Siana Yamaguchi pounded six kills and delivered 12 assists as unbeaten Kalaheo swept Farrington 25-15, 25-16 on Wednesday night at Kitamura Gymnasium.
Samantha Pollard and Syenna Masaki had a team-high seven kills apiece in Kalaheo’s balanced attack. The Mustangs improved to 3-0 in OIA action.
Farrington dropped to 0-3, but showed signs of promise. The Governors will be in Division II when the playoffs arrive.
Dayna Kahanu slammed a team-high eight kills while Moli Heimuli, a left-hander, had five kills and two blocks. Chasity Wong (nine assists) and Anuhea Hughes (eight assists, two kills, one ace) directed the Farrington attack.
Freshman Saryiah Kahakai, younger sister of former Govs standout Savannah Kahakai, added four kills.
"We’re very young," first-year head coach Barney Choy said of a roster that includes just three seniors. "But the girls are very good and very receptive to what we’re doing."
Kalaheo is already among the D-I elite in the OIA thanks to a nice mix of talent. Violet Subee added five kills and a block, and Riley Lynch tallied three kills and an ace for the disciplined Mustangs.
"I feel way better than I did last Wednesday," coach Roberta Downey said of her recent illness.
The cure was a few days off from practice and work. She even let her team have a day or two off.
"I didn’t want them going down the same road I did," Downey said.
Kalaheo broke out of a logjam in the opening set with Farrington’s home crowd loud and feisty on a hot (86-degree) night. Kills by Masaki, Subee and Yamaguchi capped a 6-0 run that opened the lead to 15-7. Three of the points during that roll came off Farrington errors.
The Govs pulled within 17-13 on an ace by Hughes and a kill by Heimuli, but the visitors scored the next five points, getting a kill from Masaki and an ace from Jayla DeCambra, to pull away and get a 1-0 lead in the match.
Farrington settled down in the second set and got within two points, but never got over the hump. Kills by Subee and Masaki helped open the lead to 22-14 as Kalaheo closed out the sweep.
"We’ve been doing a lot of work on our defense. Our block is our first line of defense and we’ve worked hard on serve-receive," Downey said. "We approached Farrington like anyone else and tried to force them to hit it where we wanted them to hit it."
The Govs hit .154 while Kalaheo hit .500. Farrington had one ace and one service error. Kalaheo finished with three aces and four service errors. The battle for blocks was even at two each.
"Kalaheo is very well coached," Choy said.
Choy spent years coaching at the JV level for Kamehameha (1999-2002) and Punahou (’02-07). For two decades, he has coached at the club level and is now back with his original club, Na Keiki Mauloa (formerly known as Jammers).
"We’re going through some culture changes, just trying to believe in each other. We’re doing a lot of physical stuff that’s fine, getting from the part to the whole," he said.
