Posted on: Sunday, October 26, 2003
Top seeds move on in OIA boys volleyball tournament
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
Last year's O'ahu Interscholastic Association boys volleyball tournament was a West Side story, with Western Division teams winning all four quarterfinal matches to earn state tournament berths.
But Kalaheo immediately made sure there would not be a repeat performance yesterday, rallying past 2002 runner-up Leilehua, 18-25, 25-21, 15-8, in the first of four quarterfinals at Farrington's Dick Kitamura Fieldhouse.
The Mustangs (9-1) will play the West's No. 1 seed Mililani (11-0) in the first of two semifinals on Saturday at Farrington. The Trojans beat East No. 4 Kaimuki (7-4), 25-22, 25-20, yesterday.
West No. 2 Campbell (10-1) will play East No. 1 Kahuku (9-1) in the other semifinal. Campbell defeated West No. 6 'Aiea (6-6), 26-24, 25-14, and Kahuku stopped West No. 4 Pearl City (8-4) in the other semifinal, 25-22, 25-19.
Kalaheo, which finished tied for the East regular-season championship but earned a No. 2 seed due to a tiebreaker, lost the first game yesterday and trailed 14-10 in the second. But the Mustangs gained strength and momentum through the hitting of Sam Wilhoite and Elias Ayau to tie it at 15-15 and scored the final four points after it was knotted at 21-21.
"We had it within us the whole time, but we just had to settle down and play our side of the net," said Wilhoite, who finished with 16 kills. "We had to not worry about what was happening on the other side of the net."
That focus was put to the test in the third game, as Mules outside hitter Vernon Wilson sprained his right ankle on the first point and left the game. He did not return.
With Wilson out, Kalaheo jumped to leads of 4-0, 8-3 and 14-7 before Wilhoite put it away on the second aloha ball.
"They adjusted their play, and we couldn't adjust," Leilehua coach Ernie Balignasay said. "It was tough; they're a strong team."
Mustangs coach Sivan Leoni said he was pleasantly surprised with how his team responded to yesterday's situations.
"Actually I was really worried in the first two games because we had so many ball-handling mistakes," Leoni said. "Usually, those things don't turn around, they keep on going. But we stopped making mistakes, and even when (Wilson) got hurt, no one on our side even mentioned it."
Wilhoite said that showed the maturity this year's Kalaheo team attained.
"We knew (Wilson) was one of their pounders, but in the third game it's do-or-die and they were playing us tight even without him," Wilhoite said. "But we didn't let it affect how we played. This is basically the same team as last year because we only lost one senior, but we've jelled and that put us over the edge."
Leilehua finished 9-3.
OIA GIRLS
• East sweeps into semifinals: Roosevelt upset West top seed Pearl City, 25-18, 26-24, at McKinley High School Student Council Gymnasium to join three other OIA East schools in the girls volleyball semifinals. East No. 4 Roosevelt (10-3) faces East No. 2 Moanalua (11-1) in a semifinal. East top seed Kalani (12-0) faces East No. 3 Kahuku (11-2) in the other semifinal. The semifinals will be played on Saturday at Mckinley.
The semifinalists clinch berths into the state tournament.
In yesterday's other quarterfinals, Moanalua defeated Castle, 25-15, 25-18; Kahuku defeated West No. 2 'Aiea, 31-29, 25-12; and Kalani edged East No. 5 Farrington, 25-16, 20-25, 15-12.
Castle finished 6-7, 'Aiea 9-2, Farrington 8-5 and Pearl City 9-2.
The OIA boys and girls finals will be at McKinley on Nov. 6.
• Junior varsity: Kahuku defeated Moanalua, 25-17, 25-19, to win the OIA girls junior varsity championship yesterday at Kaimuki High School gym.
Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456.
