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Male Athlete of the Week: JT White, Damien football
It's been quite the season for JT White.

After earning First Team All-Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II honors as a junior last year, the Damien defensive back's 2017 season was up in the air due to a stomach ailment that caused a drastic loss in weight over the summer.

"He actually lost about twenty pounds because he wasn't able to eat solid food for a month," Damien coach Eddie Klaneski said of White, who is listed at 5 feet, 10 inches and 150 pounds. "He got super skinny and looked like a skeleton."

The situation was so dire that Klaneski starting putting together contingency plans.

"We were to the point where we thought he wasn't going to be able to play at all and we planned it out where we wouldn't have him all season," Klaneski said.

White's health improved enough where he was able to re-join the team, but sat out the Monarchs' three non-league games.

"He was able to gain some weight back, but he's still a lot smaller than he was before he got sick," Klaneski said. "While we sat him out though, he worked out, he trained on his own and he was able to gain some of his weight back, but it just shows his toughness because he doesn't have all that weight behind him and he's still making tackles and remaining pretty much injury-free. The kid is tough as nails."

Klaneski said White's return provided an emotional boost for rest of the team.

"For sure. His teammates, his (position) coach, just everybody on the team was excited to get him back. It was definitely a high moment for us to have him back on the field and be the leader that we expected him to be," Klaneski said.

Earlier this season, White recorded a game-clinching interception in overtime to help Damien complete a 42-35 win over Iolani despite trailing 28-0 after the first quarter.

Two weeks ago — in the ILH second-round final against Saint Francis — White, a safety, made a game-high 12 1/2 tackles and intercepted pass in a 15-14 loss.

"He was probably put in the toughest position defensively because we had him playing both the run and the pass. He has to key the tight end on run or pass, and then go make the tackle and that's something that I can appreciate because I did that a lot," said Klaneski, himself a former standout safety at both Damien and the University of Hawaii. "He did a really good job of doing that. It's not a very easy thing to do, as far as a game plan, but as coaches we felt that he was able to do that because he's smart enough and athletic enough to do it."

Friday night, however, White one-upped himself.

White finished with a game-high eight tackles, including one for a loss, and broke up a pass, but it was his three interceptions that made the difference in Damien's 13-12 win over the Saints.

"It was awesome. He just did what he was supposed to do and he had two really solid games back to back," Klaneski said. "I just really feel like he's become that leader back there that we were missing before. He's getting people lined up, he's communicating, obviously he's making a bunch of plays and he's really came alive the last few weeks. A bunch of his tackles this week and last, if he misses the tackle, that's a touchdown, so he's made some huge stops and one-on-one solo tackles."

White's first two picks Friday came on third-down situations. His third came with just 26 seconds and ultimately preserved the win for the Monarchs.

"That last play he was actually beat, but it was just an under thrown ball that he ended up making a play on and because of his technique he was able to see it and he was able to retreat and make a play on it," Klaneski said.

White and the Monarchs, No. 3 in this week's ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric D2 Power Rankings, improved to 9-3 and clinched their third straight ILH title with the win. They will face Kauai in a Division I state semifinal 2 p.m. Saturday at Lihue's Vidinha Stadium.

Female Athlete of the Week: Natalie Piper, Le Jardin volleyball
Anything short of a state championship was not going to suffice for Natalie Piper.

The senior outside hitter/opposite made sure of it last week, leading her Le Jardin team to its second straight Division II crown with three wins in as many days in the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championships.

Piper, who was named the tournament's most outstanding player, posted double-digit kills in all three matches, averaging 14 kills and better than 10 digs each night.

In Thursday's quarterfinal sweep of Sacred Hearts, Piper put down 18 kills against just two errors on her 33 attempts — a hitting percentage of .485. She also had seven digs, two assists, one ace and a block assist.

Piper followed that up with another solid night Friday in a sweep of Nanakuli in the semifinal round, when she recorded 12 kills, 14 digs and one assist. Of her 34 swings against the Golden Hawks, just two resulted in errors — good for a .294 hitting percentage.

She was prolific once again in Saturday's championship match. The 5-foot-10 Piper took an astounding 73 swings and had 22 kills with 19 digs, helping the Bulldogs to a four-set win over rival Hawaii Baptist.

