Posted on: Sunday, October 28, 2001
Kalani stops Roosevelt in volleyball
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Out of substitutions, Kalani High's middle came through from the back row to fend off pesky, but service error-prone Roosevelt, 15-10, 16-14, in a quarterfinal of the O'ahu Interscholastic Association girls' volleyball tournament yesterday at Kalani.
The Eastern Division champion Falcons (11-0) advance to one semifinal, which they will host 6 p.m. Wednesday against Western Division runner-up Pearl City (10-1), a 15-11, 15-5 winner against visiting Waipahu (5-7). All OIA semifinalists have secured state tournament berths.
The Rough Riders end their season at 7-5.
In other girls' quarterfinals, East runner-up Kahuku (8-3) ousted Moanalua, 12-15, 15-2, 15-9. The Wai'anae-Kaiser result was not available.
Kalani senior middle blocker Liane Soto, who is usually subbed when the rotation places her in the back row, served the final two points in a second game that had a combined 18 service errors over five lineup rotations. Usually, teams serve to their opponents' weakest passer. But not in this case.
"I was so nervous," said Soto. "I was like, 'Just get the ball in. Just get the ball in.' I was just trying to get the ball in."
Said Kalani's first-year coach Tehani Miyashiro: "We were challenged. Our middle stepped it up in the back row when we ran out of substitutions."
Meanwhile, service errors hurt the Rough Riders. They had 10 in the second game, all of which helped the Falcons chip away at deficits of 7-4, 8-4 and 10-6. Kalani took its first lead in the second game at 11-10 on Tamari Miyashiro's ace. That came after Marisa Okamoto's and Soto's block tied the score at 10.
The score was tied twice more before Kalani took a 14-12 lead, only to see the Rough Riders tie it at 14. But Okamoto got a kill for sideout that brought Soto up to serve.
The first game was closer than the score indicated. Roosevelt came from an 11-7 deficit to 11-10, but its ninth service error of the game killed the rally. From there, the Falcons got four unanswered points.
"It came down to the service errors," Roosevelt coach Bryan Camello said. "But Kalani's great. They deserve to be where they are."
