Cha’lei Reid was smooth as ever with 14 kills and two aces to lead No. 4 Kahuku in a 25-12, 25-14, 25-17 sweep of Farrington on Monday night at Moanalua gym.
The top seed from the East, the Lady Raiders (20-4 overall), advanced to the Division I final of the OIA girls volleyball tournament and will play Mililani on Wednesday at Radford.
The Kahuku team bus was late on departure from campus again, but the match was delayed by only 40 minutes. The team in red was all business from the start with a balanced attack.
“I think it’s a testament to the girls knowing what the mission is. Part of the mission is knowing we have to have consistent offense across the board,” Kahuku coach Tuli Tevaga said.
Middle Mele Taumoepeau tallied seven kills, while Kaliko Schilling added six kills and one ace. Me‘o Lauhingoa added five kills and a block.
Dakoda Keni was a major factor with six aces to go with 12 assists. Madison Mamizuka tallied 14 assists and Dani Kapu chipped in 10 assists and one ace.
In all, Kahuku enjoyed a 10-3 edge in aces and a 5-1 advantage in blocks.
“I think it’s about our mentality, what it takes to complete our mission,” Reid said of Kahuku’s second sweep of Farrington this year. “It was a little different, but we didn’t want to take them lightly.”
Farrington will host Kapolei at Kitamura Fieldhouse today for third place.
“I’m a little disappointed, but we did our best,” Governors coach Raymond Patcho said. “We had to settle down a little more, but Kahuku just outpowered us. If we could’ve controlled what we could control, we would’ve done a little bit better. But hey, give credit to Kahuku. They’re a great team.”
Ahleejah Sunia had five kills, and Jorja Williams tallied four kills, one block and one ace for Farrington, the regular-season runner-up in the East.
Kahuku was in stampede mode in Set 1, opening a 17-8 lead as Reid racked up five kills, Shaianne Tausaga had three kills and Keni delivered two of her aces.
Farrington had an 8-7 lead in the second game after an ace by Williams, but Kahuku responded with a 15-3 run. Three aces by Keni kept the Lady Govs off balance.
Farrington took a 7-6 lead in the third set on another ace by Williams, but fell behind 18-11. The Govs pulled within 18-16 after consecutive aces by Lia Aiwohi and a roof by Williams on Reid. After a time out, Kahuku closed out the match with a 7-1 run.
Mililani 3, Kapolei 0
Alexis Rodriguez drilled 16 kills and one ace, and Erica Roberts tallied 11 kills as No. 8 Mililani (19-10) advanced with a 25-13, 25-17, 25-23 sweep of No. 10 Kapolei. Polaris De Mont added five kills, while setter Anae Asuncion tallied 36 assists, two kills, one block and one ace.
The Lady Trojans had a 5-0 edge in aces.
Kapolei (16-7), which knocked out Moanalua in the quarterfinal round, will play at Farrington today in the third-place match.
“Especially after watching (Kapolei) in the Moanalua game, it wasn’t the same team that we played in our regular season. They’ve come a long way,” Mililani coach Val Crabbe said. “They had a different lineup and we have a different lineup from our first encounter. I think the changes and adjustments have been good.”
Malinah Purcell-Telefoni led the Hurricanes with eight kills. Marley Hartley, Henua Moefu and Leila Pacaran each chipped in five kills. Setter Shayla Lacamiento finished with 23 assists.
