Friday, October 26, 2001
[ DIVISION II SPORTS ]
Wong, Castillo A decade ago, Kea Wong and Summer Castillo stepped onto the volleyball court for the first time as teammates, and they've never been apart since.
double up on fun
The HPU volleyball teammates
have shared a long friendship and
will be trying for their third
national title togetherBy Brandon Lee
blee@starbulletin.comThrough multiple seasons for two youth recreation league teams back home at Hilo, four years at Waiakea High School and their fourth season at Hawaii Pacific, Wong and Castillo have been on the same side of the net for all of it.
The two 21-year-old seniors are now key veterans and starters for the defending national champion Sea Warriors, as HPU enters its final stretch of four crucial Pacific West Conference matches with hopes of returning to the postseason and capturing another national title.
"We see each other every day, and it's been like that since elementary school," said Castillo, who first met Wong when the two were in the same third-grade class at Waiakeawaena Elementary. Their fathers were also classmates, and the families continue to live a five-minute drive apart in Hilo.
"No matter who was on the team, we've always been buddies, always been together," Castillo added.
Said Wong of Castillo, her junior by less than six months: "I consider her a sister. I know how she is and how she plays. Sometimes we know each other too much."
The two could pass for sisters, too, as they share similar features, including diminutive height and build. At 5-foot-6, Castillo is undersized for her outside hitter position, but received the starting nod for the first time this year from coach Tita Ahuna.Wong, a 5-3 defensive specialist, is again regularly starting in the back row after doing so as a freshman for the Sea Warriors' first Division II national championship team in 1998.
And as it was for their senior year in high school, when the Big Island Interscholastic Federation all-stars led Waiakea to the BIIF title and the state tournament, the combination of Wong and Castillo has so far been a success for HPU.
Wong has posted double-digits in digs three times this year, and has 112 for the season. Castillo has scored double-digits in kills four times and digs 10, including a career-high 21 "ups" the last time the Sea Warriors played to help them pull out a five-game victory over Chaminade after being down 2-0.
"From their freshmen year, I saw potential in both of them," Ahuna said. "They've just been tremendous assets to our program. They've been here for four years, they won two national championships --that's a huge accomplishment."
The Sea Warriors are in first place in the PacWest (9-2, 15-2 overall), and are in control of their own fortunes as three wins in their final four matches assure them the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Pacific Regional.
HPU has two of these important matches tonight and tomorrow when it visits rival Brigham Young-Hawaii (7-4, 11-5), which sits in second place just two wins back. The Seasiders also have only four matches remaining and could clinch the automatic berth with wins in all of them.
In their only other conference meeting two weeks ago, BYUH easily swept the Sea Warriors out of their own gym in straight games.
"These two (matches) are even more crucial," Castillo said. "We need to forget about the losses because we can't do anything about them now."
After sharing in two national championships, Wong and Castillo said they are hoping to at least make the regional for a shot at another. Yet more important, however, both want to have fun in their final few matches with the Sea Warriors and possibly each other.
"I really want a national championship," Wong said. "But if not, I just want everybody to play together.
"(Playing for HPU has) been so awesome for the both of us. We both did it, we both came so far."
The two still plan to get together on the court for an occasional recreational tournament after this season is done. But both know they will soon be facing life without the other always right there on the court, on the bench or in the classroom. Still, they believe they always will be together some way, somehow.
"I think we'll still keep in touch," Castillo said. "Kealani is not a person who just forgets. She's my friend for life."
Hawaii Pacific
BYU-Hawaii
Chaminade
U.H. Hilo