On the weekend of Aug. 15-Aug. 17, the McKinley girls red varsity volleyball team hosted their annual Black and Gold pre-season tournament at McKinley High School’s gymnasium. This tournament was just the beginning of a new start with a fairly new team for the 25-26 season.
The tournament had schools coming from all over the island, even from neighboring islands such as Maui. Since it was an all day event, the girls had a sleepover, which contributed to the team bonding at the tournament.
Setter Ajae Baldomero (℅ ‘26) said, “I think the tournament was a good way to gauge how our team works, especially since it’s a generally new team with a bunch of upcoming JV and a couple freshmen.”
“During the tournament, it was a little hard and a lot of mixed feelings about it, but now I can confidently say that we’re a good team and we just have more to work on, but we do work together,” Baldomero said. As time progressed from the start of the season to the end, the team found themselves building team chemistry and working together to be the best they can as a team.
Baldomero added, “It was a little hard because the tournament was only a couple weeks after our team started practicing together as a whole with everyone, so I didn’t feel as familiar with the girls yet. Chemistry is important in a team sport and because we didn’t have much time together before the tournament we didn’t really have much chemistry. It’s important to know your teammates’ tendencies, what sets they want (as a setter) and the best way to lift up each player individually. It’s also important to know your teammates on a personal level outside of sports. Because our chemistry wasn’t strong at the time it made it harder to be a cohesive team.”
Friday was the first day of the tournament, and McKinley was originally set to play against a school from another island and Waipahu’s white. However, due to the fact that they didn’t show up, the coaches had to conduct a meeting and redo the bracket. Instead, the girls played against Waipahu’s white first and La Pietra’s varsity. The girls pushed and triumphed in both games, winning each one 2-0.
Kaohulani (Ohu) Pimental (℅’ 28), who starts as an outside hitter said, “Our tournament helped me feel confident that we have a chance this season. I know we all have potential and we’re gonna do great.”
On Saturday, the girls competed against Waianae’s and Nanakuli’s white. When they played against the girls from Waianae, Waianae took the second set which forced them to go to a third set. Despite the slight hiccup, McKinley pulled through and won the last set, causing them to win the game.
During the Nanakuli game, Mckinley had both won and lost a set. Again, they went to a third set. After fighting and hustling after a long day, the girls managed to successfully bring home another win.
The last day, Sunday, the team experienced their first feelings of loss and disappointment that day. The first game of the day consisted of them going up against Farrington’s varsity. They had lost both sets to Farrington, and although they were dealing with the hardship of the loss, they still had three more games to go.
When McKinley played against the Maui Sabers and the Mid Pac owls, they learned a lot from the tournament due to losing 2-0 in both matches. However, despite these losses, they ended the night on a good note. They played against Waipahu’s white Marauders once more and won 2-0.
Although the beginning of Sunday didn’t turn out in their favor, the team continued to compete with determination throughout the tournament. They ended up leaving the tournament with a record of 5-3 and a rank of 8th place out of the 18 teams that were in the pre-season tournament. However, this record does not affect their season record because it is pre-season.
A lot of people have different opinions on what the team needed to work on most because of the results of the tournament. Erica Pimental, (℅ ‘26), who has been on this red varsity all four years of her high school career said, “Some things I think my team could work on is having more team bonding outside of volleyball. Whether it’s doing things together and not all go separate ways so that way it could make us stronger on the court.”
During all of the event, the girls had a sleepover to build chemistry and bond with one another. Most of the girls slept upstairs in the wrestling room throughout the tournament. Some brought cots and tents, while others slept on the mat with blankets and a pillow. They slept over Friday and Saturday night, doing different sorts of activities such as making a candy salad, playing games, volleyball and karaoke.
“My favorite part of the sleepover was definitely the games we were playing past 11 P.M to 2A.M.” said E. Pimental. The girls had played several games ranging from line tag, to granny to imposter.
The girls have a long journey ahead of them, and this tournament was just the start and a sneak peek of what’s to come this season. Everyday they train and put in the work after school to improve and become the best version of themselves.
“My favorite memory from volleyball is getting to meet these amazing girls & being able to call them my teammates and even family,” said E. Pimental.
