By Paul Honda
Editor
paul@hondareport.com
Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2004

(Note: This story was written after the state volleyball tournaments, but was not published until now.)

Here are some post-tourney stories about three state tournament squads.

Growing pains, growing success: Since 1974, volleyball coach Donald Kealoha has guided programs at Maui and Seabury Hall, but his ability to build a program from scratch at Kamehameha-Maui could well be his biggest challenge.

His Warrior girls struggled against their cousins from Kamehameha-Oahu Thursday in the state tourney quarterfinals, but bounced back with more conviction and confidence against Aiea and Kalani. Sayble Bissen, Puni Krueger and freshman Dreanne Shaw (5-11) give KS-Maui talent in the middle, but Kealoha believes his team needs to make strides off the court to compete at the highest level.

"If we can't get the height, we can make up for it with jumping ability," he said of the program's commitment to weight training. On a scale of 0 to 10, the program is at about a 5 or 6, Kealoha said.

"Mentally, we have to get tougher and play more tough competition in the off-season. That's the main thing. We've gotta get competition so that when they see these other girls at states, they know they can do it," Kealoha said.
KS-Maui finished 14-2 after an unbeaten run through the MIL. The entire team was comprised of underclassmen.

Garden Isle thunder: When Richard Roberts started the Kauai Challenge a few years ago, little did fans realize he had visions of growing the preseason girls volleyball tournament into a landmark for mainland teams.

Now that the tourney is drawing squads from across the state and the West Coast, there's one more reason to recognize how committed the Raiders are about volleyball. Over the weekend, they captured the consolation title for a second year in a row at the state championships.

Kauai (9-3) also cracked the Star-Bulletin Top 10 for the first time this season. With junior outside hitters Kehau Judd and Tina Moger returning next season, there's reason to be optimistic. The Lady Raiders will lose setter Ligaya Malones to graduation, but Ho'onani Dennis will step in.

"She set for us when we beat Santa Barbara," Roberts said of the sophomore.
Kapaa, with a taller squad, was considered the KIF favorite by some watchers. Kauai adjusted over the course of the season. "We moved our outside hitters away from Jen Lindsey," Roberts said of the Warriors' 6-foot-3 middle blocker. "We kept backsetting to Kehau and bringing out hitters inside, running the slide."

Roberts credited assistant Chad Delanoza for his team's ability to adjust in mid-stream. "Chad is such a technician. He's a student of the game," Roberts said.
With much of his talent returning, plus the addition of junior varsity coach Cory Morishita, Roberts is aiming higher. "The KIF is never easy to win. If we can do that again, the next goal is seeding. We want to earn a seed for the state tournament," he said.

Here today, gone to Sydney: Back on Maui Sunday afternoon, at Tasty Crust restaurant in Wailuku, the Hana boys volleyball team relaxed over loco mocos, eggs and Spam. It had been a most unusual trip to the Big Island, where the Dragons played in the state championships.

Their drama began shortly after they arrived in Hilo Wednesday. Simply glad to be done with endless driving and air travel, they learned that their airline had inadvertently shipped off the uniforms of Bryce Oliveira and Edmund Oliveira across the ocean. While two green-and-yellow Hana uniforms bounced around in a Sydney, Australia airport, the team couldn't help but worry.

"Oh yes, we panicked. We were stressing," unofficial team mom Romaine Oliveira admitted. Some quick thinking by Harold Villarimo, father of player Kamaka Villarimo, resulted in two new uniforms for the players, courtesy of a print shop in Hilo.

And eventually, as longshot Hana ousted Kahuku and reached the semifinal round, the uniforms returned from Sydney. "We were hoping for a boomerang," Romaine Oliveira said. "Or a kangaroo."

Oliveira eventually was named to the all-state tournament team by media and tourney officials. Hana finished the season 12-2, ranked No. 6 in the Star-Bulletin Top 10.

For Kamaka Villarimo, the missing-uniforms escapade was just another chapter in his adventure. The senior had transferred from Kahuku to Hana during the off-season, following a path set 20 years earlier by his father. Harold helped lead Hana to the MIL title in 1984, the last time the Dragons won the crown.

"That was kind of weird," Kamaka said of facing his former team. "I knew their weaknesses."

Hana has been good to the talented player, but he does miss Oahu. "In Hana, there are girls," Villarimo said. "But they're pretty much family."

There's also one more thing in Hana: Another MIL championship.

Previous Article: Boys Basketball: Schedule/Scores, updated Sun., Dec. 19, 2 p.m.
Next Article: Boys Basketball: Scores updated Fri., Dec. 24

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