Wednesday night saw two east-side BIIF DI volleyball matchups — Kamehameha Schools – Hawai‘i at Hilo High and Kea‘au High at Waiakea High.
Also, Christian Liberty Academy traveled to the west side — suffering a sweep at the hands of Konawaena HS in BIIF DII action.
KSH 3 – HILO 1
Despite taking the loss, the Vikings gave the Warriors their toughest local matchup this year — dealing KSH its first BIIF-play set loss of the season and nearly taking the match to five sets.
The first set started off close as the Vikings attempted to withstand the Warriors’ serves and hitting. However, KSH quickly pulled ahead as its hitting came through, its front line repeatedly blocked Hilo’s spike attempts and the Vikings made offensive errors. The Warriors won 25-15.
The tide shifted as the second set began. The Vikings established a small lead early, and maintained it as the set progressed. Hilo improved its organization, and the Warriors began to make more errors — mostly on defense. The Vikings also tightened up their defense, digging more of KSH’s spikes. Hilo’s Kaliko Kealoha served a six-point scoring run that included two aces. KSH began to chip away at Hilo’s lead — which was ten points at its peak — but not soon enough to avoid the 25-18 loss.
The Warriors started the third set with a short lead, but jumped ahead early as Hali‘imaileauli‘i Kuamo‘o served a five-point run to extend their lead to eight points. Hilo attempted to close the gap, but again began to succumb to KSH’s hitting. As the Warriors crested the 20-point mark, they began extending their lead even more and won the set 25-12.
Momentum seemed to swing back toward Hilo in the fourth set. The Vikings established a decent lead early, boosted by a six-point run served by Anolani Santos. As the set progressed, the Warriors slowly chipped away at their deficit. As Hilo hit the 20-point mark, it still led by five points. Facing the threat of a fifth set, KSH turned up the intensity and tied the score at 23-23, capitalizing on blocks. A spike error by Hilo took KSH to set point, then a kill by Maela Honma gave the Warriors the victory 25-23.
Honma led KSH’s offense, recording a massive 29 kills. Kealohi Dudoit led the Warriors’ defense with 25 digs, trailed by Shay Beals with 18 digs — as well as 13 kills — and Kuamo‘o with 13 digs.
Mia Polloi and Keanu Huihui were instrumental in stopping Hilo’s spikes, each notching seven blocks. Honma also made four blocks.
Now 8-0 and having beaten every other BIIF DI team twice this season, KSH only has four remaining regular-season matchups on its slate. The Warriors’ next outing will be Wednesday evening at Waiakea HS.
The Vikings are 3-2, but still have six more DI outings ahead of them. On Monday evening, they will host Waiakea HS for the rival pair’s second encounter on the season. Last time HHS and WHS faced off, Hilo won 3-1. Both of Hilo’s losses this season have been against KSH.
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WAIAKEA 3 – KEA‘AU 0
The homestanding Warriors quickly downed the Cougars — winning in straight sets of 25-12, 25-17 and 25-11.
With this victory, Waiakea evened out its record to 3-3. The Warriors will be back in action and on the road Saturday morning — taking on Kealakehe HS (0-4). Last time the pair faced off, Waiakea swept and routed the Waveriders.
Kea‘au fell to 0-5, dropping into the bottom standing in DI. On Tuesday night, the Cougars and Waveriders will finally meet at Kea‘au HS — where one of them will emerge with their first victory of the season.
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KONAWAENA 3 – CLA 0
The Wildcats hosted the Canefire, taking their fifth straight victory in sets of 25-12, 25-12 and 25-10.
Now 5-0, Konawaena rivals Hawaii Prep and Ka‘u HS for the No.1 standing in BIIF DII. The top standing will become untied this weekend. Konawaena will host Ka‘u at 5 p.m. tonight, then Ka‘u will play away at HPA the following morning.
CLA has had a rough season, holding an 0-6 record.
However, the Canefire has an opportunity to nab its first win on Saturday morning — as it will play away against Kanu ‘o ka ‘Aina Charter, which also sits at 0-6.