WAIMEA — Motivation came in a variety of forms for Konawaena against Division II rival Hawaii Preparatory Academy on Thursday night.
The Wildcats were hungry for a bit of revenge, facing off for the first time this season against the team that relegated them to runner-up in the BIIF a year ago.
But maybe more importantly for Ben McKinley and the rest of the Konawaena crew, they didn’t want to run after the game in the nippy Waimea weather.
After dropping the first set, the Wildcats (3-1) rallied back in a big way for a 22-25, 29-27, 25-18, 25-18 victory over Ka Makani (3-2).
“After the first set, coach threatened us with running laps and suicides after the game,” McKinley said with a laugh. “We all looked at each other and said that’s not going to happen, so we turned it around.”
The Wildcats have been notoriously slow starters this season. Konawaena also dropped its first set in an eventual loss to Kealakehe earlier this week, and let Pahoa and Kohala — teams they would eventually beat handily — stay close with s 25-23 first set in both contests.
“We are just a slow starting team. It has really been like that for all of our first sets,” Konawaena head coach August Dias said. “We just had to play up to our potential and our style of volleyball.”
Hawaii Prep had every reason to come out with low energy for the pivotal D-II matchup. The team was fresh off a road trip to Pahoa the night before and were playing with a short bench due to school getting out for spring break.
But despite missing nearly a half-dozen players — including key starters Matija Vitorovic and Ryoma Sakakibara — Hawaii Prep came out with a spark, battling until the end with a skeleton crew.
“We had a lot of players at the start of the season, but when spring break comes, they go,” Hawaii Prep head coach Sharon Peterson said. “Effort was our word for the night and I think they executed that. We had a lot of people on the court who aren’t on the court all the time. We pulled people from different positions to do different things, so I was really proud of them.”
The match did provide a playoff-like atmosphere early, especially in the extended second set. Hawaii Prep took a substantial lead early, but Konawaena kept battling back, with McKinely racking up kills, and big men Osaiasi Muti and Alan Cancino Magana providing some key blocks.
On the Hawaii Prep side, athletic plays from Zach Chaikin and Kala Thurston kept Hawaii Prep alive once the Wildcats started rolling. However, Konawaena eventually was able to put away the set on a dramatic, delayed call from the official on a violation at the net.
“I think we ended up with like 10 team blocks, which is less than I wanted, but we had none in the first set,” Dias said. “We just had to keep the ball in play and let them make the mistakes.”
The Wildcats stepped on the gas from there, holding off any Ka Makani rallies to complete the four set victory, and doing so with a smiles on their faces.
“A lot of us haven’t always been on good teams, especially when we were younger,” McKinely said. “We lost a lot, so we know it’s not all about winning. We try to have fun when we play out there.”
The same could have been said for the Hawaii Prep side.
“There was a lot of energy in this gym tonight,” Peterson said with a smile.
The teams will hook up again on April 19, the last game for either squad before the BIIF playoffs begin.
“This was a nice win, but we are just taking it game one at a time,” Dias said. “We know if we meet them in the postseason, it will be an all out war.”