Nanakuli breaks through for first OIA championship

In the Valley, it’s all about tough love.

That’s what Nanakuli girls volleyball coach Junius Wong knows best, and the result was a near-perfect championship performance by the Golden Hawks in a 25-11, 25-16, 25-16 sweep of Pearl City on Wednesday night at McKinley Student Council Gymnasium to capture the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II crown.

It is the first OIA volleyball title for Nanakuli (6-7), which had some success against D-I foes during the regular season.

Nanakuli was in Division I in recent seasons before moving back down this fall.

“That means a lot to us because we made our community proud and put our school on the map for volleyball,” said Janae Odom, who led the Golden Hawks with 19 kills and four of her team’s 12 aces. “I’m grateful that our coach never gave up on us and pushed us to our limits. We needed it.”

The path for Nanakuli was far from smooth.

“We weathered the storm. At one point, we were down to seven players,” Wong said of early-season injuries. “We had a lot of tough love.”

Kanani Diamond added seven kills and two blocks, and Carly-Rose Letatau-Kekahuna tallied six kills. Cheylah-Marie Marfil dished 31 assists, and Ka‘anela Pa‘e was spectacular in the back row.

Pa‘e’s dig exhibition nullified Pearl City’s bombers. Over and over again, the rocket shots of Shirita Wimberly (four kills) and Rebecca Matapua (six) were kept off the floor by Pa‘e and teammates like Diamond.

“We just had to focus on playing our game. I know we had it in us,” said Pa‘e, a sophomore.

Pa‘e also had four kills, but it was about defense and serving for the Golden Hawks. Pearl City finished with a negative hitting percentage (-.026) and Nanakuli had just five serving errors with the big edge in aces (12-1).

Matapua was the most consistent of the Chargers, adding two aces. Pearl City (5-8) had already qualified for the state tourney under coach Bryan Camello.