One Big Island volleyball team recently displayed the heart of a champion from nearly 5,000 miles away.

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One Big Island volleyball team recently displayed the heart of a champion from nearly 5,000 miles away.

Hilo based-club Pilipa‘a — a group of players from Hilo, Pahoa, Puna and Ka‘u — won the 16 Elite division at the 53rd AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships on Monday in Orlando, Fla. The event is the largest volleyball tournament in the world per Guiness World Records, with over 6,000 teams and 100,000 players competing across several divisions.

Pilipa‘a was dominant throughout the bracket, losing just four sets in total. They swept MOD Black in two sets to claim the national title (25-20, 25-17).

“We’re very grateful,” head coach Mark Osorio told the paper in a phone interview. “A lot of hard work was put into this long season — a lot of sacrifice from the players. It was gratifying to see their hard work pay off in the end.”

The team didn’t have much time to get together before the start of the tournament, as the island high school season wrapped up in mid May. While that was a challenge in itself, Pilipa‘a was able to gel right before flying to the mainland with some strong practices.

Pilipa‘a’s roster consists of Cashez Kanui, Makani Anspach, Tristan Canon, Ryden Devaney, Kanoale‘a Emsley, Mathias Kyota, Kilinahe Navrro, Kaulupono Osorio, Mystiq Rosario and Zyan Subica. The core of the team has been playing with each other for years and formed strong chemistry, which Mark Osorio believes played a major role in the championship win.

“We played against a lot of all-star-caliber teams for their regions, but because they didn’t have the synergy that we had from knowing and playing with one another, it really helped us,” he explained.

Pilipa‘a was down in multiple sets, but fought back to win the frame almost every time.

“They stuck together through the hard times,” Osorio said of his group, which played in four different three-set matches that could have gone either way. “Staying confident and consistent allowed us to overcome some of those deficits.”

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A driving force in Pilpa‘a’s mental fortitude was Kanui, who Osorio lauded for his play across the tournament. Generally a quiet, soft-spoken individual, Osorio was impressed by Kanui’s leadership by example on the big stage.

“In the biggest moments, he came through for us in multiple ways, both with his leadership ability and playing ability,” he said of Kanui. “He was unafraid to go for it, as opposed to playing soft.”

The title run also marked Pilipa‘a 16s’ first time playing in an upper division in the tournament, which Osorio felt that his squad was ready for. With the tournament being so prestigious and vast, winning the whole thing made it that much sweeter for the East Hawaii club.

“We played in the club division (in the national tournament) for the previous two years, which is like the baseline,” Osorio explained. “We had moderate-to-great success, but this year, I felt that we were a stronger team — so we upped our ante a little bit and were able to compete with some of those really large clubs from the continent.”

The win wasn’t just for Pilipa‘a, however — it was a win for the entire Hawaii volleyball scene. Hawaii teams generally have to travel much farther to reach mainland tournaments, which puts them at a rest disadvantage when going against top teams.

But this didn’t matter for Pilipa‘a. Instead, the team reimagined what was possible for island squads with big dreams — setting a new standard for Hawaii clubs.

“It’s unbelievable,” Osorio said. “(On paper), it looks like we were dominant throughout the tournament, but the last two days of it were a roller coaster of emotions — lots of ups and downs. To be able to accomplish the ultimate goal as the last team standing against a team that we felt was more talented than us is amazing.”

Osorio was assisted by his coaching staff of Antonio Baldogo Jr., Emil Osorio, Tyson Takiue and team representative Christal Subica.

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