Mustangs Preparing For State Volleyball Championships
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usKalaheo boys volleyball coach Gavin Cook is hopeful his Mustangs have saved their biggest efforts for their biggest matches.
As the team prepares this week for the upcoming New City Nissan Division I State Volleyball Championships, the first-year coach expects the Kalaheo gymnasium to once again resemble something of a reunion with familiar figures from the volleyball community returning to campus.
“We try to get high-level volleyball players out to our practices to scrimmage against our kids,” said Cook, whose team finished second in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Tournament last week. “It helps that they’ve had a lot of good teams here at Kalaheo in the past and that a lot of them are still around. Lately, our kids have responded well and have won some games (over the former standouts). It’s encouraging to see.
“These kids have just begun to figure out how good they are and how good they can be when they play up to their capabilities,“Cook added.
The scrimmages with former volleyball standouts in the community figure to help the Mustangs to maintain their intensity level as they were looking at a 10-day layoff in the wake of the OIA title game last week. The state tournament won’t begin until next Monday, with first-round matches scheduled to be played at Punahou. (Kalaheo was to learn of its first-round opponent this week.) Cook welcomed the break from competition as an opportunity to heal his team.
Both Tyler Caswell and Christian Kepa have been recovering with sprained ankles, but should be 100 percent by the time of the state tournament, according to Cook, whose team earned the No. 2 seed out of the OIA.
“We were pretty banged up (during the early part of the OIA tournament),“Cook said.“Tyler was still able to play for us against Leilehua (in the semifinals), which was huge for us. It’s always difficult when you lose someone from your lineup that you count on. He did a good job of taking the pain and playing through it. He’s taken a few days off lately from playing.”
Caswell has been one of the state’s top players to date this season and remains a focal point for opposing teams.
“He’s been pretty dominant for us all year,“Cook said.“We get him the ball every time we can, and he opens up things for our other players because other teams have to key in on him.”
In addition to Caswell and Kepa, the Mustangs also boast a stellar supporting cast that includes seniors Chase Moses, Clifton Pires, Timothy Moyer and junior Pono Wong.
In rolling up a 13-2 record through the regular season and OIA playoffs, the Mustangs have been battling themselves as much as the competition at times, according to Cook. The focus in practice lately for the Mustangs has been on trying to eliminate self-inflicted wounds.
“It’s definitely (more mental at this stage of the season),“Cook said. “I’ve looked over the tape of our (first regular season) match with Roosevelt probably 1,000 times, and I count 14 unforced errors in the first game,“he said.“It’s amazing that we were able to even be close in a game giving up that many.
“We’ve had a lack of focus at times, which is hard to put our finger on,” he added.
“We’re up and down. At times, we’ve looked unbeatable, and at times, we’ve looked like we can lose to anyone.
“Hopefully, we can bring it all together and peak at the right time.”
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