Po’okela and Ho’oikaika volleyball club, along with Kaua’i and Waimea High School alumni, teamed up this past Saturday at Kaua’i High School gym to compete in an all-day scrimmage with two teams from the Mainland, Minnesota and Iowa. The format
Po’okela and Ho’oikaika volleyball club, along with Kaua’i and Waimea High School alumni, teamed up this past Saturday at Kaua’i High School gym to compete in an all-day scrimmage with two teams from the Mainland, Minnesota and Iowa.
The format was simple: two games, rally scoring to twenty-five, play each opposing team once and the winner would be determined by the final win/loss record.
A total of 15 matches in less than seven hours with no breaks created an atmosphere of rigorous competition. Nearly all of the matches were decided by a margin of one to five points.
Minnesota posted the best record at 8-0.
Po’okela came in a close second with a record of 6-2, Kaua’i High alumni, Iowa and Ho’oikaika all tied for third with a 3-5 record.
“It was highly competitive volleyball,” Minnesota head coach Michelle Anderson. “I was really impressed with the defense of the Kaua’i teams. They were very scrappy. We would tip a ball over and think that it was going down, and then they would pick it up out of nowhere.”
The defense of all four Kaua’i teams was one of the most talked about aspects of the tournament by both Iowa and Minnesota players.
“Everyone has such quick hands on defense,” said Natalie Straw of Minnesota. Teammate Patricia Dietz agreed: “It wasn’t all about power hitting for them, it was great defense.”
The scrimmages were also filled with some outstanding play between Po’okela, the Kaua’i High School varsity team, and the Kaua’i High alumni.
The match was a battle for bragging rights that the varsity team won by a single point in the first game and by two in the second. It was a grudge match that could have gone either way, but a lot of fun from both sides of the net.
Besides the great volleyball, both Minnesota and Iowa thoroughly enjoyed their time on the island. The trip across the Pacific Ocean wasn’t all about volleyball, it was about “experiencing a new and different culture,” Anderson said. Both teams found time to visit the North Shore and West side of the island.
“We had a killer time,” said a group of Iowa teammates as they left the gym.
The scrimmages provided an opportunity for all of the teams to make new friends while measuring their strengths and weaknesses against new opponents.
“I hope that we can do it all again next year,” said Po’okela coach Richard Roberts and Ho’oikaika coach Walter Souza.
