KEAAU — Kailee Yoshimura, Tiani Bello and Naniloa Spaar helped Kamehameha get to match point against Hilo, Tehani Kupahu-Canon put the finishing touches on the victory with a block and …
The rest is to be continued.
Kamehameha got the four-set victory it needed Saturday against the Vikings to earn home-court advantage in the BIIF Division I volleyball playoffs, completing a raucous regular season in the Red division with a 25-19, 25-15, 22-25, 25-18 victory at Koaia Gym.
Same teams, same place at 7 p.m. Wednesday night as the Vikings (13-3) and Warriors (13-3) match up again in the semifinals for a berth in the HHSAA tournament.
Waiakea (14-2) swept Kealakehe on Saturday to earn an automatic berth to the state tournament. It hosts Keaau at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the semifinals.
Hilo won the first meeting against Kamehameha in five sets Sept. 27, so even with a loss Saturday the Vikings would have had a chance to earn a home playoff match via a tiebreaker by getting to a fifth set. Kamehameha lost a two-set lead in the earlier meeting against the Vikings, but coach Sam Thomas said his team gained something along the way during a week in which it also clashed with Waiakea, winning in a sweep, and Konawaena, losing in three sets.
“I think we started playing our best volleyball of the season, and I think we’ve kept it up since then,” Thomas said.
The emergence of the athletic Bello, a freshman, has provided a spark as well. On her Senior Day, Yoshimura led the way with 15 kills, and Bello (14 kills) came off the bench and added an instant hitting presence, leaping high and slamming rockets the Vikings way.
“She just came out on fire,” Hilo coach Drew Fernandez said. “She’s that secret weapon.”
Bello had a coming-out party Wednesday at Waiakea.
She made a rare hitting error in the Game 2, tying the set 7-7 and causing her to bring her hands to her mouth, but she started a Kamehameha spurt with a lightning-fast swing that Hilo’s block didn’t find an answer for until it was too late.
“She started some in the preseason, but there were things we wanted her to refine her game with so we kind of pulled her back,” Thomas said, “and started working her in practice. We felt two weeks ago she was ready, and I think we were right.”
The Vikings won Game 3 largely because of Kawai Ua, who made a home on the left side and slammed eight of her match-high 18 kills. Kailee Kurokawa chipped in with seven kills, Taina Leao posted five and Leialii Makekau-Whitaker added four.
Fernandez didn’t think the match came down to hitting.
“Kamehameha’s serve gave us trouble, especially in the first two sets,” he said.
Kupahu-Canon, a middle blocker, and Spaar, another freshman, added 11 and nine kills, respectively, Kiani Troy served four aces to go with 16 digs, and Seizen Alameda dug 17 balls.
One player who didn’t show up on the stat sheet for Kamehameha was senior middle Cienna Daog.
“She’s our spiritual mom,” Thomas said. “She doesn’t get a lot of sets, but she does everything else.”
The D-I Player of the Year will be announced sometime after the state tournament, but the MVPs of the regular season might be the league’s athletic directors, who devised a schedule that put the island’s best four teams in the Red division. That allowed Waiakea, Hilo, Kamehameha and Konawaena, a Division II team that plays like it’s in D-I, to play home-and-away matches.
Those four teams combined to play in seven five-setters.
“It’s been fun, but it’s been draining,” Fernandez said.
Said Thomas: “It’s great for the league and only makes us better and prepares us, hopefully, for states.”
