Posted on: Tuesday, December 17, 2002

OIA EAST BOYS
Castle coach, hitter named league's best

Advertiser Staff

Castle's Alika DeRego, undersized for an outside hitter at 5 feet 8, got by blockers by mixing up his shots. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

The Castle High School boys volleyball team won a share of its first O'ahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division championship since 1991, and the Knights also swept top honors on the East's all-star team.

Junior outside hitter Alika DeRego was named Player of the Year, and longtime coach Pat Gomes-Woolsey is the Coach of the Year.

DeRego, at 5 feet 8, is small for his position but still was effective against much taller blockers.

"He came into his own this season," Gomes-Woolsey said. "He buckled down, practiced hard and tried to be a leader."

DeRego, who was a setter last season, said most of the blockers he faced this year were 6-feet or taller.

"I had to learn to work on different types of hitting — tips, rolls, angles, lines," DeRego said.

Other players selected to the East first team are Kalaheo senior Shawn Ah Mow and freshmen Elias Ayau and Christopher Tumaneng, Farrington senior Uriah Seui, McKinley senior James Isip, Roosevelt senior Clint Maki and Moanalua sophomore Nicholas Harryson.

Gomes-Woolsey, who has been coaching at Castle since the 1980s, guided the undersized Knights to a 9-1 regular season and a tie for first place with Kalaheo for the East championship.