The worst of times and the best of times, all in the matter of days for the Castle Knights.
Just three days after losing junior varsity coach Nelly Yanagida, Castle rallied for a 19-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-20 victory over Leilehua in the opening round of the OIA Division I girls volleyball playoffs at Roosevelt.
Shaney "Boogie" Tiumalu led the Lady Knights with 19 kills and four blocks. Teila Kapihe had eight aces and four blocks, Trystin Ramos chipped in five kills and two aces, and setter Kanoe Vinoya dished 32 assists for Castle (7-5), the fifth-place team from the East. Jena Royos tallied four kills.
"She always told us to ‘suck it up.’ She taught us how to push all the way," Tiumalu said of Yanagida, who died on Monday. "We had to push through. That’s what she would’ve wanted."
Leilehua, the fourth-place team in the West, closed its season at 7-4. Elisha Levasa had 12 kills, 22 assists and two aces for the Mules, and Saramasina Docktor had a team-high 13 kills, but they ran into a buzzsaw on Wednesday night.
"They had a little extra fire," Leilehua coach Larry Cantero said.
Leilehua beat Castle in last year’s playoffs, Cantero added.
"They have a totally different team from last year," he said.
The Knights are, in some important ways, a totally different team from last week. Coach Grant Tolentino and his staff found out about their stricken JV coach on Friday, when she was hospitalized with high blood pressure and hypertension. By Sunday, Yanagida, 33, was on a ventilator when the team visited her.
"I knew if they play their game, we could win," Tolentino said. "But it’s been an emotional roller-coaster. They already had that lump in their throats."
With some Castle fans wearing T-shirts to honor Yanagida, one bore the mantra her players heard for years: "Suck it up and play with a purpose."
The Knights did just that.
Tiumalu, a 5-foot-11 senior, was outstanding much of the way, but it was the return of libero Rachel Lafitaga in the second set that changed the momentum.
"Rachel took it real hard. She didn’t show up to practice yesterday (Tuesday). They all miss Coach Nelly, but she took it the most personal," Tolentino said.
With Lafitaga on the bench in the first set, Leilehua hit .242 and had command. Castle was sometimes out of sync, hitting .025 with eight hitting errors. Lafitaga stepped on the court in the second set, the back row solidified and Castle hit .526. Leilehua hit just .160 from that point on with 15 hitting errors.
Kapihe had three aces in the second set and three more in the third. Two of those aces came after the third set was tied at 19, providing the boost for a 6-1 run. That gave Castle a 2-1 edge in the match
Leilehua rebounded with a 3-0 start in the fourth set, but Kapihe stepped up again. She had two aces to bring the Knights back. After four lead changes, and 11 ties, Castle took a 22-21 lead on a Mules hitting error. Ramos delivered her second ace of the night, and a net violation by the Mules gave Castle the match.
OIA Division I playofs
Wednesday
Castle def. Leilehua, 19-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-20
Aiea def. Kalani, 25-19, 17-25, 25-23, 15-25, 15-11
Waianae def. Roosevelt, 18-25, 27-26, 25-23, 21-25, 15-12
Kapolei def. Kaiser 26-24, 22-25, 25-15, 25-22
Thursday
Waianae vs. Nanakuli at Moanalua
Castle at Moanalua
Kapolei vs. Kahuku at Mililani
Aiea at Mililani
