KEAAU — How bad did Kealakehe’s Maiana Villegas want it?
Enough so that after one failed possession in the first half, the center of the Waveriders’ offensive attack slammed the water at Naeole Pool and screamed, “Give me the ball.”
As it turned out, Villegas didn’t always get the ball when she wanted it, but she got it when the Waveriders needed her to Friday. The senior scored two of her five goals in the fourth quarter to help Kealakehe stem the tide and beat defending champion Hawaii Prep 9-7 in the BIIF water polo semifinals.
“They caught us off-guard, but at the end of the day we wanted it bad,” Villegas said. “It was very stressful, but it was also very humbling because it was neck and neck.”
Just like that, the Waveriders (10-3) hold the longest streak of HHSAA tournament appearances in the BIIF at a modest two years in a row.
That’s all fine and dandy, Villegas said, but she’s spent the better part of four years inspecting Kealakehe’s gym and has yet to find a banner honoring a Waveriders water polo championship.
“That’s what our goal was this year, to get that banner on our wall,” she said. “That would be a huge honor for us as a team and the four seniors.”
That foursome includes another four-year contributor, Hannah Tomlinson, who scored once, and Nahoni Chaul, who finished with two goals.
“It’s really awesome for us to be doing this well our junior and senior years,” Villegas said, “because we’ve worked so hard to accomplish our dreams and goals.”
In order to claim its first title, Kealakehe will have to go through undefeated Kamehameha in Saturday’s 10 a.m. championship match. Earlier, the Warriors (13-0) ripped Waiakea 15-3 in the other semifinal, getting five goals from Emma Kanoa and four more from Lahela Rosario to return to the state tourney after a one-year absence.
“We have to play better tomorrow,” Kamehameha coach Dan Lyons said. “The score is what it was. I just don’t think we played very smart.”
While Kamehameha coasted, Kealakehe also led wire-to-wire but never could shake Ka Makani (9-4) in a match that was much tighter than the last time the teams played. HPA beat the Waveriders in overtime earlier in the season, but Kealakehe won in a rout, 10-1, in their last meeting April 11.
“We played the same game that we did (then),” Waveriders coach Chris Chang said. “They learned from it, and they adapted. We tried to adapt and didn’t do well.”
“We have a game plan and when we follow that game plan, good things happen.”
And sometimes fortuitous rebounds happen.
HPA netted three goals in a row and cut its deficit to 7-6 midway through the fourth quarter on Morgan Davis’ score. On the other end, Ka Makani denied Villegas the ball and forced an outside shot, but in this case, the ball found her anyway. She scored off a rebound near the goal mouth and added another score on the next possession, and Kealakehe was nearly home free, leading 9-6 with 2:30 remaining.
“It’s very interesting,” Villegas said. “Sometimes the ball doesn’t always come to me when I want it, but I like to make the most of situations that are unusual and thankfully I was able to do that.”
Davis and Sarah Houser paced HPA with two goals apiece, and Hailey Yessis added one for Kealakehe.
The Waveriders’ other two losses this season were lopsided ones (10-6 and 14-6) to Kamehameha, which appears to have recaptured some of the dominant play that helped the Warriors claim seven consecutive titles from 2010-16.
“Every year is a new year,” Chang said.
