A new rival

After all these years at Punahou, I thought our biggest rival was Iolani in athletics. I am beginning to realize that Kamehameha is, has, and always will be our biggest rival in at least the sports I play--basketball and volleyball. I have made it to championship games four out of four times for basketball, and once for volleyball. Three out of those five times, we played Kamehameha in championships and only one time have I played Iolani for a championship. In my four years of experience at Punahou playing basketball, I have not once lost to Iolani. I have lost three times to Kamehameha however; twice in the preseason and once in last year's championship game. For volleyball, I have also lost more times to Kamehameha than I have to Iolani including yesterday's heartbreaking defeat to Kamehameha-Blue 25-13, 17-25, 26-27.

Coming into yesterday's match with Kamehameha, both of our teams were undefeated in league play. Our coaches kept telling us all week at practice how important this match was, because its the only time we get to play them all season since there are no playoffs. It was a must-win game. Personally, I did not have high expectations for our team, which I regret because I wish I had been more prepared mentally for the matchup. I was crummy in warmups, and my team didn't look too much better. I heard Kamehameha players whispering on the sidelines, "They aren't even that good," about us. That pissed me off. We came out hard and destroyed them in the first game 25-13, deflating their arrogant attitudes. I couldn't help but smile thru the net at their players who had been so loud the first game but now were as quiet as mice. Perhaps without realizing it was a bad move, our coach switched up the lineup in the second game, replacing two starters. We looked flat out there, and we let them gain momentum back as they beat us 17-25. The third and decisive game was intense and extremely well-played by both teams. I started off terribly, commmitting errors on the first three points. Our coach called a timeout to calm me down because I was really down on myself. I felt like my lack of heart and my unforced errrors were costing my team and I was doubting myself. My other outside hitter Colin, played a hell-of-a match to help support my poor play and if it wasn't for his great hitting, we wouldn't have even been in the game. 23-23 came however, and we were very much in the game. And even better, I was in the front row. Our teams traded points, with them getting a kill, and then I answered back with a kill of my own. Eventually, the score got to 26-26, and because the rulebooks say there is a scoring-cap of 27, it was last point wins. I went back to serve, and served it in. They had a couple of nice hits, but we had some great saves. The game ended when our middle hitter hit it into the net. The Kamehameha side of the crowd erupted in celebration and their bench players flooded onto the court to jump around and cherish their victory.

I was bitter because I don't like to lose, and I felt that I was the reason our team lost. Plus, I'm used to being the one celebrating after the games, not watching it from a distance. It was a very hard-fought battle between bitter enemies. I am no longer going to overlook Kamehameha in sports, and I am going to consider them our biggest rival until Iolani can prove that they deserve that tag. Look out Kamehameha--Punahou's coming for you.