The gold and black are back.
Senior Marisa Nakata drilled 17 kills as Hawaii Baptist ended a nine-year drought, sweeping Le Jardin 25-20, 25-20, 25-16 on Saturday night to capture the Division II title at the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championships.
The Eagles (15-7 overall) have been title winners and contenders for decades, but hadn’t won a D-II state crown since 2015. Like Saturday, HBA won that ’15 title battle in three sets over Le Jardin.
“It hasn’t been pressure. It’s more us girls and our desire to win. I think we worked as a team to get this last win, especially our seniors,” said Nakata, who was a third grader the last time HBA won a state crown.
The Eagles hit some of the heaviest balls from either side, and some of the most difficult floaters as servers. They kept Le Jardin’s defense on its heels from start to finish.
Le Jardin hit .079 against HBA’s relentless defense. The offseason work is always a priority.
“We work out three, four times a week weightlifting. The other days we’re in the gym playing volleyball,” Nakata said. “That was our goal today, to play aggressive. Coach (Myles Shioji) always says to keep grinding one point at a time, be aggressive and play team volleyball.”
This is HBA’s fifth state title in D-II, all under Shioji. The previous titles were in 2007, ’08, ’09 and ’15.
“They’re all special. I’m proud of this set of seniors. There are a lot of three- and four-year (varsity) players in this group. We play one play at a time. In the warmup, we talk about getting focused. Every step that we take is all about mental preparation,” Shioji said. “We’re the smaller team each time we step on the court. It takes a lot for us to play at this level every day. I was a little worried about how our girls were going to play. It’s been a long season no matter how much you lift, how many plyos you do. It’s a lot of jumping. We were worried.”
Brooke Brennan added seven kills and two blocks, Kylie Ancheta tallied six kills and 10 digs, and Makana Doane chipped in four kills and two blocks. Katelyn Albano dished 34 assists and hustled for eight digs.
Nakata added two aces and eight digs, and libero Jaclyn Miyazawa corralled 12 digs.
Sydney Kennedy, a persistent force at outside hitter, led Le Jardin (8-5) with 15 kills and added four digs. Sydni Gardner tallied nine kills and a team-high 14 digs, while Summer Flores had five kills and 1.5 blocks. Norah Dodson hustled for two blocks, while Taylor Amby dished 29 assists. Nine Swigart had 13 digs.
Le Jardin coach Taylor Souza played under former Bulldogs coach Lee Lamb and was an assistant to him for five years before becoming head coach this year. Lamb led the program to three D-II state titles before stepping down this year.
“It’s against my nature to be rah-rah-rah, but one thing I learned from him throughout the years is he always hit a different note with every single team,” Souza said. “Very early on, I learned with this team they need that rah-rah-rah, that overwhelming confidence.”
Souza knows Nakata well through club volleyball.
“She’s been leading this team since she was a sophomore. She’s the best player in the state. She sees the court better than any other attacker I’ve seen, especially in Division II,” Souza said.
A boisterous crowd at BYU-Hawaii’s Cannon Activities Center saw ILH runner-up Le Jardin seize control early on, only to falter against a resilient HBA block and back row that seemed to dig and deflect the Bulldogs’ bazooka shots most of the night.
The Bulldogs played with a bounce in their step from the start, opening a 9-3 lead over the ILH D-II champions. Dodson had two roofs and Kennedy racked up five quick kills over the smaller HBA block.
However, hitting errors derailed LJA’s momentum, allowing HBA to surge ahead, 17-15. While the once jubilant Bulldogs tensed up, Albano delivered an ace as the Eagles took the lead.
Brennan’s kill off a Bulldogs block attempt stretched the lead to 23-20. After a double-touch violation on Amby, Gardner’s hitting error ended the opening set.
HBA’s momentum carried into the second set with Albano distributing to Brennan, Ancheta, Doane and Nakata. After a tip kill by Brennan, the Eagles led 12-6.
Trailing 18-12, the Bulldogs got an ace from Kennedy, a tip kill off a double block by Gardner, and a hitting error by Nakata during a 4-0 run.
After an HBA timeout, Gardner crushed a kill right down the center to bring Le Jardin within 18-17. The Bulldogs got no closer.
Makena Lincoln came through with an ace, and after Brennan’s right-side kill off Gardner’s block, HBA led 22-15. After Ancheta roofed Flores, it was 23-15.
Kills by Brennan and Nakata closed out the victory.
The list of D-II state champions since HBA won in 2015 is a litany of ILH teams. Le Jardin in 2016 and ’17, followed by Sacred Hearts (’18), Damien (’19), University (’21), Le Jardin (’22) and Mid-Pacific (’23). The ’20 state tournament was canceled.
HAWAII BAPTIST DEF. LE JARDIN
25-20, 25-20, 25-16
BULLDOGS (11-5)
S K E ATT PCT D BA PTS
Flores 3 5 2 12 .250 2 3 6.5
Dodson 3 0 2 6 -.333 3 4 2.0
Kennedy 315 8 49 .143 4 2 17.0
Christensen 3 1 2 7 -.143 0 1 1.5
Amby 3 0 2 5 -.400 4 1 0.5
Gardner 3 9 6 32 .094 14 3 10.5
Soares 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0.0
Surina 3 0 0 0 .000 3 0 0.0
Krueger 3 0 0 0 .000 2 0 0.0
Kalahiki 3 0 0 1 .000 6 0 1.0
Swigart 3 0 0 0 .000 13 0 0.0
Krupa 2 1 0 2 .500 0 0 1.0
MATCH 3 31 22 114 .079 51 14 40.0
EAGLES (13-2)
S K E ATT PCT D BA PTS
Brennan 3 7 2 15 .333 1 2 9.0
Ancheta 3 6 1 19 .263 10 1 7.5
Lincoln 3 0 0 0 .000 7 0 1.0
Doane 3 4 2 11 .182 2 4 6.0
Nakata 3 17 7 51 .196 10 0 19.0
Albana 3 0 0 1 .000 8 2 2.0
Miyazawa 3 0 0 1 .000 12 0 1.0
Kam 3 0 0 0 .000 2 0 1.0
De La Cruz 3 3 4 12 -.083 0 3 4.5
MATCH 3 37 16 110 .191 52 12 54.0
Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors;
att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d:
digs; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills
plus blocks plus aces).
Service aces — Le Jardin 2 (Kennedy, Kalahiki). Hawaii Baptist 7 (Nakata 2, Ancheta, Lincoln, Albano, Miyazawa, Kam).
Service errors — Le Jardin 4 (Swigart,
Amby, Kalahiki). Hawaii Baptist 6 (Miyazawa 2, Ancheta, Nakata, Albano, Kam).
Assists — Le Jardin 31 (Amby 29, Kennedy, Swigart). Hawaii Baptist 37 (Albano
34, Miyazawa 3). Block solos — Le Jardin
none. Hawaii Baptist 1 (Bamis). Ball handling errors — Le Jardin none. Hawaii
Baptist none. Reception errors — Le Jardin 7 (Swigart 4, Kennedy, Gardner, Surina). Hawaii Baptist 2 (Ancheta, TEAM).
T—n/a. A—721. Officials—Jonathan Tanji,
Ward Soto, Fred Puu, Ian Martins
