Kalaheo shook off a slow start to sweep Campbell 26-24, 25-12, 25-21 in the first round of the Oahu Interscholastic Association girls volleyball playoffs Wednesday night at the Aiea High gym.

Now it’s on to the double-elimination portion of the playoffs for the Mustangs (9-3), who ended the Sabers’ season. Kalaheo visits Mililani (10-0) tonight.

“They (the Trojans) are undefeated on the West side, so I expect we’ll have to battle harder,” Mustangs coach Roberta Downey said after Wednesday’s win. “Nothing against Campbell. They played really well against us, especially on defense and serving.”

Offensively, the Mustangs were too much for the Sabers (5-6) to handle at times. Syenna Masaki swung away for 22 kills and Riley Lynch piled up 31 assists.

“Riley and I have been best friends since we were in kindergarten, so we connect really well,” Masaki said.

Campbell stayed right with Kalaheo throughout the first set, which was tied nine times. The Sabers grabbed a 12-11 lead and didn’t fall behind until an ace by Giuliana Irvine put the Mustangs up 25-24. Masaki’s kill on Lynch’s assist put the set in Kalaheo’s bag.

That comeback worked wonders in psyching Campbell out. The Sabers were without a pulse throughout the second set and the Mustangs won it easily.

“Our main challenge throughout the whole season was the mental toughness part of the game,” Campbell coach Tracie Huddy Balino said. “As coaches, we’re constantly counseling them on the importance of it. You hope it isn’t too late before it starts kicking in and toward the end of the season they were learning more about the mental part. But we never gave up.”

Irvine had two aces during a five-point service run that helped Kalaheo jump out to a 10-2 second-set lead. The margin got as high as 13 points at 20-7 before two kills by Lynch and one by Masaki ended it.

Thanks in part to kills by Jaysia Kalaola and Shayla Limatoc and two aces by Keisha Schutte, the Sabers rallied back from a 9-4 deficit in the third set to get leads of 11-10, 13-12 and 14-13. But Kalaheo went back ahead 15-14 on kills by Lynch and Irvine and never trailed again.

“The first set, we did pretty good and started off strong, but we could have done better,” said Schutte, who finished with five kills and three aces. “In the second set, I don’t know what happened, just the spirit wasn’t there. Later on, we picked it up, but it was just too late. We were thinking, ‘It’s three out of five, so we just need to push in this (third) set and we can go on to two more.’ ”

Limatoc and Gieani Balino tied for Campbell’s team-high honors in kills with seven apiece.

Samantha Pollard, a force in the middle all night for the Mustangs, drilled her ninth kill for a 23-21 third-set lead. Moments later, after a Sabers error, Irvine’s ace finished the match.

Kalaheo had nine aces overall, including five by Irvine.

“We gotta play defense and get that passing going (against Mililani),” Downey said. “Our offense did very well tonight, and when we serve tough, we are unstoppable.”