HHSAA Girls Volleyball
Top-seeded HBA sweeps Le Jardin for first D2 state crown since 2015


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
November 3, 2024, 12:27am

  

Sat, Nov 2, 2024 @ BYU-Hawaii [ 5:00 pm ]

Le Jardin

0

Hawaii Baptist

3

FINAL  1   2   3   4   5      
LJA (11-5) 20 20 16 - - 0
HBA (13-2) 25 25 25 - - 3
Kill: M. Nakata (HBA) 17 kills
Blk: M. Dodson (LJA) 4 blk
Ast: K. Albano (HBA) 34 ast


LAIE — Marisa Nakata made sure to send Hawaii Baptist out on top. 

Nakata put down a match-high 17 kills and had 10 digs to lead HBA to its first state championship since 2015 with a sweep of Le Jardin Saturday night. 

The Eagles (13-2) claimed their fifth state New City Nissan/HHSAA Division II state crown with a 25-20, 25-20, 25-16 win over Le Jardin before a crowd of about 800 fans at the Cannon Activities Center. 

All five of HBA's state crowns have come under longtime coach Myles Shioji. 

He, in turn, passed the credit to his senior class, which includes Nakata, a fourth-year varsity player and the bona fide leader for this year's squad. 

"These seniors are very special. They worked hard every day. Everybody works hard, but this group (has) a lot of three- to four-year players, so it's very special, I'm very proud of them," Shioji said. 

In her final prep match, Nakata gave everything she had while playing through a number of physical ailments. 

"Everything," Shioji said of Nakata's multitude of bumps and bruises. "Thumbs, ankles, everything; foot, shoulder, back."

New City Nissan/HHSAA Division II Girls Volleyball State Championships
All-Tournament Team
As selected by the media and the HHSAA

Kylie Ancheta, Hawaii Baptist
Sydni Gardner, Le Jardin
Carlyn Kamoku, Kapaa
Sydney Kennedy, Le Jardin
Margot Lewis, Hawaii Prep
Katelynn Albano, Hawaii Baptist (setter)
Jaclyn Miyazawa, Hawaii Baptist (libero)
Most Outstanding Player: Marisa Nakata, Hawaii Baptist 

Nakata, who is will play next year at the University of Jamestown, expressed her appreciation for the support of her teammates. 

"Honestly, just the team, they really encouraged me, really pushed me through the entirety of the game and I'm so grateful to have them and have that support system on my side," said Nakata, who was selected as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

One night after she took 82 swings and amassed 27 kills and 25 digs in a grueling five-set semifinal win over Kapaa, Nakata notched 51 of her team's 110 total attacks. She had five kills by the end of set 1, 10 through two sets and seven in the final frame. 

Nakata was the lone HBA player to record double-digit kills, but the Eagles also got key offensive contributions from middle Brooke Brennan (seven kills, .333 attack percentage) and pin hitter Kylie Ancheta (six kills, .263%). 

Middles Makana Doane and Asia De La Cruz added three kills apiece, while three players tallied double-digit digs. Libero Jaclyn Miyazawa led the way defensive with 12 digs, while Nakata and Ancheta added 10 apiece. 

"I don't think we passed extremely well, but we passed well enough to get a high enough ball to our pins. Kylie Ancheta, she came up pretty big with a lot of kills, Asia did what she could in the moment, Marisa, hobbling around out there, she put it together, I'm really proud of her," Shioji said. 

Conversely, the Eagles kept the Bulldogs out of system for much of the night with their work at the service line. 

Bulldogs' first-year co-head coach Taylor Souza pointed to her team's struggles in serve-receive as the biggest hindrance Saturday night. 

"I think the main thing that we were struggling with tonight was our serve-receive. We were having a hard time generating opportunities at the net because our serve-receive was struggling, whereas I think when we played them the last time their serve-receive was struggling, so it was really just a back and forth of who could pass better in serve-receive and we were having a hard time generating opportunities at the net," Souza said. 

Le Jardin allowed seven aces by the Eagles and hit just .079 for the match. 

Shioji, whose team split two ILH regular-season meetings against the Bulldogs, said the strategy at the service line was to put the pressure on the opposition.

"We attacked them. Even when we lost to them (on Oct. 11), we attacked them. They played better that night, they were the better team that night. We attacked, we wanted to attack certain people and we did and we tried to get them out of system, tried to make it a little bit more difficult for them," Shioji detailed. 

The Bulldogs led 9-3 in set 1 after Morah Dodson and Taylor Amby teamed for a double block. They later stretched it to a 13-6 cushion after three straight kills by middle Summer Flores, but the Eagles answered with a 12-2 run that put them ahead, 18-15. The teams were tied at 18 before HBA scored seven of the next nine points to close out the opening set. 

Nakata had five kills on 17 swings in set 1, while Sydney Kennedy tallied nine kills on 21 swings for the Bulldogs. 

HBA used a pair of 4-0 runs early in set 2 to jump out to a 17-10 lead after a Le Jardin net violation. The Bulldogs clawed back to within 18-17 after a 7-1 run that was capped by a Sydni Gardner kill off an assist from Amby. 

The Eagles clung to a slim 20-19 lead, but reeled off a 5-1 set-ending run. Nakata put down a kill from the right side after Miyazawa made a diving dig in the back row on a Le Jardin attack. That gave HBA set point and Ancheta finished off set 2 after she found the back row from the left side. 

HBA seized control of set 3 with a 12-5 run that turned an 8-7 deficit into a 19-13 advantage. The run included four errors by the Bulldogs and as many kills by Nakata, who seemingly put a little more power into her shots midway through the third set. 

"It was just looking at the end goal and everything that we've worked for and everything that we've been through as a team. I think we just really wanted it a lot more and I think those last couple of points we really dug deep and gave everything we got," Nakata said. 

Le Jardin got as close at 19-15 after consecutive kills by Gardner, but Brennan sandwiched a couple of kills around an ace by Makena Lincoln, before she teamed with Ancheta on a double block to give their team a 23-15 cushion. A few points later, Brennan's tip shot found the floor to set-up championship point, which Nakata put away with her kill from the left side that caromed off the block and down to end the match. 

Shioji found it to be fitting that Nakata was the one to close things out and ignite the Eagles' championship celebration. 

"We stress spreading the ball around — yeah, we have an excellent hitter in Marisa, but we gotta take some of the heat off of her. We had to move it around, we had to get some people (involved), (but) she got the last point and that's awesome; couldn't happen any other way," Shioji expressed. 

Kennedy led the Bulldogs (11-5) with 15 kills on 49 total swings. Gardner collected nine kills and 14 digs, while libero Nine Swigart had 13 kills in the loss. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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