Hayley Taka pounded 13 kills, three blocks and an ace as third-seeded Hawaii Baptist Academy rallied past second-seeded Damien 18-25, 25-15, 25-20 on Tuesday night.
The semifinal win at the Monarchs’ gym means the Eagles (10-3) will meet Maryknoll in the final of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II girls volleyball playoffs. The match will be hosted by top-seeded Maryknoll on Thursday.
The teams split during the regular season. Maryknoll, playing at home, won the first matchup on March 30, 28-30, 25-15, 25-23. HBA won its home matchup with the Spartans 25-20, 25-18 on April 27.
On Tuesday, Lia Yamamoto added five kills, while Kylie-Shyne Rivera-Kaahanui, Sydney Hankey and Zoe Lorica tallied two kills each.
Kody Wengler led Damien (11-3) with 17 kills. Randy Wong and Del Kalulu-Sugai chipped in five each.
HBA roared, literally, as they rallied in sets two and three. The Eagles filled the empty gym with their volume. Libero Asja Deai is one of five seniors on the Eagles’ roster.
“It’s been pretty difficult since a lot of our players have (opted out) because of COVID, but we have a lot of good players,” she said.
“Damien is a really good team. We just brought the energy tonight because we really need it. There’s no spectators this season, we need to dig into ourselves and cheer as a team together,” Deai said.
Damien was close to reaching the final with a young squad.
“HBA is a good team, but part of me says we didn’t play our best. HBA today was the better team,” Monarchs coach Bryan Camello said.
HBA maintained a small lead in Set 3 until Taka’s ace, and kills by Rivera-Kaahanui and Yamamoto opened the visitors’ lead to 21-14.
Damien battled back by fending off match point four times. Down 24-17, the Monarchs benefited from an HBA serving error, hitting error and net violation to close the margin to five points.
However, Taka ended the match with a kill.
During the regular season, HBA won at Damien 25-18, 25-21 on April 6. Damien returned the favor at HBA on May 1 with a 25-23, 27-29, 26-24 thriller.
