PHOTO GALLERY: Radford v. Kalaheo
This story has been corrected. See below.
The HHSAA better hope that Radford and Kalaheo don’t meet again in next week’s state tournament, or that match might never end.
The Rams beat the Mustangs 25-23, 22-25, 33-31, 25-22 in two hours to win their first OIA White championship since 2005 on Saturday at McKinley. That came two days after Kalaheo beat Radford in five sets to set up the showdown. Radford couldn’t wait. Senior outside hitter Arianna Feleti, who led both teams with 18 kills, said teammates began texting from the moment she woke up to remind each other that they were going to win.
"The next practice after (Thursday’s loss) they wanted to run, run, run," Radford coach Candice Fujiwara said. "Just in case it goes five sets again. They didn’t want to end practice; one of my players said she wished practice could go on forever."
The championship match almost did go on forever. Kalaheo looked like it was going to force a fifth game when setter Siani Yamaguchi buried a kill to get the Mustangs within 24-22, but Breayna Webster split a block by Riley Lynch to end it. Lynch smiled and looked to the sky as Radford celebrated. Both teams are already in next week’s state tournament, but Radford gets a bye and Kalaheo has to play two-time defending state champion St. Francis in the opening round.
But for Radford, states can wait.
"It’s a dream come true," Feleti said. "There is nothing more than this team being together and playing as a team, and to win is everything you could ever want."
The Rams needed to end it right then because Kalaheo had already shown that it could push Radford for as long as it needed. Radford won an epic third set that featured 33 kills.
The teams were never more than one point away from each other after Kalaheo took a 21-19 lead on a kill by middle blocker Alex Jacobsen.
Radford rallied to tie the match at 21 and the teams traded points until Kararina Tenorio beat Kalaheo libero Bobbi Anduha for an ace and Noel Phillips split Syenna Masaki’s block for her second kill of the match to end the marathon.
Phillips finished the night with three kills and was benched briefly in the first set so that she could improve her focus. She had all of the focus she needed in the third-set game-winner.
"Oh. My. God," Fujiwara said. "I about got five gray hairs just from that set alone. It was rewarding for me to see that they didn’t give up. (Phillips) did well, she was ready to play after that."
Kalaheo had four service errors during the tense streak, when it was out of timeouts and had one if its best servers, sophomore Taylor Bitanga, on the bench after suffering a concussion in the previous match.
"It was exciting, but it’s about the little errors that can kill you," Kalaheo coach Roberta Downey said. "For my team it was about serving. We can serve real good and we can serve real bad, and today we were real bad."
UHS gets top seed
ILH champion University received the top seed in the Division II state championships, which begin Tuesday on Oahu.
The Junior ‘Bows play Tuesday’s winner between Konawaena and Hana at McKinley. Waimea and Pahoa play the other first-round match at McKinley for the right to play OIA champion Radford.
Kalaheo and two-time defending champion St. Francis open things in the Kaimuki side of the bracket, and will meet MIL champion Seabury Hall on Wednesday. Hawaii Baptist and Roosevelt tangle in the late game at that site for the right to meet Hawaii Prep. Semifinals and finals are both at McKinley on Thursday and Friday.
CORRECTION: Radford won the OIA White Division girls volleyball title, outlasting Kalaheo. The wrong team was given credit for the win in a headline on Oct. 27.
