KAPAA — No. 1 seed Kapaa High School’s boys volleyball team is in high spirits and looking forward to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II state tournament which begins today. The team held its last practice Wednesday evening
KAPAA — No. 1 seed Kapaa High School’s boys volleyball team is in high spirits and looking forward to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II state tournament which begins today.
The team held its last practice Wednesday evening at the school’s gym before flying out to Oahu early this morning.
Kapaa head coach Kapule Kaona said he’s kept practices lighthearted and loose as the team looks forward to its first match.
“For our team, when we try to get too intense and too crazy, it doesn’t work to our advantage. The kids tense up a little bit and they respond differently,” the Warriors coach said. “We didn’t change anything that we did. Just fine tuning things.
“The kids are excited. I’m excited. It’s uncharted grounds for us. We got high expectations of ourselves. We did fairly well this year in the KIF. We’re hoping to continue that in the state tournament,” Kaona added.
Senior libero Jonathan Paleka said defense was one of the key factors the team has been working on during practice.
“We just have to get our blocks out there and our defense covering,” he said.
Paleka added the team felt relieved after winning the KIF championship and that has helped it focus on the state tournament.
“(Trying to win) KIF was a lot of stress on us. Since we got that off of our shoulders … It’s a lot easier and nicer. Things aren’t as crazy,” he said.
Senior middle Nicholas Hantz said he and his teammates are looking forward to showing the other schools what they’ve got.
“I was all hyped for it and everything for the last week of practice,” Hantz said. “Today, it settled in … The thing we’ve been waiting for all season. It’s coming all in right now.”
Kaona said he was “humbled” when he heard the news of his team earning the No. 1 seed at the tournament.
“It played out to what it is. We’ll take it, but the focus what not to let that number get to our head,” he said. “We’ll just play volleyball. The great thing is that nobody knows who we are or what we do.”
Kapaa will play Honokaa from the Big Island in today’s first round match.
“I know they’ve got two or three guys that they heavily rely on like any other team. We’re expecting those to be the go-to guys, but we haven’t been able to see any film on them,” Kaona said. “We haven’t heard any information on them … We’re coming there just focusing on our side of the net and what we need to do.”
