It was the classic matchup of opposite styles, and the Pearl City Chargers endured a long night of misfires to capture their second Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II boys volleyball title in a row.
Sonny Tofi had 19 kills and Jacob Kamanao tallied 18 plus two aces as Pearl City outlasted Nanakuli 25-20, 18-25, 25-21, 21-17 on Wednesday night before a raucous crowd of roughly 1,200 at James Alegre Gymnasium.
Pearl City (5-8) brought plenty of rocket fire, but couldn’t seem to get out if its own way at times. The Chargers had hitting errors in surplus: eight in the first set, six in the second and nine in the third. However, their strong serve was consistent, and Nanakuli could not get a consistent attack going. Though the Chargers hit just .160, they managed to get 106 swings in the four sets. Nanakuli tallied just 80 attempts for the match (.213).
“Our team has been up and down, but we work hard and we have each other’s backs,” Kamanao said of his fiery teammates. “At the beginning, we were nervous.”
>> View more photos from the match in our gallery.
Coach Sean Chang kept pushing his team to stay aggressive, especially Tofi, who had 14 hitting errors to go with his 19 kills.
“Sonny’s been our go-to guy all year. If you don’t swing, you don’t get kills,” he said. “Winning two in a row, I can’t put it into words. It’s a great feeling.”
Nanakuli (5-8), which swept Pearl City 25-18, 25-20 during the regular season, led the opening set 17-14 after the Chargers had already misfired on eight attempts. Kamanao got hot, giving his team the lead, 21-20, and an ace by Tofi helped them close with a 5-0 run.
Kaipo Burnett was everywhere for the Golden Hawks in the second set with three kills, one ace, four assists and a block as they evened the match. It was a strange combination of statistics at that point. Nanakuli hit .343 in the first two games while Pearl City hit just .115.
Again, Nanakuli had a lead past the halfway point, 17-13, but could not hold on. Fati Seei-Tofi became a major weapon in the middle for the Chargers in the third set. Setter Sean Malaki (43 assists) went to the freshman for four key kills as Pearl City regained the lead. Another Tofi ace tied it at 18, and they went ahead on a back-row kill by Tofi. Pearl City closed the third with a 12-4 run.
The Chargers had their best set in the fourth, committing just five hitting errors. Tofi, a returnee on a young squad, had seven kills in the fourth as Pearl City captured its second league crown.
