final away game on Thursday at Kohala High (4-2) and hosting Ka‘u on Monday for senior night.
CLA dropped to 1-5 in its fourth straight loss. The Canefire will look to gain from its next two matchups, which are both against two other small schools with losing records — Ka ‘Umeke (1-4) on Saturday and Kanu o ka ‘Aina Charter (1-7) on Monday — both at home.
JV Score: Pahoa defeated St. Joseph JV in 2 sets, 25-11 and 25-17.
Trojans trounce Kanu
Ka‘u boys volleyball returned successful from a trip to the opposite side of the island, defeating Kanu ‘o ka ‘Aina Charter on Saturday in Waimea — in sets of 25-17, 13-25, 26-24 and 25-17.
The win boosted Ka‘u to 6-1. Three games remain for the Trojans ahead of the postseason — at HPA tonight, at Pahoa next Monday and senior night against Christian Liberty next Wednesday, April 17 in Pahala.
Kanu fell to 1-7 in its first loss since last week, when it notched its first win of the season. With little chance of reaching the postseason, Kanu will still be able to finish with its best record in years if it wins its final two matchups — which are against two other low-standing teams, CLA and Ka ‘Umeke.
Baseball: Waiakea handles visiting Cardinals
Waiakea High defeated visiting Lowell High — of San Francisco, Calif. — in a four-inning, non-division matchup.
Kalama Ulibas slugged his way through the Cardinals — tripling twice to drive in three runs, go two-for-four and lead Waiakea at the plate.
On the mound, Lucas Yamanaka earned the win — surrendering one earned run on three hits and two walks, striking out three.
Lowell will also play games against Hilo High and KS-Hawai‘i this week.
Waiakea (6-2 BIIF, 7-2 ovr.) has two outings left on its regular season slate, both of which are away and against BIIF DII teams. First, the Warriors will travel on Friday to Waimea to face Hawaii Prep, then will head south next Tuesday to wrap things up against Ka‘u High.
Daggers edge Ka Makani
The Daggers kept in front of Ka Makani for six innings, then broke off from a tie in the bottom seventh as Jayden Majamay-Sumiki scored the go-ahead run on a dropped third strike.
Pahoa took the lead in the bottom first as Max Potter and Donivan Lynch took advantage of wild pitches to score runs.
HPA trailed until the top third, when Lex Ni and Ed Lustik also scored on a wild pitches — tying the game at 2-2.
In the bottom third, the Daggers regained their lead. Lynch attempted to reach first on a dropped strike and was put out, but gave Potter enough time to make it home.
HPA tied things up again and put pressure on Pahoa in the top seventh, when Nishiki Iwai doubled on a fly ball to left field on drove in Justin Kim.
Lynch got the start and the win on the mound for Pahoa, yielding just one earned run on four hits and three walks while striking out six in six innings. Brayden Conda-Tolle closed out the final frame, giving up one earned run on one hit.
Iwai pitched six innings for HPA and struck out ten batters while giving up three earned runs on no hits and six walks.
Pahoa will travel to Pahala today for its inter-district rivalry matchup against Ka‘u High. HPA will also play today, heading down the road to Honoka‘a High.
KSH blanks Waiakea
It’s not common that a baseball game take more than 24 hours to conclude, but the Hilo rain can make anything possible.
The two Warrior squads played a total of 12 innings against each other. The game was slated for Friday, and made it through five innings before getting rained out, and restarting from the top on Saturday afternoon.
Things looked not-so-bad for Waiakea on Friday — as WHS trailed just 3-2 ahead of the rainout — but Saturday was a whole different ballgame, in which KS-Hawai‘i tore through Waiakea to win 6-0.
Five of KSH’s runs were produced by two hits — Braden Gomes’ two-RBI single on a line drive to right field in the top second and Justin Kubojiri’s three-run single on a line to center field in the top seventh.
Noah Palea got the start on the mound for KSH, and earned the win thanks to a strong three frames — during which he gave up one hit and two walks while inducing seven groundouts. Shiloh Santos played at first during those innings and made all seven putouts, assisted thrice by Teysen Tamiya and twice by Palea.
Now 9-0, KSH has been a juggernaut this season, and only one team has a chance to stop them — undefeated BIIF DI leader Hilo High (7-0), the only other lossless baseball team on the isle. The Vikings and Warriors will clash Saturday in Kea‘au.