[ HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL ]
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Iolani's Todd Blankenship put down a kill over Kamehameha's Ainoa Miyashiro yesterday.
Iolani focuses on itself,
beats Kamehameha
While Iolani boys volleyball coach Luis Ramirez isn't one to underestimate the importance of a scouting report, he nevertheless put the emphasis on his own team yesterday afternoon when the Raiders met defending state champion Kamehameha in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu showdown.
"At this point in the season, we (ILH coaches) all have three tapes on every team that we play, but I want the kids to focus on their own tasks," Ramirez said. "Our philosophy is that we feel like we can control our destiny. We have to take care of the ball on our side and do the things that we know we can do. I want these guys to be loose out there, and I want them to play to win from the beginning."
The Raiders were impressive in all phases yesterday, delivering the knockout punch by opening a 16-8 advantage in Game 2 en route to a 28-26, 25-18 victory in the first of two regular-season meetings between the teams.
Iolani (10-0) received mammoth efforts from Kawika Shoji and Kyle Pape, who had eight kills apiece, as well as Sean Carney and Todd Blankenship, who added seven and six kills, respectively. B.J. Takushi added three kills, all of them timely.
"We need to play our own game," Blankenship said. "If we take care of our side of the court, we should be all right."
The Raiders' dominance in Game 2 came with little warning, as Game 1 saw the score tied 20 times before consecutive kills by Blankenship and Pape helped Iolani close out that contest.
"All the credit to them -- Iolani played a tough match," Kamehameha coach Pono Ma'a said. "They deserved it. They were consistent throughout. We played well in spurts, too, and we just have to build on that and see if we can be more consistent."
In Game 2, the teams were even at three apiece and the Raiders led only 6-5 before the hosts began to ride the service of Mike Contee, accounting for four straight points to make it 10-5. A disastrous sequence followed for Kamehameha as Pape added a pair of kills, while Carney and Shoji also tallied to go with a service ace by Brent Asuka. Suddenly, the Raiders led 16-8 and the Warriors found themselves in unfamiliar territory.
Kamehameha (8-1) was to get no closer than five the rest of the way despite some monster hits by Ronson Olaso and Adam Tuifagu, who finished with a match-high nine kills.
"We had some bad runs that got us in some holes, and we just couldn't battle back," Ma'a said. "I hate to say we're young because it's not an excuse. We have to go back and work on the things we didn't do well. Their service threw us out of our rotation ... we got into trouble (as a result), and we couldn't run our offense."
While happy with the win, Ramirez was quick to remind that the season has a long way to go.
"For this part of the season, I think we played really good," he said. "We'll take it, but we want to be winning at the end of the season. We're still in development. We're going in the right direction, but it's not where we want to be. We just put this lineup in only a week ago. Our serves were good, but we can get better in our blocking and in our communication and our maturity.
"It was a big match because it pretty much clinches the first round, but last year we beat them the first time around and lost to them in the second (match)," Blankenship added. "And we didn't win the ILH, so we have to keep focused throughout the year."
