Kamehameha-Hawaii comes back to eliminate Kahuku in state volleyball

The Kamehameha-Hawaii Warriors had lost before, but they would not accept a loss like this.

Instead, the BIIF champion rallied from a two-set deficit for a 24-26, 14-25, 25-23, 25-5, 15-11 semifinal win over OIA champion Kahuku on Thursday night at Moanalua gym.

Kamehameha-Hawaii (38-5-1 overall) will meet the ‘Iolani-Mililani winner on Friday night in the final of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championships at Stan Sheriff Center.

Maela Honma led KS-Hawaii with 17 kills and 19 digs. Senior middle Taina Kaauwai tallied 13 kills and four blocks, while Sarah Schubert added 11 kills and 14 digs. Kilinoelehua Helm had seven kills. Leisey Kelii added 18 digs, while Tacoma Kelson (22 assists) and Savanna Colliado (21 assists) ran the offense.

After 51 swings in the quarterfinal round, Honma had 65 against Kahuku.

“Yes, we’re definitely tired. Long game, we worked really hard,” said Honma, a junior outside hitter.

Including a recent California trip that added nine wins and a Southern California Invitational title to the ledger, KS-Hawaii now has a 23-match win streak. The run goes all the way back to Sept. 17, when the Warriors closed out the Durango Fall Classic with two-set sweeps of Harvard-Westlake (Calif.), Coronado (Calif.) and Liberty (Nev.)

On Thursday, though, talented and scrappy Kahuku had the Warriors wobbly and sometimes frozen.

“I’m pleased and pleasantly happy. But I never thought it would get that far. I didn’t think we’d get that far down. That’s the first time I’ve seen us get down that much,” Warriors coach Guy Enriques said. “We had to learn from that. The times we lost, we hadn’t been down because of our poor play. We got beat. Tonight, we were in our own heads for a little bit. Body language was bad. Not being aggressive. Waiting for something to happen instead of making it happen. We had to learn how to get better in these circumstances.”

Honma, who had 21 kills in the quarterfinal against Punahou, noted that Enriques gave the team the right message at the right time.

“We believed in ourselves. What is this game for? It could be our last, our last chance of winning a state title,” she said. “We remember what losses feel like. I think we were sitting back on our win (over Punahou), a little complacent. Coach gave us a reality check and we just fought back harder,” Honma said.

For half the match, it seemed the Warriors were somewhat listless less than 24 hours after sweeping Punahou, the unseeded squad that is second in the Star-Advertiser Top 10.

Kaauwai said the team had to rededicate itself.

“We needed to find our groove. We have a lot of seniors and this is important to us. We dug down deep and fought not only for our seniors, but for the younger generation and everyone that supports us,” she said.

Cha’lei Reid had 13 kills to lead Kahuku. Mele…