PO‘IPU — Huaka‘i, playing in the volleyball Boys Club League, took both ends of a Saturday-night double-header to wrap up the season that started on April 9.
Huaka‘i sealed a lead-changing first set behind a solid whack from Josh Dobashi following back-to-back blocks from Hanalei Wann-Keli‘iho‘omalu, 25-22.
The blue shirts under coaches Tony Magaoay and Daryl Date continued to roll, taking the second set 25-18 on a Dylan Date slam to set up the evening’s finale between the top two teams in the league.
“I was thinking it would be an easy night,” said Daryl Date. “But Kanazuchi had other ideas and were very competitive.”
Wann-Keli‘iho‘omalu sealed the first set of the nightcap, 25-20, following another lead-changing seesaw match, and Kanazuchi hitting errors widened the gap before Dylan Date sealed the night on back-to-back whacks.
The victory ends Huaka‘i’s run with a 10-1 overall record, its sole blemish coming at the hands of Kule‘a on April 24, when the Merrill Carvalho-coached boys were 10-25, 25-23, 15-13 winners. This was just one of two Kule‘a season wins, the other coming with a 25-19, 25-16 win over Kanazuchi on the same night.
Kanazuchi finished the season with 3-8 record following wins over Kule‘a on May 1 and 7.
“The boys pretty much did it on their own,” said Kanazuchi coach Tori Kagawa, who commanded the troops in the absence of coach Kell Nonaka.
“They set up their practices so everyone could touch ball. They rotated so there was practice in everyone’s town. There’s only one person who has experience playing before high school. Most of these boys I recruited from soccer. We had enough to form a team, so I let coach Magaoay know we were in.”
Daryl Date and his team of organizers created the league after the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation sports calendar for the 2020-21 school year was canceled due to the ongoing pandemic.
“We got a lot of help,” he said. “The girls’ league that finished the week before we started helped with all the organizational paperwork, and helped keep the league in order. We definitely want to thank the Southside Sports Center for allowing us to have the contests. Not having the use of Department of Education facilities is very hard. And, above all, thank you to the coaches of Kule‘a and Kanazuchi for giving us someone to play against.”
In keeping with tradition, the graduating seniors from the teams were showered with accolades and lei.
“We only have one senior — Harley Ragasa,” Kagawa said. “And, he’s playing for our regular setter, who opted to play 7-on-7 football.”
Micah Agtunong was the sole senior from Kule‘a, and Huaka‘i showered Diego Morgado and John Bancroft with senior honors.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
