Another blown lead.
When Kamehameha saw its cushion dwindle, Kainoa Wade and Harryzen Soares remained upright. Four times previously, the Warriors crumbled in losses to unbeaten Punahou, the 10-time boys volleyball defending state champion. Owner of 39 state titles.
Kamehameha? The Warriors hadn’t won a state crown since 2011. Five boys volleyball championships. The. blueprint was coded, written in stone, and on Saturday, Punahou would take advantage of Kamehameha’s emotional synapses.
Except this: Soares wouldn’t allow it. In the furor of a meltdown as a disappointed Kamehameha crowd looked on, the senior libero was in fully charged mode. Christian Togiai’s kill attempt caromed off the middle of the net for a 25-27 first-set loss, but before he could digest his error, Soares was at hot, roaring volume. Standing in Togiai’s face, the bleached-blonde Soares filled in the empty space.
“I don’t care! You are going to enjoy the moment! I don’t care! Take big swings. We got your back no matter what, we love you, Soares recalled. “He kept swinging.”
Soares kept encouraging Togiai and their entire team until the message was adequately drilled into their ears. It was a message that came, from all people, former Kamehameha two-sport All-State player of the year Micah Christensen.
The Olympic and professional volleyball player had a message for this team on video. They sat down and took it in before the tournament began.
“Enjoy the moment. I took that to heart,” Soares said. “That word stuck with us the whole tournament.”
Soares and Wade are different sides of the same coin. Wade’s 6-foot-9 frame and polished attack style are years beyond his age. After every match, he could only talk about what Kamehameha would do. Keep working hard every day. Play their best during the state tournament. Everything else was white noise. Everything during the struggle was in the rear-view mirror.
“This team has been through so much adversity. All we knew was May 11. That’s only game that mattered to us, and let’s see what we can do,” said Wade, who plans to graduate in the winter and join the UH volleyball team by spring. “It’s the only way to go out. This team has so much fight and so much love for each other. We never gave up on each other. That was the thing. We lost to these guys four times. Everyone wrote us off. We didn’t write back, though.”
The result of two different, yet deep blue blooded Warriors and their constant motivational pitches helped keep coach Sava Agpoon’s ship sailing forward. Kamehameha’s 25-27, 25-23, 25-17, 25-20 victory over Punahou may be the most impressive title win in the program’s history.
Wade’s body was absolutely worn out after 34 kills in 76 swings. Soares joined Wade on the All-Tournament team. He may never have another match quite like this, doing more talking than anyone on any floor.
“I was preaching moving on to the next point. Focusing on what’s next. Getting energized and focused on each other. Keep going and pushing. We got to play to the last whistle,” he said.
Agpoon stretched his boundaries as a coach. Internal strife is not what normally happens on an Agpoon squad, so it took time. Methodical affirmations to move forward and evolve as a team of unselfish players.
“We were trying to find that lineup, not being negative to each other. Typical stuff, not understanding that no matter where you end up in the lineup, you’re still a part of the team. That was a lot of the adversity,” he said. “It got the best of them for most of the season, wanting to beat Punahou. There’s healthy competition between each other and what’s not healthy, and they understood that.”
The wheels spun smoothly with setter Brayden Van Kuren at his best. A happy team gives its quarterback a chance to do exceptional things.
Agpoon credited Poukihi Awai’s father for summarizing the shift to success.
“He said, the theme is love conquers all,” Agpoon said. “Love your team. Love yourself if you let it happen.”
