Tanea Loa pounded eight kills and Punahou enjoyed a 9-0 edge in aces to sweep Farrington 25-10, 25-10, 25-14 on Monday night in the opening round of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championships.
“We work really hard on serve. We do serving every day at practice. I think that’s important to get teams out of system,” Punahou coach Tita Ahuna said.
A polite gathering of around 200 spectators watched at Hemmeter Fieldhouse. ILH runner-up Punahou (24-10 overall) will battle BIIF champion Kamehameha-Hawaii on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., at McKinley Student Council Gymnasium in the quarterfinal round.
Melie Vaioleti led Punahou’s relentless defense with 15 digs.
“Because of the one-week break we had, a lot of us came out to this game hungrier than before. We’re super excited and ready to play all the teams,” the senior said. “Farrington played a decent game. No. 15 (Jorja Williams) played a really good game. She’s really good, and the middle as well. Our serve-receive was consistently OK. We could always improve, but I think we played a good game.”
Middle Grace Fiaseu had seven kills (.636), while Koen Makaula had six kills (.455). Kealohilani Cox had six kills and Lulu Uluave tallied five as Ahuna gave reserves extended playing time. Rella Binney had 19 assists and Cali-Jo Shigemasa had 10. Ava Ahokovi chipped in seven assists.
“We executed what we wanted to do. Farrington’s a good team. We just played our game, stuck to our game plan,” Ahuna said. “I’m happy that we were able to use a lot of our bench. The girls did fantastic.”
Farrington, the fourth-place team in the OIA, closed the season. The Lady Governors were 8-2 in OIA East play.
“They’re a dominating team. An awesome team. They’ve got things figured out,” Farrington coach Raymond Patcho said. “Our girls kept fighting at the end. They outplayed us, but we kept fighting to the end, so I was kind of happy. They just overpowered us. Give it to them.”
Ahleejah Sunia led Farrington with six kills and 10 digs, and Williams tallied five kills. Abelyn Toloai added four kills. Mia Aiwohi had a team-high 11 assists and Lia Aiwohi chipped in 10 digs.
Farrington never led in the match. The visitors trailed 5-0 in the opening set and rallied to within 7-5. Then Punahou’s serve took command. Vaioleti had two aces during a 7-0 run by the home team. Punahou’s serve, including two aces by Uluave, kept the Governors off balance. Farrington finished with a .035 hitting percentage.
Punahou hit .330 for the match.
The underdog role for the state’s No. 2-ranked team matters to a point.
“To me, Hawaii volleyball is strong. We have some great teams,” Ahuna said. “We’re going to do our best going into this next match against Kamehameha-Hawaii. I’ve watched video on them. They have a well-balanced team. They’re really good. We’re going to have the girls watch more film. We didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but it’s going to be a great match. They’ve played a lot of games this season. They traveled to Durango (Fall Classic in Las Vegas), as well.”
No. 5-ranked Kamehameha-Hawaii went 16-0 in the BIIF. Before the playoffs, the Warriors ventured to San Diego, won three friendlies and notched six wins in six matches at the Southern California Invitational for the title.
“They have a lot of good volleyball under their belt and they’re going to come out strong. We’re hungry. We’re ready to go. We’ve been working really hard not only on our physical game, but our mental game, too,” Ahuna said. “And we’re finally healthy.”
Kapolei 3, Hilo 1
Malinah Purcell-Tele had 13 kills and Shayla Lacamiento put up 33 assists in leading the Hurricanes (12-3) past the host Vikings (14-3) by scores of 22-25, 25-14, 25-23, 25-20.
Kaitlin Kiko added 16 digs and Henua Moefu 14 for Kapolei, which plays No. 1-ranked ‘Iolani in Wednesday’s quarterfinals at Moanalua.
Kyana Gabriel had 19 kills and Kalikokupuna Kealoha added 18 kills, 13 digs and three aces for Hilo but both were held under .160 in hitting. Eleina Young added 41 assists.
Mililani 3, Leilehua 1
Anae Asuncion put up 40 assists and eight digs and Alexis Rodriguez put away 18 kills and added three aces as the Trojans (12-2) toppled the Mules 25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20 at Mililani.
Erica Roberts added 15 kills for Mililani, which plays Baldwin at Moanalua gym on Wednesday.
Anniversary Filisi had 11 kills and 10 digs and Hannah Feliti added 10 kills for Leilehua (9-5), which got 20 assists from Maya Enanoria and 15 from Sharla Domingo as well as 10 digs from Tatiana Nena.
Moanalua 3, Kamehameha-Maui 0
Kamaluhia Garcia led the way with 13 kills and Leilani Giusta 10 and Haylee DePonte contributed 20 assists as Na Menehune (12-2) swept the host Warriors, 25-15, 25-18, 25-15.
Archer Fabrao had seven kills and Haylee Pruse 12 assists for the Warriors (8-6).
HHSAA Girls Volleyball
Division I
Monday
G1: Kapolei def. Hilo, 3-1 (22-25, 25-14, 25-23, 25-20)
G2: Mililani def. Leilehua, 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20)
G3: Moanalua def. KS-Maui, 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-15)
G4: Punahou def. Farrington 3-0 (25-10, 25-10, 25-14)
Wednesday
At Moanalua
G5: #1 ‘Iolani vs. Kapolei, 5 p.m.
G6: #4 Baldwin vs. Mililani, 7 p.m.
At McKinley
G7: #2 Kahuku vs. Moanalua, 5:30 p.m.
G8: #3 Kamehameha-Hawaii vs. Punahou, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
At McKinley
Fifth-place semifinals, L5 vs. L6, 5 p.m.; L7 vs. L8, 6:30 p.m.
At Moanalua
Semifinals
W7 vs. W8, 5 p.m.; W5 vs. W6, 7 p.m.
Friday
At Stan Sheriff Center
Fifth place: Fifth-place semifinal winners, 11 a.m.
Third place: Semifinal losers, 2 p.m.
Championshp: Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.
Division II
Today
At Kalani
G1: Lanai vs. Hawaii Prep, 5 p.m.
G2: Waialua vs. Maryknoll, 7 p.m.
At Saint Louis
G3: Damien vs. Kau, 5 p.m.
G4: Kailua vs. Hawaii Baptist, 7 p.m.
Wednesday
At Kalani
Consolation semifinals: G5 (L1 vs. L2), 3:30 p.m.
G7: Island School vs. W2, 5 p.m.
G8: Le Jardin vs. W1, 7 p.m.
At Saint Louis
Consolation semifinals: G6 (L4 vs. L3), 3:30 p.m.
G9: Seabury vs. W3, 5 p.m.
G10: Konawaena vs. W4, 7 p.m.
Thursday
At Saint Louis
Consolation: W5 vs. W6, 3:30 p.m.
Fifth-place semifinals: L10 vs. L9, 5 p.m. L8 vs. L7, 6:30 p.m.
At Kalani
Semifinals
W10 vs. W9, 5 p.m.; W8 vs. W7, 7 p.m.
Friday
At Stan Sheriff Center
Fifth place: Fifth-place semifinal winners, 12:30 p.m.
Third place: Semifinal losers, 3:30 p.m.
Championshp: Semifinal winers, 5 p.m
