Near-perfect Pearl City tips Iolani
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
HILO — The Pearl City High School boys volleyball team shocked Interscholastic League of Honolulu power Iolani 15-8, 11-15, 15-5 last night to advance to its first state championship match.
The Chargers (15-1) will play Kamehameha, which topped Kealakehe 15-5, 15-9 in the other semifinal, for the title tonight at 8 at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
An ILH team has won each of the past 23 state championships, and tonight's final was expected by many to match Iolani (14-3) against league rival Kamehameha for yet another all-ILH final. The two had played for last year's title, with Kamehameha winning.
But Pearl City, the O'ahu Interscholastic Association champion, altered those rematch plans and will have the opportunity to become the first public school state champ since Roosevelt in 1979.
"This is unbelievable, I'm so excited," Chargers coach Reid Shigemasa said, tears streaming down his face. "This is big not just for us and the OIA, but for all the public schools. We get ripped all the time for not being good enough, but we finally got fortunate. I still have respect for the ILH, because those are great teams. But this was for all the public schools who work so hard."
Pearl City did it by playing a near-perfect match in every phase — hitting, blocking, serving, passing and digging. The Raiders, meanwhile, came out sluggish and never did get into their rhythm.
"It happens, it was one of those nights," Iolani coach Luis Ramirez said. "We were flat. We weren't serving aggressive, and blocking; defensively, we had some holes out there. But give Pearl City credit. They played well, and they deserved to win."
Senior Jonathan Charette led the Chargers with a match-high 18 kills, finding spots everywhere on the Raiders' court. But Shigemasa said "everybody contributed" to the win.
"This is what we talked about all year, what we practiced for," Charette said. "We worked our butts off to make it happen."
Pearl City used aces by Christopher Kaneko and Elsworth Ka'ana'ana, kills by Charette and Michael Adams and errors by the Raiders to jump to a 6-0 lead in the first game. Iolani closed it to 7-5, but the Chargers stretched the lead to 12-5 after more tough serving and precise hitting. The Raiders scored the next three points, but Pearl City eventually ended it on an ace by Ka'ana'ana.
Iolani's powerful hitting trio of Derrick Low (16 kills), Todd Blankenship (12 kills) and Chad Miller (11 kills) helped the Raiders take a 10-2 lead in the second game, but the Chargers rallied and closed it to 13-11 before dropping the final two points.
"That gave us some momentum for the third game," Charette said.
Iolani errors and violations helped Pearl City take a 7-1 lead in the third game, and the Chargers received another point for an 8-1 advantage after the Raiders received a red card for protesting a net violation.
Iolani never got closer than six points the rest of the way.
Kamehameha advances: Isaac Kneubuhl had 13 kills and Jarrett Day added eight kills as the Warriors beat Kealakehe 15-5, 15-9.
