For awhile there, it looked like Mid-Pacific’s girls volleyball team was going to pull it off on Monday.
They had Kamehameha, ranked No. 2 in the Star-Bulletin Top 10, on the ropes. Owls take game 1. Kamehameha takes game 2.
Kamehameha has the third set under control when the Owls make a run. Then it’s anybody’s match. I’m thinking, either Mid-Pac is playing out of its minds here on their home court, or this is a sign of things to come.
Kamehameha eventually won. I expected this to be close; MPI was tough in preseason against a lot of quality teams. They took the silver bracket at Kamehameha’s Hawaii Invitational over the weekend. But did I expect a match this close?
No. There are three berths available to the ILH for the state tourney.
Right now, there isn’t a subpar team in the league. Maryknoll’s tough, too, plus they’ve got their brand-new gym — another bonus that should be a huge factor for the Spartans.
Misty Ma‘a was set perfectly most of the night by Kelci Renshaw at just about every shot and angle on the floor — mostly after the first set.
A sparse, but boisterous home crowd saw the Owls soar early while Ma‘a had only two swings. After that, she mixed power and finesse, tipping the ball with efficiency when necessary.
Kamehameha coach Chris Blake is anxious to get back in the gym this afternoon.
“Defense has always been what we pride ourselves in,” he said. “We’re not playing Kamehameha defense.”
The Warriors played two league matches last week, then were busy with the Hawaii Invitational. They lost the gold-bracket final to Punahou on Saturday.
“We don’t have any excuses,” Blake said. “Mid-Pac is well-coached and they made a lot of hustle plays.”
Mid-Pac ran out of steam in the third set, hitting just .250. The Owls hit .333 for the match, including eight hitting errors. They also had six service errors.
Kamehameha hit .453 with 11 errors. The Warriors had three aces and six service errors.
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