After drilling 22 kills with 11 digs in the Division I final of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championships on Saturday night at Blaisdell Arena, Kamehameha’a Keonilei Akana was picked as the tournament’s most outstanding player.
Akana, a middle who also plays opposite, was also chosen to the D-I all-tournament team last year.
Four of Akana’s Warriors teammates also made the D-I all-tournament team — libero Tara De Sa, hitters Devin Kahahawai and Maui Robins and setter Bryanne Soares — after Kamehameha captured the school’s 22nd title in four sets (21-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-21) over Punahou.
In Division II, champion Damien placed four players on the all-tournament team, including most outstanding player Kaulana Kalulu-Sugai, a setter who had 22 assists, 16 digs and three kills in Saturday’s 25-19, 25-11, 25-14 sweep of Waimea in the final.
The other Monarchs picked were hitters Rayne Pactol, Heavenly Campbell and libero Aiyani Park.
New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championsihips
Division I all-tournament team
>> Most outstanding player: Keonilei Akana, Kamehameha
>> Tara De Sa, Kamehameha
>> Kaia Dunford, Punahou
>> Grace Fiaseu, Punahou
>> Amariis Garcia, Moanalua
>> Devin Kahahawai, Kamehameha
>> Maui Robins, Kamehamehaa
>> Bryanne Soares, Kamehameha
Division II all-tournament team
>> Most outstanding player: Kaulana Kalulu-Sugoi, Damien
>> Milan Ah Yat, University
>> Heavenly Campbell, Damien
>> Ella Connor, Seabury Hall
>> Braeanna Moises, Waimea
>> Rayne Pactol, Damien
>> Aiyani Park, Damien
>> Raelee Samio, Waimea
DIVISION I
| Match # | Date | Matchup | Time/Scores | Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oct. 21 | Moanalua vs. Waianae | Moan 25-20, 24-26, 25-19, 23-25, 15-13 | Moanalua |
| 2 | Oct. 21 | Punahou vs. Kahuku | Pun 25-19, 25-19, 19-25, 25-21 | Punahou |
| 3 | Oct. 21 | Waiakea vs. Kapolei | Kapo 25-15, 25-18, 25-13 | Waiakea |
| 4 | Oct. 21 | KS-Maui vs. Le Jardin | LJA 25-21, 20-25, 25-19, 25-14 | KS-Maui |
| 5 | Oct. 24 | (4) King Kekaulike vs. Moanalua | Moan 25-17, 25-17, 25-19 | Moanalua |
| 6 | Oct. 24 | (1) Kamehameha vs. Kapolei | KSK 25-20, 25-14, 25-20 | Moanalua |
| 7 | Oct. 24 | (3) KS-Hawaii vs. Punahou | Pun 25-12, 21-25, 25-20, 25-23 | McKinley |
| 8 | Oct. 24 | (2) Mililani vs. Le Jardin | Mil 22-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-20 | McKinley |
| 9* | Oct. 25 | King Kekaulike vs. Kapolei | Kapo 25-23, 25-16 | McKinley |
| 10* | Oct. 25 | KS-Hawaii vs. Le Jardin | KSH 25-20, 25-22 | McKinley |
| 11 | Oct. 25 | Moanalua vs. Kamehameha | KSK 25-22, 25-19, 25-18 | Moanalua |
| 12 | Oct. 25 | Punahou vs. Mililani | Pun 25-22, 25-12, 25-20 | Moanalua |
| 13* | Oct. 26 | Kapolei vs. KS-Hawaii | Kapo 25-16, 24-26, 15-8 | Blaisdell Arena |
| 14* | Oct. 26 | Moanalua vs. Mililani | Moan 14-25, 28-26, 15-12 | Blaisdell Arena |
| 15 | Oct. 26 | Kamehameha vs. Punahou | KSK 21-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-21 | Blaisdell Arena |
| * — consolation | ||||
DIVISION II
| Match # | Date | Matchup | Time/Scores | Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oct. 23 | Konawaena vs. McKinley | McK 25-16, 23-25, 18-25, 25-20, 15-11 | Kaimuki |
| 2 | Oct. 23 | Kalani vs. La Pietra | Kaln 23-25, 27-25, 25-16, 25-16 | Kaimuki |
| 3 | Oct. 23 | Molokai vs. Hawaii Prep | HPA 25-15, 25-15, 25-21 | Farrington |
| 4 | Oct. 23 | Ka'u vs. University | ULS 25-20, 25-18, 25-13 | Farrington |
| 5* | Oct. 24 | Konawaena vs. La Pietra | Kona 20-25, 25-22, 15-11 | Kaimuki |
| 6* | Oct. 24 | Molokai vs. Ka'u | Mol 25-17, 25-15 | Farrington |
| 7 | Oct. 24 | (4) Seabury Hall vs. McKinley | SH 25-21, 23-25, 14-25, 25-21, 15-9 | Kaimuki |
| 8 | Oct. 24 | (1) Damien vs. Kalani | DMS 25-22, 25-18, 25-15 | Kaimuki |
| 9 | Oct. 24 | (2) Waimea vs. Hawaii Prep | Waim 25-19, 19-25, 25-23, 16-25, 15-10 | Farrington |
| 10 | Oct. 24 | (3) Pearl City vs. University | ULS 25-13, 25-14, 25-16 | Farrington |