"One of the things I always appreciate in athletes and look for is just how steady they are," Le Jardin coach Lee Lamb said. "Can they maintain it for the whole match or the whole tournament, or are there peaks and valleys, but she's just so steady. To take 73 attempts and to do that and not lose anything shows how steady she is not only from from a physical standpoint, but the mental part as well."

Piper had seven kills in the opening set and six in the second, helping the Bulldogs take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 match. Despite seven more kills in game 3, HBA pulled out a 25-22 win in the set.

That's when Piper's leadership got her team back on track.

"When we lost to Damien in the (Interscholastic League of Honolulu) second round, we went outside and did our talk and she said point plank, ‘We are not losing tomorrow. That is not even a possibility,' " Lamb recalled. "I think she kind of did the same thing after that third set. She said, ‘We let the door open, now we need to close it. This isn't going any further.' "

Piper's words proved to be prophetic. She put down two more kills and fellow senior Julia Fisher had eight of her team-high 23 kills in the fourth set as Le Jardin ran away with the 25-16 win in game 4 and won the match, three games to one.

"Both Piper and Fisher, they've been through it before," Lamb said. "Their back story is when I came in, they were part of a group of only seven player on the team and the program had never been to states, so those two kids have grinded and this ride has been super special for them."

The Bulldogs reached the D2 state final in each of the last three seasons, winning in both 2016 and 2017.

Lamb said his four seniors — Piper, Fisher, middle blocker Arianna Lunow-Luke and libero Kailee Lyons — have cemented a legacy for the small school at the base of the Koolau mountain range.

"Something we talk about a lot is, ‘What's the culture you want this place to be? And once we establish that culture, you're responsible for maintaining that, and even after that, how do we sustain that after you leave?,' Lamb said. "It was kind of shaky at the beginning of the season because we have four freshman on the team, but those four just did a great job of bringing the kids in and letting them know that, ‘This is the expectation. This is how we do things in the gym and this is how we approach games.' "

Piper, who also competes in soccer during the winter season, will play for St. Lawrence University, a Division III school, in Canton, N.Y. next year.

"The progression each year has been huge with her and she carried such a huge load this year," Lamb said. "She's had maybe a thousand attempts this year, which is just a boatload, but aside from the playing piece — which everybody can see that — she's really good at framing things and keeping the team together. Some kids see the cup as half-empty, but she was always a half-full kid, always finding the positives and making sure she kept the team moving in the right direction."

The Bulldogs completed the year with a 16-1 record and ranked sixth in the final ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings.

AIR RIFLERY
Alyssa Okimoto, Island Pacific — Shot a total score of 635.2 to win the individual girls state championship

Donovan Shiraishi, Hawaii Baptist — Shot a total score of 633.4 to win the individual boys state championship

BOWLING
Josiah Benner-Eslit, Campbell — Rolled a nine-game total of 1,841 pins to win the individual boys state championship

Gwen Maeha, Leilehua — Rolled a nine-game total of 1,799 pins to win her third consecutive individual girls state championship

CROSS COUNTRY
Colby Otero, Kalaheo — Won the individual boys state championship in a time of 16 minutes, 21.91 seconds

Veronica Winham, Seabury Hall — Won her second consecutive individual girls state championship in a time of 19 minutes, 16.10 seconds

FOOTBALL
Jonan Aina-Chaves, Saint Francis — Carried 24 times for 125 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to Damien

Isaiah Asinsin, Pearl City — Passed for 139 yards and rushed for 55 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to Waipahu

Jon Dalmacio, Damien — Had two sacks in a win over Saint Francis

Alfred Failauga, Waipahu — Rushed 22 times for 113 yards and a touchdown in a win over Pearl City

Marcus Faufata-Pedrina, Damien — Threw for 185 yards with two touchdowns and one interception on 12-of-20 passing in a win over Saint Francis

RJ Kami, Pearl City — Had 10 tackles, including one for loss, intercepted a pass and broke up two others in a loss to Waipahu

Deacon Kapea, Waipahu — Had 6 1/2 tackles and intercepted a pass in a win over Pearl City

Takaamotaoa Lautaha, Saint Francis — Had 5 1/2 tackles, three sacks, and forced a fumble in a loss to Damien

Abraham Montero, Waipahu — Had five tackles, including three for losses, and two sacks in a win over Pearl City

