The Kamehameha volleyball team's first match in the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championships was a smashing success last night as the Warriors combined heavy hitting with efficiency.

The host Warriors looked every bit like a No. 1 seed and the defending state champion against overmatched Kahuku.

Kanani Herring had 12 kills and Jordan Meredith added nine — neither had an error — as Kamehameha routed Kahuku, 25-11, 25-17, at Kekuhaupi'o gym.

Kamehameha, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion, will face Moanalua in a semifinal match tonight at 7:30.

"Every single opponent has always brought their best, so we have to step up our game to continue on in this tournament," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said.

The Warriors had 32 kills and only three hitting errors in the quarterfinal match. Anything senior setter Kea Kea put up, someone was there to quickly put it down.

Herring, a 5-foot-10 junior outside hitter, went over the block on many of her kills.

"My goal is just to try and kill the ball every time," Herring said. "Any ball I get I try to make the best of it. If Kea dishes the ball to me, I'm grateful for that."

In the first game, the Warriors had 16 kills and one hitting error. Bekah Torres served 10 in a row, including three aces, as the Warriors took a 24-10 lead.

"Every free ball we gave them they executed off of that," Kahuku coach Mona Ah Hoy said. "Broken plays ... everything. They took care of it."

The second game was tied 8-8, before Kamehameha slowly pulled away.

Meredith, a 6-foot junior outside hitter, had five kills in the second game.

"We've been working a lot on off-the-block shots in practice and it worked really well because they had a big, strong block up and we were able to tool them and get around them," Meredith said. "I guess all the hours of practice we put in helped a lot."

Torres, a junior middle blocker/outside hitter, added eight kills, and senior outside hitter Logan Keala had two aces for Kamehameha (18-1).

Kahuku, the O'ahu Interscholastic Association's No. 3 team, dropped to 12-5.

MOANALUA DEF. KS-MAUI

The Moanalua girls volleyball team played so well against Kamehameha-Maui last night, Warriors coach Kathy Beard couldn't recognize her team that won the Maui Interscholastic League.

Brianna Amian had nine kills, and Kaleinani Kabalis and Melanie Manutai added five apiece as Moanalua beat Kamehameha-Maui, 25-22, 25-12.

"I asked them questions as to what happened tonight," Beard said of her post-match speech. "Very unlike them. I don't even know that team right there right now."

How much of it was the Warriors and how much was due to Na Menehune was difficult to tell. But this much is certain: Moanalua, the OIA runner-up, is into the semifinal.

For the match, No. 4 seed Kamehameha-Maui (11-2) had six double-contact violations and three lifts.

"I feel Maui was a little tight," Moanalua coach Tommy Lake said. "I watched them warm up, they have some really good hitters and run the middle really well."

Beard said "half" the violations shouldn't have been called.

The first game was close until Moanalua (15-2) went on a 5-1 run to take a 20-16 advantage.

In the second, Moanalua had 17 kills and four hitting errors.

Manutai had all of her kills in the game with no errors.

"Mel has been one of the steadiest hitters for us all year," Lake said. "Everyone looks at Bri and Kalei because they're great hitters, but hitting percentage-wise, Mel hardly ever makes errors."

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.