| 11* | Oct. 25 | Konawaena vs. Molokai | Mol 26-24, 26-24 | Moanalua |
| 12* | Oct. 25 | Hawaii Prep vs. Pearl City | PC 25-18, 20-25, 15-12 | McKinley |
| 13* | Oct. 25 | McKinley vs. Kalani | McK 25-20, 25-21 | Kaimuki |
| 14 | Oct. 25 | Waimea vs. University | Waim 25-21, 25-13, 25-15 | Kaimuki |
| 15 | Oct. 25 | Seabury Hall vs. Damien | DMS 21-25, 26-24, 25-18, 15-25, 15-11 | Kaimuki |
| 16* | Oct. 26 | Pearl City vs. McKinley | McK 20-25, 25-19, 15-8 | Blaisdell Arena |
| 17* | Oct. 26 | University vs. Seabury Hall | ULS 25-20, 27-25 | Blaisdell Arena |
| 18 | Oct. 26 | Waimea vs. Damien | DMS 25-19, 25-11, 25-14 | Blaisdell Arena |
| * — consolation | ||||
And she should be the clear runaway for Advertiser POY AND Gatorade. Led her teams to wins over ‘Iolani, Punahou (for the ILH title), and again for the state title. Forget what happened in years past. THIS YEAR, she is the POY.
JetWavy, Elene Oglivie is the clear cut favorite as state player of the year. Not even close.
This has got to be as sweet any any other state championship for Kamehameha Coach Chris Blake. Kamehameha was sooo close to having their season ended by the Iolani Red Raiders, which would have ended Kamehameha’s fabulous streak of having played in 17 consecutive state wahine volleyball championship final games. Down 2-0 to Iolani, against all odds, Kamehameha somehow came back and won, saving their fabulous 17 straight state championship final games streak. Kamehameha had just gotten swept by Iolani just the week before. I have no idea what Chris Blake told his team on the sidelines after being down 2-0 in games. But I do absolutely want to know what he told his team at that point.
Tough call. Elena is clearly the most talented player in the state. But don’t forget that she missed a lot of games this year because she was traveling with the national team. Yup, she’s that good.
However, the state player of the year award should go to the player who helped their team the most. The fact remains that Elena didn’t play a full season of ILH and her team failed to make the states. Keonilei played the full ILH season and led her team to the ILH and state championships. If everyone is fair about this, Keonilei gets the state player of the year award.
What are the guidelines for POY?
@ Ghandi
In your argument for Oglivie as the POY for 2019, you must be taking into account things she did outside of the season because based off of the work she did solely in ILH league play, it was not enough to get a POY nod. I’ll give her #2 in the Fab 15, but #1 based off her body of work in league and state tourney play, it’s Keonilei hands down. You are making as if the fact that Kamehameha had to come back from 2 sets down as a knock against Kamehameha. I could easily put it back on ‘Iolani and say well if you have the obvious POY in Oglivie and you were up 2 sets but couldn’t close the deal, then I question whether or not your main girl is the best in the state. Oglivie’s stats look amazing because almost every set is going to her whereas Akana had to get her kills while moreso sharing sets amongst two other underclassmen.
For me, one of the most important pre-requisites for being named the season’s POY is: Were you still playing in the post-season?
Akana led her team to an amazing final week in the ILH where Kamehameha won like 5 games in 6 nights, knocks out the defending champ and expected #1 seed in ‘Iolani WITH OGLIVIE, beats Punahou the following night. Then beats them again in the state tournament. Like Falcon said, all things being FAIR and unbiased, Akana should be taking home both Star-Advertiser AND Gatorade POY honors.
@ Ghandi
Also, there’s an article about that Kamehameha v. ‘Iolani game where Blake mentions that he didn’t tell his team anything. He let his team figure it out for themselves.
Too often we forget that volleyball is the consummate “team” sport…..serve, dig, set, spike and block. There maybe argument over who’s POY, but none when it gets down to what is really important …… TEAM Of the Year.