Manuele Palusami, Waipahu — Had eight tackles, including two for losses, one sack and recovered a fumble in a win over Pearl City

Fiva Tulafale, Waipahu — Had 7 1/2 tackles, including one for a loss, in a win over Pearl City

Zion Tupuola-Fetui, Pearl City — Had 4 1/2 tackles, including two for losses, one sack, one pass break-up and scored on a 67-yard interception return in a loss to Waipahu

Isaac Yamashita, Waipahu — Caught six passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Pearl City

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Shelby Capllonch, Damien — Had 24 kills, 18 digs and a block assist in a five-set loss to Hawaii Baptist

Hula Crisostomo, Moanalua — Had 23 digs and two assists in a five-set loss to Kahuku and had 26 digs, two assists and an ace in a three-set loss to Mililani

Emily Dulaney, Moanalua — Had 25 assists, 11 kills, 11 digs and two block assists in a five-set loss to Kahuku

Sara Ehnstrom, Moanalua — Had 21 assists, 13 kills, 13 digs and three block assists in a five-set loss to Kahuku

Katelyn Erickson, Kahuku — Had 22 kills, one dig, one block assist and one assist in a five-set win over Hilo

Julia Fisher, Le Jardin — Had 23 kills, 10 digs, three block assists and an ace in a four-set win over Hawaii Baptist

Naiya Fujikawa, Hawaii Baptist — Had 23 digs and three assists in a three-set win over Konawaena and had 23 digs in a five-set win over Damien

Saige Kaahaaina-Torres, Iolani — Had 21 kills, seven digs, three aces and three total blocks in a three-set win over Kamehameha-Maui

Sara-Ann Kanakaole, Hana — Had 20 digs in a two-set win over Hawaii Prep

Kallie Langford, Hawaii Baptist — Had 24 kills and five digs in a three-set win over Konawaena, had 22 kills, 12 digs and two block assists in a five-set win over Damien and had 24 kills, nine digs, four block assists and one assist in a four-set loss to Le Jardin

Kailee Lyons, Le Jardin — Had 26 digs and three assists in a four-set win over Hawaii Baptist

Marissa Maligcon, Damien — Had 22 digs, three assists and two aces in a three-set win over Seabury Hall

Serenity Mamizuka, Kahuku — Had 25 digs, six assists and one kill in a five-set win over Moanalua

Cheylah-Marie Marfil, Nanakuli — Had 41 assists, 10 digs, two aces, one block assist and a kill in a five-set win over Waimea

Daysha Nelmida-Rice, Waimea — Had 26 digs, five kills and one assist in a five-set loss to Nanakuli

ShaLi Niu, Kahuku — Had 20 assists, 15 digs, 12 kills, four total blocks and two aces in a five-set win over Hilo and had 22 assists, 12 digs, 11 kills, three total blocks and an ace in a five-set win over Moanalua

Janae Odom, Nanakuli — Had 20 kills, 12 digs, three block assists, one ace and an assist in a five-set win over Waimea

Elena Oglivie, Iolani — Had 18 kills, 20 digs, one ace and a solo block in a three-set loss to Kamehameha

Kealani Ontai, Kamehameha — Had 26 digs in a three-set win over Iolani

Kaanela Pae, Nanakuli — Had 28 digs, five aces and one assist in a five-set win over Waimea

Gabrielle Peleras, Waimea — Had 26 kills, 18 digs, three aces, three assists and three total blocks in a five-set loss to Nanakuli

Olivia Transfiguracion, Kapolei — Had 49 assists, three digs, three block assists, one kill and an ace in a four-set win over Waiakea

Nive Tuileta, Le Jardin — Had 48 assists, 10 digs, two block assists, one kill and an ace in a four-set win over Hawaii Baptist

Ally Wada, Hawaii Baptist — Had 35 assists, 20 digs, two total blocks and an ace in a three-set win over Konawaena, had 47 assists, eight digs, three block assists, two kills and an ace in a five-set win over Damien and had 31 assists, 22 digs, four block assists and three kills in a four-set loss to Le Jardin

Leiko Yamauchi, Waimea — Had 44 assists, eight digs, five kills, two aces and two total blocks in a four-set win over Hana and had 45 assists, 16 digs and two aces in a five-set loss to Nanakuli