It wasn’t Kamehameha’s victory against Waiakea, a match he knew his girls volleyball team would get up for, that caught coach Sam Thomas’ eyes first and foremost.
It was the matches that Kamehameha could have slept walked through at Waiakea’s preseason tournament but didn’t that taught Thomas the most about what may come ahead this season.
“There were some matches where we went up against (junior varsity) teams, where we could have taken it easy,” Thomas said. “Sometimes you get sloppy, but we didn’t. We did what we needed to do.”
Behind sophomores outside hitters Nani Spaar and Tiani Bello, Kamehameha downed Waiakea 25-18, 25-19 in the championship match Saturday at UH-Hilo gym, earning a measure of momentum heading into the BIIF season, which starts Tuesday.