WAIMEA — Parker girls volleyball didn’t have any plans of ending its undefeated start to 2024 this past weekend.
The Bulls hosted the visiting Kealakehe Waveriders on Saturday in Waimea District Park Gym, beating the blue and white in consecutive sets — 25-5, 25-17 and 25-29. Parker’s impressive victory jolted the team to 6-0, continuing its best start to the season since ScoringLive began tracking the school’s records in 2009.
The Bulls displayed strong team chemistry and disiplined play, spearheaded by junior Takarrah Presley, who used her length and height to her advantage at the net — blocking and spiking an array of shots to keep Parker humming on both sides of the court. She finished with 11 kills.
“She was very focused in this game,” Parker coach Sharon Peterson told West Hawaii Today. “She seems to be more open to working on her mental game, as well as the others on the team — which is important for us, because we are trying to get them to pick thoughts that are conducive to great play.”
Junior teammate Briley Ballard notched a number of second-chance hits to keep Parker alive in multiple individual possessions, diving out of bounds to save the ball. Collectively, the Bulls had 36 kills with a 43.4% kill percentage. The team also had eight service aces total.
Kealakehe showed life in the final two frames after the first-set rout — diving on the floor to save possessions and providing a number of strong serves, but Parker’s strong two-way play became too much to mount a comeback.
“We love the win, but we want to work on being more consistent with our play,” Peterson said. “But our mental game is improving, and we’re very happy about that. We’re going to try to get better at it each match.”
Peterson also explained that using the team’s depth will be a catalyst in keeping the Bulls’ hot start going. She noted that there will be some future roster absences in upcoming matches due to outside school activities.
“It’s great that we have 15 girls, but it’s also a challenge, because everyone wants to play,” Peterson said. “We need to keep working on the bench so they are able to step in and maintain our level of play when some of our starters are absent.”
Parker will enjoy a few days off before returning to the court against Honoka‘a on Thursday in the Dragons’ home gym. Junior varsity will play first at 5 p.m.
While Kealakehe fell short, head coach Mervlyn Simmons liked how her girls competed.
“Coming off a great game against Honoka‘a, I thought the girls did great but I always feel there is room for improvement,” she said. “We couldn’t practice before the Parker game due to our gym being used for another event, so we had to learn how to adjust to that. But now that we understand how great of a team Parker is, we are going to work hard this coming week so when we play them again, the end can be different.”
The ‘Riders (1-4) will try to get back on track against Kanu o ka ‘Aina at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Waimea.
Konawaena 3, Ehunui 0
Konawaena girls volleyball won its second game over the week with a victory over Ehunui on Friday in Ellison Onizuka Gymnasium. The Wildcats won in straight sets — 25-6, 25-10 and 25-13.
Kona (4-1) will face DII rival Hawaii Prep at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Kamuela, beginning with junior varsity. The ‘Io (1-3) will play Makua Lani at 5 p.m. tonight at Kona Old Airport’s gymnasium.
Kea‘au 3, CLA 0
Kea‘au girls volleyball earned its first win of 2024 with a straight-sets victory over Christian Liberty Academy on Friday on the road. The Cougars beat the Canefire in straight sets — 25-11, 25-21 and 25-18.
Kea‘au is now at 1-3 in the early season, while CLA remains winless at 0-6. The Cougars will next take the court at 5 p.m. this evening against Ka Umeke at Kea‘au High School.
The Canefire returns to action 5 p.m. Wednesday at Hilo High School to take on the Vikings.
Other matches
West Hawaii Today and Hawaii Tribune-Herald could not obtain results from the following weekend girls volleyball matches by Monday’s deadline. If any readers have official scores, please email clangs@westhawaiitoday.com:
• 9/7 Honoka‘a at Kanu
• 9/7 Ka Umeke at LCPCS
• 9/6 Hilo at Pahoa
• 9/6 Kea‘au at CLA
• 9/6 Waiakea at Ka Umeke
