honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, November 13, 2003

Falcons fend off OIA rival Roosevelt

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Kamehameha-O'ahu's Roseanne Vea, left, rifles a kill through the block attempt of Seabury Hall's Lecca Roberts. Kamehameha-O'ahu won, 25-19, 25-15.

Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

The unbeaten and No. 1-seeded Kalani High School girls volleyball team was nearly bounced out of title contention in its first state tournament match last night but held on to defeat league rival Roosevelt, 25-20, 24-26, 25-20, at Punahou's Hemmeter Field House.

The O'ahu Interscholastic Association champion Falcons (15-0) will face Interscholastic League of Honolulu runner-up Kamehameha (16-2) in a semifinal match tonight at 8 at Hemmeter.

ILH champion and No. 2 seed Punahou (18-0) will play OIA runner-up Moanalua (14-2) in the other semifinal at 6:30.

Kalani is alive only after overcoming a 16-11 deficit in the third game last night.

The Falcons tied it 16-16, and that's when Rough Riders middle blocker Melissa Aki went down with a knee injury. Kalani then went on a 9-4 run to end it.

"We didn't panic; it was more like, 'Eh, let's stop this, we gotta wake up and play volley- ball,' " said Kalani junior outside hitter Tamari Miyashiro, who finished with 26 kills and 17 digs.

Roosevelt (11-6) finished fourth in the OIA Eastern Division, but showed last night it can play volleyball with the best. The Rough Riders tied the Falcons 20-20 in the first game before losing, and they scored the final three points of the second game after trailing 24-23.

Roosevelt also took Kalani to three games in a regular-season match in the Falcons' gym.

"I don't know what it is," Kalani coach Aven Lee said. "I think they just have so many variations — they have some height in the middle, but then they have smaller girls on the outside. They come at you in different ways at different times, and we had a hard time adjusting to that during a play."

The Rough Riders went on a 6-1 run to go up 16-11 in the third game, but Miyashiro got three straight kills, and a Roosevelt error and a kill by Amber Kanoa tied it at 16. Aki was injured on the tying point and did not return.

"It's unfortunate, but injuries are part of the game and you gotta move on," Rough Riders coach Bryan Camello said. "Melissa's a big part of our squad and she does a lot of things for us, but our other girls still fought till the end. We had our ups and downs this season, but I told the girls I believed they could win tonight and they believed it, too. I'm proud of them."

Roosevelt stayed as close as 21-19, but Kanoa got three kills to spur a 4-1 run for the Falcons to end it.

Dara Waialae added 20 digs for Kalani, and Kanoa contributed nine kills. Monica Seguancia led Roosevelt with 10 kills, Shellane Ogashi added 12 digs and Allie Maeoka contributed three aces.

Moanalua def. St. Joseph: The Menehunes scratched a seven-match losing streak by knocking off the No. 3-seeded Cardinals, 27-25, 26-24.

Moanalua's victory snapped a seven-match losing streak to Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion St. Joseph (16-1) over the past two seasons. The Cardinals ousted the Menehunes in last year's state quarterfinals and went on to finish second.

"I think we played more as a team this time; everybody put their heart into it," said Moanalua senior Resina Nataniela, who finished with a team-high nine kills. "Everybody wanted it, and we played with more confidence."

That still almost wasn't enough. The Cardinals led the first game 25-24 before the Menehunes won it with a kill by Nataniela, an error by St. Joseph and a kill by freshman Brianna Amian.

But a few moments earlier, Moanalua also got a phantom point when the scoreboard gave it an extra point. Three reporters at courtside plus a tournament statistician all had the score 22-21 during a timeout, but when Moanalua scored the next point, the scoreboard read 24-21.

An officials supervisor from the tournament later said that any scoring discrepancy must be addressed before the next point, which did not happen.

In any case, St. Joseph's 5-foot-5 senior middle blocker Lindsey Lee said she was not aware of the scoring change so it did not affect her play.

"I didn't even notice that," said Lee, who finished with 10 kills. "I just couldn't get into (the match), it was such a hard game."

The Cardinals regrouped for the second game, taking a 19-13 lead. But Danie Hout had two kills and a block to help the Menehunes close to 20-17. Then a series of St. Joseph errors (three hitting, one serving) narrowed it to 24-23. Nataniela had a block and kill to give Moanalua a 25-24 lead, and Amian buried a kill to end it.

Phantom point notwithstanding, Lee said the Menehunes deserved to win.

"We didn't show up like how we should have," Lee said. "We didn't do well with serve-receive, we couldn't pass. We had a hard time. But (Moanalua) came to play. I give them credit."

Hout added six kills, seven digs and two aces for the Menehunes. Jazmin Pa'akaula led the Cardinals with 12 kills and had two aces, and Lisha Natividad added 10 digs.

Punahou def. Kahuku: Aneli Cubi-Otineru had 12 kills and Elizabeth Ka'aihue and Kaui Robello each added 10 kills as the No. 2-seeded Buffanblu held off the defending state champion Red Raiders, 25-18, 29-27, in quarterfinal action.

Kahuku (13-4) had leads of 26-25 and 27-26 in the second game before Ka'aihue tied it on a kill and then had two aces to end it.

Larissa Nordyke added three aces for Punahou. Mona Ale led the Red Raiders with seven kills.

Kamehameha-O'ahu def. Seabury Hall: Mounia Nihipali had 10 kills and six of the Warriors' 19 aces in a 25-19, 25-15 quarterfinal sweep of the No. 4-seeded Spartans.

Anela Iseke and Kristal Tsukano each added three aces for Kamehameha (17-2). Lecca Roberts led Seabury Hall with eight kills and three blocks, and Kiani Spangler contributed with seven digs.

Kealakehe def. Hawai'i Prep: Antoinette Alapai had nine kills and eight digs to lead the Waveriders past Ka Makani, 25-21, 25-23, in a consolation round match.

Somia Quan led Hawai'i Prep with seven kills, eight digs and three aces.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456.