Employing a stout defense to go along with the powerful play of its middles, Moanalua swept Kailua 25-10, 25-22, 25-15 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association girls volleyball quarterfinals Thursday night at the Mililani High gym.

Senior Ke‘ila Williams and junior Delylah Sanerivi combined for 23 kills and Na Menehune (11-1) wrapped up their 15th straight state-tournament berth while advancing to the OIA semifinals.

But it was team defense, led by libero Hula Crisostomo’s 11 digs, that kept the Surfriders (5-8) down.

“We put the right people in the right places to be able to dig a ton of balls and to be able to pass a ton of balls.” Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting said. “When our passing and defense is there, it gives us a ton of opportunities because we don’t have a superstar that we’ve had the previous two years (Honolulu Star-Advertiser Fab 15 performer Johanna Kruize). So we gotta depend on defense.”

Na Menehune, the two-time defending OIA Division I champions, move on to face Mililani in the semifinals Tuesday at McKinley.

With setters Emree Sato and Sara Ehnstrom quarterbacking the offense and with Williams and outside hitter Emily Dulaney swinging away, Moanalua did not feel any pushback from Kailua in the first set. Sanerivi was just warming up at that point, but she put down a block to put a wrap on that first set.

With the hitting of Amber Tai, Elikapeka Kupahu-Phillips and Finausulieti Tuifua and numerous Moanalua hitting errors, the Surfriders held strong in the second set and rallied back from a 16-10 deficit to tie it up 21-21.

“The girls put it (the effort) on the court and did what they could do and (the loss) was the outcome of it,” Kailua coach Tee Maiava said. “We could have done better, but it is what it is. We gotta move on.”

Na Menehune got their groove back and, after a Kailua service error, Tinei Sanerivi (Delylah Sanerivi’s sister, who is a sophomore up from the junior varsity team), Dulaney and Sato scored with kills to close out the second set.

At 10-all in the third set, Moanalua began to pull away. Williams had two straight kills, a block and another kill for a 14-10 edge to get that rally started. She finished with a match-high 13 kills and fellow middle Delylah Sanerivi had 10.

“As we go deeper into the OIA and state tournament, there will be big hitters that can put balls away, so it’s important for our girls to understand we’re going to have to swing, probably have to swing two or three times, and if we can get our middles there, that’s actually when we can get the kills on the first try,” Na Menehune’s Cabanting said.

For Kailua, Tai led the way with eight kills and Kupahu-Phillips came up with 11 digs.