So far, this season, I’ve spoken a lot about football, be it college of the NFL. All the ranked teams were falling and the NFL teams that should have opened the season strongly, didn’t. Well, football wasn’t the only sport
So far, this season, I’ve spoken a lot about football, be it college of the NFL. All the ranked teams were falling and the NFL teams that should have opened the season strongly, didn’t.
Well, football wasn’t the only sport to have been in a topsy turvy this year. I have to give big ups to the girls high school volleyball teams of this season. Granted, I only have last year to compare it to, but this year was such an improvement by all teams.
Island School even jumped into the mix by joining the junior varsity ranks via exhibition.
Last year, Waimea High School was the clear favorite despite the fact that Kapa‘a High School was the defending champs.
This year we were treated to quite the season. Predicting who will be the champion was almost as those crazy college football polls. Just as you think you’ve got a front-runner, they lose and you’re forced to evaluate all the teams again.
The girls of Kaua‘i High School started it off by downing Kapa‘a in three games in the season opener. They couldn’t do wrong by the rest of the season because no matter how they finished the season, they would’ve already tied last year’s record having only won one game. Things were looking up for the team.
Then by the next match, the Red Raiders traveled to Waimea where they were downed in three. As I said then, if that game was any indication of what was to come, then we were in for a bonafide, exciting season. By the looks of things, it was going to be a toss up between Kaua‘i and Waimea.
But then you fast forward to the end of Round 1 and Kapa‘a ends up beating Waimea. Kapa‘a’s middle blocker Tori Tuttle and the duo of Maliana Hamada and Mailika Napoleon took Waimea to five games and delivered a huge win in the clutch.
Now we’re thinking, well what does this mean for Round 2?
Now everyone was beatable. Does this mean the momentum shifts to Kapa‘a’s favor? Is the loss a blow to Waimea’s season? How does Kaua‘i now fit in the mix?
Turns out the momentum had shift to Kapa‘a’s favor, if only for a brief moment. Kapa‘a came off that win over Waimea and beat Kaua‘i in the Round 2 opener.
Looking good right? Wrong. Waimea came back and was undefeated in Round 2, forcing a playoff with Kaua‘i.
Confused? The players were too for a while because all the teams were good and no one could say for sure who would be the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation champion.
This is a good thing for the KIF because competition only makes them better. This better prepares them for when they play against the O‘ahu teams in tournaments.
I have to say though, the playoff for the championship was a bit anticlimactic for me. I was fully prepared to see a nail-biting match going to five games. Here there was a packed gym in Waimea looking to see a huge match between Waimea and Kaua‘i only to see the match go down in three. The match lasted all about an hour and 10 minutes. That was completely unexpected.
But after the game, I spoke with Kaua‘i head coach Richard Roberts and said to him, “you can’t really be upset with how this ended, right? You’ve come so far from last year and made the playoff. It was still a pretty successful season.”
To that, he responded that Kaua‘i belonged there because they worked so hard for it. And that’s true, they did. They did deserve to be there and so did Waimea.
When Waimea lost two of its key players Josey Jacinto and Cheri Kua to ankle injuries, the Menehune bench stepped up and was able to come up with wins. Tatum Gonsalves and Tia Agader broke as great hitters. Qyla Parangao stepped in the setter’s position and was so good at it that when Jacinto returned, they were able to use her in any position they needed. Waimea’s team shirts read “Teamwork makes da team work,” and that’s how Waimea operates. That’s how they earned their second straight KIF title.
The Menehune advance to the New City Nissan Division II Volleyball State Championships on Wednesday on O‘ahu.
As of press time, there were no rankings or match ups determined. But if we learned anything about rankings this season, we learned that anything can happen.
Waimea’s games will be played at either Radford or McKinley high schools.
Last year, Waimea took home the third-place finish.
Game-day results will be posted on www.sportshigh.com.
