KAILUA-KONA — After allowing Kealakehe to creep back into a heated first set, Kamehameha head coach Sam Thomas called his team into a huddle.
He urged his Warriors to be more vocal and to shake the uneven, lackadaisical play that had started to surface — always a danger during late Saturday starts on the road.
It worked, as Kamehameha jumped all over the Waveriders the rest of the way, coming away with a 25-17, 25-14, 25-21 straight-set victory.
“It’s the weekend and it was a long ride over, but there are no excuses. We have a tendency to lose focus,” Thomas said. “We were up on Waiakea 2-0 and we lost in five sets. It’s something we really need to take care of. It was nice to see them regain that focus and get the win.”
Nalu Kahapea led the Warriors in kills, racking up 18, while Isaiah Nakoa-Oness added 11. Kamahao Kawelu led the defensive effort with 16 digs.
Kealakehe had a hard time dealing with the 6-foot-5 Kahapea, who also added a few aces from the service line and trio of digs to his stat line.
“Nalu came in fresh off the basketball season and has been great for us,” Thomas said. “He swings high and is able to get over the block.”
Setting the table for the Warriors’ hard hitters were Davin Masanda and Gavin Galimba, who combined for 35 assists.
“Those guys work hard. When we are clicking we have good passing,” Thomas said. “We have kids who can hit the ball if the passing is there.”
Kamehameha — the four-time defending BIIF D-I champs and state runners-up from a year ago — has now notched wins against all the league’s D-I challengers. The lone blemish on the team’s 5-1 record is a loss to Waiakea, which it promptly avenged with a straight-set victory.
Kamehameha will spend the next month facing off against Division II opponents — a trek that includes Red Division foes Konawaena and Hawaii Prep twice — until seeing Kealakehe again on April 17.
“When you look at the schedule at the beginning of the season it’s like ‘oh man’” Thomas said with a laugh. “But now we are through that stretch, so we are going to enjoy it, work on our depth and try to get everyone in the games. They all work hard in practice.”
It’s was just the second loss of the season for Kealakehe, which fell to 5-2.
“Tough match,” Kealakehe head coach Kahinu Lee said. “They came to play. For two sets, we didn’t wake up. The boys will need to rebound, play a little harder next time and eliminate mistakes.”
Isaiah Hooper had five kills to lead the Waveriders, and Anthony Trevino added his share of booming hits as well. Kealakehe continued to play without the service of starting setter Ikaika Pali, who is out with an ankle injury.
“We respect Kealakehe a lot,” Thomas said. “They have some great hitters in Trevino and Hooper. When they got the ball to them, it was scary for us.”
In the first set, the Waveriders charged after falling behind early, getting as close as 15-13 and igniting the west side crowd before Kamehameha called for time. After Thomas’ quick pep talk, the Warriors went on a six-point run, eventually coming away with the 25-17 victory with Kahapea pounding the set point.
The Waveriders had their fair share of unforced errors in the second set, and the Warriors didn’t need any help, taking the set handily, 25-14.
“Passing went bad here and there,” Lee said. “Hitting errors also killed us at times when we should have kept the ball in the court. We will just have to come back tomorrow and work at it again.”
The Waveriders built a lead as big as 14-10 in the third set, and looked to have some life, coming away with tough points on long rallies.
“We decided to start playing 0-0 in the third set,” Lee said. “We wiped everything clean and started playing volleyball.”
But the Warriors were ready to head home, and reeled off a 9-1 run to hold off the late Waverider charge, closing out the straight-set victory with a 25-21 third set. Kamau Makaike put an exclamation point on the win, finishing it off with a spike the deflected off a Kealakehe defender before going deep into the stands.