All good points. However, as mentioned the team figured it out not one person. I see the states stats and there are girls who played less games and have stats right up there. And that brings me back to my question- what really is the guidelines for POY? Does it have to be someone from the team of the winner? There were really some girls who actually helped their team get to where they ended up in states, with high stats.
Sorry meant to say seen all the stats – states, ILH and D1 overall. And that’s why I am really curious how it all works.
Curious,
But how many of those girls led their team to a league championship, was the state tourney most outstanding player, and led her team to a state title? One girl stands has to stand alone on that mountain and if it’s not obvious it should be Akana, then I’m at a loss for words. To answer to question “What should the criteria be for the POY?”… The answer is do everything Akana did this season.
Loca1boi,
Sorry but everyone knows their is favoritism also. Everyone knows olgavie is good and still put in votes for her for POY. Everyone knows Akana is good too! But there are a lot of other players that lead their team to states also and played awesome too. So are you saying because they didn’t get the “w” they are not worthy? I guess so it wouldn’t be right for someone to get POY if their team didn’t win. Everyone has their own take on it and how it should be voted on.
I have to agree with Loca1boi on this one. There are a bunch of really good players this year who might be equally considered for POY. At that point, the question becomes who separates themselves from this bunch by doing something the others have not.
Every POY candidate had a chance to lead her team to league and state championships. K-Lei by leading her team to the ILH and state championships truly separates herself from the rest. For every big point, Kamehameha went to K-Lei. The other teams knew it but still had a hard time stopping her. Give the setter Soares a share of some consideration.
Yes very good points guys! Thanks for your folks input.
Who knows what the voting will be like. In years past for other sports (boys bball), In two recent years I’ve seen a player from D2 beat out the D1 ILH and state tourney MVP for the Gatorade award and another year where a player who never even play one state tourney game also beat out the ILH and state tourney MVP for both advertiser and Gatorade POY. It’ll be politics and if Oglivie wins it over Akana, that means all things weren’t equal and they took into account things that happened outside of the season. We shall see.
Is it me, or did the Kahahawai and Robins girl shine a little more during the last part of the season??
Thats what it looked like on Spectrum, at least.
Just an observation.
Its hard to pick one when all the girls were instrumental during their championship run.
Unlike Iolani, when you know whos going to get the ball on every play. Easy to pick when one player has uku million kills because of uku million attempts.
@ILH
It was just you. Don’t get me wrong, both Kahahawai and Robins are outstanding players and I would be dumbfounded to not see them on 2nd team-all state at worst, but they made a ton of errors you’d expect from underclassmen. There were a ton of times throughout the season they hit the ball way too long. Akana always seemed like the anchor and the consistent threat. Kamehameha has something to build for the future but it was Akana’s time.
Kaylei Akana played like a POY. She did what Elena has done a couple times by leading her team to a State trophy. She deserves it if she is selected. Akana is the best player on the team that won the State Championship and one of the best in the state no doubt.
Oglivie is recognized by many as the best player in the state. Some look at stats too much. The uniqueness in this year is what Elena has done that no Hawaii Prep volleyball player has ever done. Yes, outside of ILH JetSavvy. Selected to the National team and won Gold at U18 World Championship as the starting OH for team USA. Like Kanani in years past we have witnessed 4yrs of greatness and this decade Elena has taken those same steps.
I read too much about their hitting but it’s the volleyball IQ of both these players and their overall game that’s off the chart.
Falcon Future pointed to other players and I agree with him. Great year by Kamehameha and both Oglivie and Kaylei are superb players BUT there are others with great PLAY like Falanika and you can’t forget Soares who ran a crisp Kamehameha offense. In the end and in my mind Kamehameha had more weapons. Devin led the team in kills and Maui took the biggest swing of the season. Kamehameha was down 14-15 in the 5th against Iolani in the final bid match and Maui sided out. Amazing!
JetWavy you made a strong pitch for Kaylei. She is a stud. Can’t wait to see her at USC. Good and interesting conversation. Congratulations to Kamehameha 2019 Champs!
Congrats to Elena Oglivie being selected 2019 Under Armour First Team All-American. Only the second time in Hawaii Prep volleyball history.
Big fan of Kaylei and great season by Kamehameha as they earned the Championship. I’m posting this note now after my granddaughter said she wants to be the next Elena. This is after watching the replay of the ILH Iolani Kamehameha match. I smiled. Kamehameha had more weapons. I’m an old timer and I’ve coached and watched a lot of volleyball. Elena Oglivie is the best in the state. State of Hawaii was cheated not having Iolani in states with the broken format by ILH but also the state selection of teams getting into states. Iolani was better than most of the teams in states and potentially on a neutral court anything can happen in the finals as history has shown us.