Kamehameha stops Maryknoll

Kamehameha averted an upset and Maryknoll let a promising opportunity go by the wayside in Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls volleyball Thursday night.

The Spartans, ranked fourth in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10 and playing in their own gym, were five points from closing out a first-set victory before slipping. The defending Division I state champion and second-ranked Warriors rallied back with intensity to grab the opening set and continued the onslaught in the second for a 25-21, 25-14 win.

“For us to come out against a very tough Maryknoll team — with coach Luis (Ramirez) and all of the girls over there who played a really good match and that phenomenal defense — and get a two-set win in their place based upon the way they’ve been playing lately is a great win for us,” Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said. “We executed really well today. We had a number or service errors in the first set, but I’m really proud of our girls how they settled down and came back.”

Now sporting a deceiving 2-5 league record, the Spartans are still considered a contender. In previous matches, they took the Warriors (7-0) and No. 3 ‘Iolani to three sets and defeated No. 6 Punahou.

“I think that we have to be able to manage the game a lot better,” Ramirez said. “I think we’re good enough to play with anyone in the state. So, like anything, starting a new tradition here, the kids need to be able to understand what it’s going to take to win and sometimes they don’t know how to manage that. Our challenge is to help them manage those situations where we can play at an even level for a long period of time without so many peaks and valleys.”

A perfect example of a valley came at the start of the second set, when the Warriors’ Kyra Hanawahine rattled off a seven-point service run, including an ace, for a quick lead that put a crimp in Maryknoll’s ability to stay in the match.

“Kyra came out on fire and did a great job changing it up,” Blake said. “She followed our serving plan to perfection. Our coaches did a great job and she did a great job of executing.”

Led by the hitting of Dakota Viena (five kills) and Moana Tootoo (four kills), Maryknoll took its biggest lead of the first set at 15-12 before Kayla Afoa (match-high 12 kills) led the Warriors’ comeback charge.

When it was 20-all, Afoa took charge with three kills among the team’s set-closing five points. Braelyn Akana (match-high five blocks) delivered the set-clincher with a block.

“As a team, our energy and communication was low in the beginning, so we got off to a slow start,” Afoa said. “But we did well on siding out quickly and we stuck together as a team. The way we pulled it out in the set gave us energy that carried over and helped us to get that lead in the second set.”

Maryknoll got as close as 10-7 in the closing set before Kamehameha’s high-powered attack took over. Lexis Akeo (25 assists), Kili Robins (nine digs) and Maluhia Ma‘a (four blocks) were among the big contributors.