‘Iolani’s ability to rally yielded a tournament title.
The Raiders made up deficits in each set en route to a 25-16, 23-25, 25-19 win over Moanalua to capture the Hawaii Volleyball Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Kamehameha.
"We put a lot of ownership with the seniors and they’ve shown, especially the early part of this year, they’re not going to give up," said ‘Iolani coach Kainoa Obrey. "In the face of adversity, are we going to step up or back down? I think we definitely stepped up the whole weekend."
Sierra Buscher had nine kills and Moea Kekauoha and Saige Kaahaaina-Torres added seven kills each for ‘Iolani. ‘Iolani lost in the semifinals of its Ann Kang Invitational a week earlier to eventual tourney champion Santa Margarita (Calif.). The Raiders emphasized certain areasin practice this week and carried that work over into the three-day, 16-team tournament.
"We had an opportunity to learn about ourselves last week and were able to identify some things we need to work on," Obrey said. "Some of those things, right-side attack, Saige and Morgan (Spencer) did well with that. A little more presence in the middle, I think we did well with that. A little more balance, we tried to work on in the first part of the week and it’s good to have it translate this weekend."
Kekauoha served nine straight points to help ‘Iolani take a 16-11 lead in Set 1. She had three straight aces during the run.
‘Iolani trailed 15-8 in Set 2 and rallied to tie it 22-22 and 23-23 after a kill from Emily Sunada.
Katy Ehnstrom’s kill broke the tie and Emily Dulaney’s kill gave Moanalua the set. Na Menehune got all of their hitters involved in Set 2, taking a load off All-State outside hitter Jojo Kruize. Kruize finished with 12 kills and Angelica Hulett had seven. Selena Perry added six blocks.
"We got to get others to contribute," said Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting. "In the second set, that’s what we got when everybody was contributing. And when we needed Jojo to go off, she was able to go off. Her other teammates were putting in the kills when she wasn’t."
Tatjana Calimpong-Burke had two of her four blocks to help ‘Iolani take a 15-14 lead in Set 3. The Raiders never trailed after that as setter Bailey Choy got all of her hitters involved to finish the match. Choy finished with 30 assists.
‘Iolani reached the championship match by beating host Kamehameha 19-25, 25-21, 25-16 in the semifinals. Moanalua swept Hawaii Baptist 25-19, 25-16 in the semifinals. Kamehameha swept Hawaii Baptist 25-18, 25-13 in the third-place match.
"This tournament leading into the (ILH) season, we start Monday already, it helps to build us team-wise, the team chemistry, as well as continuing to give us confidence," Obrey said. "We’ve always been close in the past few years. To be able to get wins under our belt early should help going into the season."
