[ HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL ]
Kamehameha sweeps
Iolani in ILH match
A little self-induced pressure helped the Kamehameha boys' volleyball team get to the right mind-set yesterday when the Warriors met Iolani in their Interscholastic League of Honolulu showdown.
"Knowing what was on the line just added to our focus," Kamehameha outside hitter Adam Tuifagu said. "It helped us out instead of scaring us away."
Indeed, behind a match-high 18 kills from Tuifagu and the flawless setting of Ainoa Miyashiro, the Warriors were clearly a team playing with a sense of urgency as they swept the Raiders 25-17, 25-22, 25-22.
With the win, the Warriors captured the second round of the ILH with a 4-0 mark. The teams meet again tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Kamehameha in a match that will decide the overall ILH champion as well as the league's top seed in next week's state tournament.
"A sweep is good, but to have the guys playing well as a team is even more rewarding," Kamehameha coach Pono Ma'a said. "The guys have worked hard, and now they're getting some of the payback. Today is the best we've played, and we still have a little room for improvement. The ILH is such a competitive league that when you get into the second round, you're forced to play your best because the teams that are left are great teams. I'm just real proud of them, and it's nice to have them come out on top."
Added Tuifagu: "We worked more on our mind-set. We've grown a lot in the past few weeks, maturity-wise. Growing closer together as a team off of the court has helped us a lot. And, on the court, our defense is the main thing that we've fixed since the last time (the teams met)."
In addition to Tuifagu and Miyashiro, the Warriors also received strong performances from Ronson Olaso and Kory Matsukado, who finished with nine and eight kills, respectively.
Iolani was led by Todd Blankenship and Kyle Pape, who had 10 kills apiece.
Iolani won the first meeting between the teams on October 9th and went 12-0 en route to capturing the ILH's opening round, but the Raiders have lost twice in the past six days.
"I don't think we were ready to play mentally today," Iolani coach Luis Ramirez said. "Not to take anything away from Kamehameha -- they played a great game -- but we just didn't go out there and perform. I don't know if the kids think they're accomplished already, but we're not anywhere near where we need to be. I hope we can digest this and go on. Skills-wise, we're there. We need to do a better job mentally."
Largely behind the play of Tuifagu, who had five kills and an ace in Game 1, the Warriors never trailed, opening a 20-10 lead to set the tone.
The Raiders pressed the issue more in Game 2. They held leads of 4-0 and 8-4 before Matsukado led Kamehameha on a 6-1 run with a kill and back-to-back service aces to give the Warriors their first lead at 9-8. From there, neither team would lead by more than a point until a kill by Tuifagu and a key block by Ikaika Shelton and Olaso on Pape gave the Warriors a 22-20 lead.
Iolani pulled within 23-22 to force a Kamehameha timeout, but Matsukado and Tuifagu scored the next two points to give the hosts their two-game lead.
"I thought we did a lot of things well," Ma'a said "We served well in spurts and got them in trouble -- we were able to convert on transition. We had a good group effort. We just had a lot of guys step up and make plays."
