Ka Makani in fifth place match Saturday versus Rough Riders
By Edward Jackson HONOLULU -The girls on the Hawaii Prep volleyball team are proud of their accomplishments this season. Those thoughts were expressed by the two captains of this team, Lana Queen and Keilyn Ryusaki, after their victory on Friday, October 29th over Kalaheo in a consolation bracket match of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division II Girls Volleyball Championships at McKinley Student Council Gym in Honolulu.
In three sets, Hawaii Prep of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation defeated the Mustangs by the scores of 18-25, 25-7, 15-8 to advance into the 2:30 p.m. Saturday’s match for fifth place in the tournament.
Hawaii Prep entered the state tourney without a loss and was considered a legitimate contender to capture the division crown. However, on Thursday, October 28th they lost a very close match to Leilehua of the OIA in five sets.
“Although we lost our first game in this tournament we believed as a team that we played our best during in that match. So if we know that we played our best then we have nothing to feel bad about,” Queen said.
The senior middle blocker expressed joy that the team was very competitive in the Leilehua match.
“That (Leilehua) match could have gone either way,” Queen said. “It was extremely exciting and fun to play a match where everyone on the court was playing their hardest.”
Ryusaki agreed with Queen regarding the success of the team this season.
“Sure we would have liked to have won the (division 2) title,” Ryusaki said. “But the most important factor for us on this team is that we enjoyed ourselves all season long earning the right to play at states.”
Hawaii Prep (now 14-1) got off to a slow start in Friday’s match then roared its engines in the final two sets. Ka Makani, the number four seed at the start of this tournament, lost the first set, but easily won the next two.
Queen played fantastically in those two sets and ended the match with ten kills. Teammate Leeta Grap had nine kills and four assists. Kalaheo (13-5) was led by Jowell Guerreiro with eight kills.
By Kyle Sakamoto Lana Queen had 11 kills and Leeta Grap added nine as No. 4 seed Hawaii Prep beat Kalaheo, 18-25, 25-7, 15-8, in a consolation match at McKinley.
The third set was tied at 4-4 before Ka Makani went on a 7-0 run with Grap serving. Queen had two kills during the run.
Jowell Guerreiro had eight kills for Kalaheo.
The Mustangs led the first set 11-10 before pulling away. Guerreiro had five kills without an error in the set.
In the second set, Hawaii Prep (14-1) had 10 kills and two hitting errors. Grap and Katie Case both had two aces. Kalaheo (13-5) had just three kills and seven hitting errors in the set.
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