During Friday’s Central Pacific Bank/Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF) Division II Girls Volleyball Championship in Waimea, No. 1 (West) Hawaii Preparatory Academy coach Daena Craven believed everything came together for her group.
Ka Makani beat local rival No. 2 (West) Parker in straight sets — 25-17, 25-19 and 26-24 — to clinch its second consecutive BIIF title.
“They put it all together,” Craven told West Hawaii Today. “It felt like everyone had a great game, and they were playing for each other. They did everything we asked of them and executed the game plan almost perfectly.”
HPA played a strong match on both sides of the ball, especially defensively. Collectively, the red and white tallied 57 digs and seven blocks to prevent the visiting Bulls from winning a set. Senior Margot Lewis popped out on the stat sheet — posting a team-high 39.1% hit percentage and 18 kills, a 2.11 service reception rating and a block. Offensively, senior Elaina Head led the team with three service aces.
Craven credited her seniors for their leadership and superb play all season, as Lewis, Head, Maile Imonen and Mya Pinkert are all playing in their final matches as members of Ka Makani.
“They’re an amazing group,” she said. “They work so hard, and they’re all wonderful people and incredible leaders. They’ve set an amazing tone for all of us and our younger players. They are going to be missed.”
Craven also pointed to the seniors’ presence as one of the contributing factors for the island title, explaining that their leadership by example trickled down to everyone else involved with the team.
“I attribute a lot of (our championship) to the senior leadership and the fact that they’re very inclusive, really enjoy playing and their unselfishness. We have two freshmen on the team (Emily Thorton and Kaiulani Honda), and they’ve done a great job of including everybody. They come to every practice and work hard.”
With the championship clinched, HPA (17-1) will set its sights to the HHSAA tournament, which begins today on O‘ahu. As a No. 2 seed in the tournament, Craven noted that the girls are excited and confident to make a run — and to show the state what they’re all about.
“We’re going into it with the idea that we’re going to do the very best we can,” she said. “We’ve had a few challenges over the season, and we’ve learned a lot from those challenges. We’re hoping to put everything into place and play hard.”
All of Parker’s (17-3) losses this season have come against Ka Makani. Nonetheless, the Bulls will join HPA on O‘ahu this week.
Kohala 3, Ka‘u 0
No. 3 (West) Kohala girls volleyball upset No. 1 (East) Ka‘u in the BIIF DII third-place game Friday night inside Castle Gymnasium. The Cowgirls won in straight sets to punch their ticket to states — 25-19, 25-8 and 25-23.
Kohala (12-8) moves on to O‘ahu, while the Trojans’ (10-8) season has ended.
State tournament
HPA, Parker and Kohala all punched their tickets to the state tournament this week after finishing in the top three of island play.
No. 2 Ka Makani earned a first-round bye, and will play the winner of today’s match between Farrington and Damien at 5 p.m. Thursday at Kaimuki High School. The Bulls will take on fifth-seeded Castle at 7 p.m. tonight at Kalani High School. The Cowgirls will face Seabury at 5 p.m. tonight at Kalani.
See the paper later this week to read the results. West Hawaii Today and Hawaii Tribune-Herald wishes all three Big Island schools well on O‘ahu!
