Maraea O’Connor will definitely have one thing on her Christmas wish list: another crack at College of Southern Idaho in the junior college volleyball national championship.
Maraea O’Connor will definitely have one thing on her Christmas wish list: another crack at College of Southern Idaho in the junior college volleyball national championship.
The 2015 Kamehameha graduate and Western Nebraska were in prime position to take home the title on Saturday while stationed in Casper, Wyo., leading 2-1 in sets.
But the Golden Eagles rallied and defeated the Cougars 25-22, 23-25, 24-26, 25-22, 15-9, winning their first championship since 2012.
Blinn (Texas) College won it last year and in 2011, and Central Florida took the crown in 2013.
O’Connor, a freshman opposite, made the most of her 23 swings from the right spot. She smashed nine kills and had just two errors for a .304 attack percentage.
It was a dream matchup between No. 1 CIS (34-3) and No. 2 Western Nebraska (42-5), which beat the Golden Eagles in five sets earlier in the season.
CIS barely outhit WNCC, .211-.206. Each team finished with 11 blocks. The Cougars had more kills, 66-63, and more digs, 78-67.
The turning point came in the fourth set. O’Connor knocked down one of her three kills in the game to give the Cougars a 22-21 lead.
But her community college teammate Keala Kaio-Perez, from Oahu’s Kailua High, made a costly service error, one of WNCC’s nine. CIS had just five service errors.
Then Tawnee Luafalemana, from Carson, Calif., and a Blinn College transfer, put down consecutive kills, and CIS closed the set with an ace.
In the fifth set, the Golden Eagles served bullets and jumped out to a 6-0 lead. From there, they just needed to trade sideouts, and the Cougars could only score consecutive points twice.
CIS loses its two best players: sophomore middle blockers Lafalemana (18 kills) and Kendall Brock (17 kills).
WNCC returns all its starters, except for its setter Fabiana Andrade, who’s from Brazil.
“This season was so great and we worked so hard,” O’Connor said. “We started the first two weeks barely knowing each other and we just came together as a family because we wanted to win the title so badly. We left everything out on the court and gave it our all.
“Playing for the title was such a great experience. It was so thrilling and it was one of the best feelings, knowing that we were one of the top teams in the nation.”
The Cougars are a diverse mix. There are five Hawaii players, including O’Connor and Kaio-Perez, who’s a sophomore.
Barbara Rabanal Briceno (18 kills) is from Peru, Jady Grotto (16 kills) is from Brazil and Lara Picht (15 kills) is from Germany. They will all be back for WNCC for another Juco season.
“Even though we came up short, it was such a great ride and we came so far as a team,” O’Connor said. “Our first practice we couldn’t even talk to some our teammates due to language barriers, but we ended the season as a family.
“Our freshmen are so excited to come back next year and hopefully win it.”
Volleyball
• Pacific Union sophomore outside hitter Amanda Loeffler (Hilo, 2014) landed on the All-Cal Pacific Conference first team.
As a freshman, Loeffler was the Cal Pac Freshman of the Year and received second-team honors for the Pioneers who compete on the NAIA level.
The all-around Loeffler led PUC with 125 kills and a 2.98 kill per set average, and 138 digs and 3.24 digs per set for PUC (13-14, 3-7).
“Amanda as a sophomore has already accomplished a lot for us, and what is exciting is she still has so much more room to grow,” PUC coach Brittany Brown said on the school’s website. “She is an amazing athlete that can execute in all areas of her game, really creating a foundation for our program. I can’t wait to see what she will accomplish as an upperclassmen.”
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