KEAAU – A photo on the wall of Christian Liberty’s Old Mill Field House commemorates the first volleyball match played at the gym in 2013, and sitting on the bottom row, cross-legged, are the the wide-eyed freshman, including Andrew Lorenzo and Dennis Botelho.
“They look like junior high kids,” Canefire coach Gary Oertel said.
Not anymore.
With a lot of help from their seniors Monday night, Christian Liberty defeated Honokaa 25-17, 25-22, 19-25, 25-19 in a play-in match to earn the final playoff spot in BIIF Division II volleyball.
The Canefire (5-6, Blue division) advance to face Kohala (3-9, Red division) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Kapaau in the first round. The teams haven’t met since the Cowboys won a match in the preseason.
“We have really worked worked on our shots, where they are going to place them and put them,” Oertel said. “At the beginning of the year, all they knew was to hit the ball in. We have really worked on situation things. Finding holes and the weaker players.”
The Canefire received solid efforts from its starting middle blockers, sophomore Zack Suffern (nine kills) and Lorenzo (five blocks, six kills, three aces) and Botelho added seven kills on the right side. Sophomore setter Jesse Nagatori contributed 30 assists for Christian Liberty, which played with a full lineup against the Dragons (4-7) for the first time this season. The teams each one at home, 2-1, in the regular season.
“We were able to put Dennis on the right side, and I think that gave them some trouble tonight,” Oertel said.
Lorenzo started strong, posting two blocks, an ace and a kill before the match was even nine points old. But Lorenzo’s biggest contribution came after the Dragons got back into the match in Game 3 behind the hitting of juniors Koa Callihan and Werner Herry.
With the fourth set tied 4-4, Lorenzo posted consecutive aces and the Canefire won seven consecutive points on Lorenzo serve, punctuated by kills from Caleb Davidson and Suffern.
“(Andrew) is a good server,” Oertel said. “He can be a little off, so our big hope was that he would be on.
“We feel like if both of our middles are on, we can get what we want on the outside and right.”
Callihan (13 kills), junior Klayson Nobriga (eight) and Herry (seven) provided the crispest kills of the match, but Honokaa’s inconsistency comes from inexperience, coach Shelton Kalilikane said.
“Just not a lot of volleyball players,” he said. “Trying to convert soccer players and basketball player to volleyball players.”
Correction: The BIIF volleyball semifinals and finals will be held Friday and Saturday at Kealakehe High. An incorrect sight and date for the semifinals was listed in Monday’s edition.