Volleyball Warriors will host Buffanblu
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Interscholastic League of Honolulu volleyball season starts today with a heavyweight doubleheader at Punahou's Hemmeter Fieldhouse.
Kamehameha's boys — the 2003 state runners-up — will play Punahou at 4:30 p.m. in a matchup of perennial powers, followed by the same two schools in a rematch of last year's girls state championship final.
Nu'uhiwa
The 2003 girls state title match ended with Punahou winning an 18-25, 25-19, 25-23 thriller, but key elements from that match will be missing from today's sequel.
Punahou outside hitter Aneli Cubi-Otineru, the reigning Advertiser State Player of the Year, has sat out the entire preseason on academic probation and is not expected to play tonight.
Kamehameha, meanwhile, lost two-time All-State outside hitter Mounia Nihipali to graduation.
"I'm sure both teams will come in with some first-game jitters, but we both have very high expectations," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said. "This will be a big early test for us; we're going to find out exactly where we are."
Blake said even without Cubi-Otineru, the Buffanblu return almost intact from last season. Among the returnees are Advertiser All-State first team setter Pohai Nu'uhiwa and sophomores Larissa Nordyke (middle blocker) and Elizabeth Ka'aihue (outside hitter).
"They've got a lot of good returnees, and they're well-coached," Blake said. "We played them in the preseason and lost two games, but we were still going through tryouts at the time and figuring out who was going to make the team."
Blake said seniors Jessica Bird (middle blocker) and Doris Kometani (setter) have stepped up as leaders for Kamehameha, and sophomore Alexis Robins has blossomed into a key starter at outside hitter after breaking through as a reserve back row specialist last season.
"Alexis was a rock for us on the backside last year, but now she can help us in the front and back," Blake said. "She can show what she can do at the net; she's a cagey hitter. We have no dominant hitter this year, so it's going to have to be more of a team effort. We have a lot of juniors and sophomores. But the good thing is there's not a lot of dropoff from the starters to the people coming in off the bench."
CROSS COUNTRY
The National Federation of High School Associations and the O'ahu Interscholastic Association are sponsoring the inaugural NFHS/OIA Cross Country Invitational tomorrow at Central O'ahu Regional Park.
The event is being billed as a community service, with runners collecting pledges throughout the week to benefit the Lanakila Rehabilitation Center. It will include JV and varsity teams (boys and girls) from the OIA and Interscholastic League of Honolulu, in addition to 6th, 7th and 8th grade runners.
The meet begins at 9 a.m.
Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456.
