Keeping Focus On OIA Title
By Jack Danilewicz
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS | Share
Del.icio.usThe Kalaheo boys volleyball team doesn’t have to look far for inspiration as it begins the post-season this week. With two consecutive Oahu Interscholastic Association titles, the Mustangs need only look to the rafters of their gymnasium, where banners commemorating their accomplishments hang.
“These guys have worked really hard. We don’t talk about it (winning the OIA) too much, but whenever we start losing focus in practice, I try to remind them that they have a standard to live up to,” said Gavin Cook, who succeeded Sivan Leoni as Kalaheo’s head coach in the off-season.“I know they really want it.”
The Mustangs breezed through their OIA Eastern Division slate with a loss to Roosevelt as their only setback. It would seem that a battle against complacency would be their greater challenge this week until the Nov. 2 tournament final, where they are likely to meet Roosevelt again.
But Cook’s team was on the mend last week from a rash of nagging injuries, the most noteworthy being a badly sprained ankle suffered by sophomore setter Christian Kepa. Midway through a 13-day layoff between their regular-season finale Oct. 11 and Tuesday’s OIA second-round playoff match against Kahuku, Cook said he would use the long layoff to restore his team’s health in addition to stepping up their conditioning.
“Christian is day-to-day right now,“he said.“He literally sprained it two minutes before the Kahuku match, which was pretty stressful for us. We had to scramble to put together a lineup that night. He’s been cleared to practice, but his mobility isn’t great, so we’ve been trying to rest him. The other guys have a lot of lingering things. But it’s been that way (all season), so it’s nothing new.
“We’ve worked pretty hard at conditioning during the layoff,” he added, “and the last few days before a match, we go light.”
Of equal importance to the Mustangs’collective physical health is their mental approach.
“We want to peak at the right time,“Cook said.“We’ve been so up and down all year that it’s really hard to judge whether or not we’re playing our best volleyball. From match to match, everything has varied.We feed off of our serving. Everything clicks from there.
“Our serving and our passing (are the keys to success ...,” he added. “Our strength lies in our middle (-hitters),and if we’re not passing well, we don’t get to utilize them. Ball-control will also be very important for us.”
During the aforementioned layoff, Kalaheo held its share of scrimmages, often against college players who had come to the Mustangs’ gym to offer stiff competition.
“We’ve tried to scrimmage a lot, even if it’s only been among ourselves,” Cook said.“There are a lot of good players around who have been really helpful to us.”
Several key holdovers from last year’s OIA championship team have led the way for Kalaheo in 2006, including Chase Moses, Tyler Caswell and Clifton Pires. A solid supporting cast has centered around Timothy Moyer, Pono Wong and Kepa.
Caswell is a certain candidate for Player of the Year honors in the OIA after a stellar regular season.
“He’s always been dominant,” Cook said. “He’s been as steady as we could ask. He’s been pretty unstoppable all year long.”
The OIA title game is set for 6 p.m. Nov. 2 at McKinley High School. That game will be televised statewide on OC-16. The Nissan Division I boys state volleyball championships are Nov. 13-16.
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS
Most Recent Comment(s):
