The Moanalua girls volleyball team has extra incentive this season to win the Oahu Interscholastic Association title and state crown.

“Our coach (Tommy Lake) told us that we are very capable of winning if we put our hearts into it,” team captain Courtney Calicdan said. “He spoke to us with sincerity. So what we decided as a team is to accept that challenge. At the same time he proposed a different challenge for us concerning him.”

The challenge to coach: If the team wins the state title then the coach will have to dye his hair blue.

“We thought blue would be a nice color since it’s our school’s color. I think this agreement with Coach Lake has shown our team that he is willing to put something of value to him at stake to give us extra determination.”

Thus far this season Moanalua remains undefeated at 4-0 in league games with victories over Kailua, Farrington, Kaiser and Castle.

“We’re trying to have the type of season where no one on this team will want it to end,” insisted Calicdan.  “We took third place at states last year,” Calicdan said. “I believe our team has a real chance at winning both the league and state titles. It’s my senior year so I’m going to give it all that I have.”  But in order to accomplish this task Calicdan says she knows her team will have to defeat tough opponents like Kahuku.

Moanalua’s first exam will happen on September 2nd when they face the defending Oahu Interscholastic Association tourney champions on the Red Raiders home gym.

Calicdan says she is aware that playing against Kahuku is a yearly challenge for every team in the OIA.  “Every season Kahuku comes out strong. They are extremely tough to beat,” the outside hitter said.  “Against Kahuku our team is not going to back down,” Calicdan said. “Our team understands that playing volleyball is a step-by-step process towards success. We must keep that theory in mind this Thursday. We know that Kahuku likes to set their defense a certain way so this past week we’ve worked very hard at developing plays to attack their defense.”

Teammate Tasha Meyer agrees with Calicdan that Moanalua’s game against Kahuku will be a major challenge. The winner will take command of first place in the OIA Red East Division.

“I’m very excited to be playing against Kahuku,” Meyer said. “I believe in our program and my team. We can succeed as long as we work together and communicate out there on the court.”

Although the Moanalua vs. Kahuku game is a league headliner, Calicdan and Meyer knows that the battle for the league title goes beyond this particular matchup.  “Every team in the OIA has good players,” Meyer said. The senior added that consistency will be vital towards the team’s success.  “We will have to take every game seriously, especially those games in tournament play. That means we will have to consistently stay focused,” the middle blocker said.  “This season our team has a better understanding of the importance of seeding towards helping a team win states which our ultimate goal is,” Meyer said.

This Moanalua team is known for being scrappy and for making few mistakes in returning the ball back to their opponents.

 “Although we are an experienced team I think our biggest weakness this year is that we are not a very big team,” Calicdan revealed. “So we have to play error free. And it helps that we have speed. Most of the time having speed is better than having size.”

Meyer said the competition for playing time among the team’s members gives them added drive to fight to the end.
“No one on this team can slack,” Meyer pointed out. “On this team no one is guaranteed a spot in the lineup. We know within ourselves that we can not give up, no matter how far behind we may be in a set.