The new era of Maryknoll girls volleyball is off to a great start.
Senior Shani Houghtailing drilled 13 kills and Haylee DePonte tallied 15 assists as the Lady Spartans swept Hawaii Baptist 25-20, 25-19 to capture the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II championship on Thursday night at Maryknoll’s gym.
Hayley Taka led the Eagles (11-4) with eight kills and three aces. Kylie-Shyne Rivera-Kaahanui added three kills.
Maryknoll was sharper from the start, jumping to a 12-1 lead in Set 1.
“I actually was a little surprised we were up so high in the first set. A lot of it had to do with HBA just came in a little cold. Obviously, they came back. That was expected,” Maryknoll coach Kalepa Feguis said. “We didn’t think it was going to be a blowout by any means. We knew we were going to have to work for this one. Everybody played well today. Our defense was there, our offense showed up, our bench was huge. Everybody did their part today.”
The teams split their regular-season games, and Maryknoll (12-2) was seeded first for the post-season, single-elimination tournament. Maryknoll needed three sets to get past fourth-seeded Hanalani on Tuesday. Third-seeded HBA had to rally for a three-set victory over Damien.
A new system and a new coach tested the timeline of a brief volleyball season. Somehow, the Spartans made it work.
“I wouldn’t say they exceeded expectations. I would say we peaked at the right time. It took us a while to get adjusted to the new culture, the new system that we were trying to install,” Feguis said. “It just so happened that we had the opportunity to peak during the playoffs and the championship.”
The back row was led by libero Rozalynn Cabuena, a junior.
“She played well. She had a good first set. She had some nerves when we started the second set, and then she calmed down and got back into it,” Feguis said.
Setters Paige Nakanelua and DePonte ran the 6-2 offense. Nakanelua is a junior and DePonte is a freshman.
“We don’t necessarily live and die by the 6-2, but it was working this year and we stuck with it,” Feguis said.
Senior Ciera Simmonds and freshman Avery Perreira provided more offense. Maryknoll’s middles, Kamryn Correa, a junior, and sophomore Mira Canali, powered the middle with Houghtailing.
After an extra long break between the 2019 season and the 2020-21 season, girls volleyball will return in a matter of a few months.
“I say it’s too early to expect anything. We just want to keep working on our system. We don’t feel we’ve gotten to where we want to be yet. We feel blessed to be here and we thank everyone who made it possible, but we still have a lot of work to do and we have room to grow,” Feguis said.
Ultimately, one of the coach’s dreams is to move the program up to ILH Division I.
“Oh yeah, I’d be excited to if we could. If it was possible, we would love to,” Feguis said. “I just feel like the girls deserve to play at the top level. That’s the only way we’re going to grow as a team and as people in general, is when you play against the best.”
