KEALAKEKUA — That monkey on Konawaena’s back was no match against the firepower from Chanelle Molina and company, a combination that fired volleyball rockets all night.
The Wildcats have been the Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division II runner-up the last three years, falling to Hawaii Prep in 2011, Ka‘u in ’13 and HPA again last season.
Konawaena finally shed the label of the league’s second best — something of a misnomer because the West Hawaii powerhouse captured the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II title last year.
The Wildcats blitzed resilient Ka Makani 25-20, 25-15, 25-17 for the BIIF Division II championship on Saturday at Konawaena’s Ellison Onizuka Gym, winning their first league title since 1998.
Konawaena and HPA have a shared history that also extends to states. Last year, the two met in the Division II state championship and the Wildcats won in four sets.
Konawaena earned a seeded berth to states, which will be held Nov. 5-8 in Honolulu. Ka Makani and Honokaa will join the Wildcats.
Konawaena coach Ainsley Keawekane has always considered the volleyball court his classroom, and judging from his team’s performance Saturday everyone got straight A’s. The ball-control (passing, serving, setting) was spectacular, a reason the ’Cats had more kills than HPA, 40-15.
Molina led the offensive onslaught with 14 kills, McKenna Ventura and Alissa Nahale-Blanco added seven each, Celena Molina had six and Taiana Tolleson had four kills for Konawaena (15-0).
Gabbie Ewing had nine kills, Anna Juan and Haley Dow had two each, and Alaina Bradley and Ula Brostek got one kill each for HPA (10-5).
In the first set, Konawaena had more unforced errors, 12-8, but Chanelle Molina ripped seven kills to neutralize Ewing’s five kills; only two other Ka Makani players (Brostek and Juan) had kills, with one each.
Four other Wildcats picked up eight kills. That’s a tough combination to beat: more firepower, 15-7 in kills, and balance.
In what’s likely a BIIF championship record, the first 10 points in the second set were all unforced errors. Ventura’s kills gave Konawaena a 7-4 lead to stop the error avalanche.
HPA had more unforced errors in Game 2 and all of them were costly, 14-11. Konawaena’s defense focused on Ewing and held her to two kills. Chanelle Molina had three kills.