Sometime tonight, a friendly ghost named Kaleinani Kabalis might sneak into her family's home in the Hilo neighborhood of Waiakea Uka and pull off a kooky Halloween prank.

But that's only if younger sister Ku'ulei Kabalis doesn't beat her to it by surprising Kaleinani and her Moanalua High School volleyball teammates (staying in a house down the street) with her own scary shenanigan.

Whatever the case, there is sure to be lots of laughter and good times again this week for the Kabalis sisters, in between the first order of business of trying to lead their respective teams to a state championship at Hilo's Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

Kaleinani, a 5-foot-6 1/2 senior outside hitter, led No. 2 seed Moanalua to its first O'ahu Interscholastic Association title since 2000. Na Menehune (11-4) have a first-round bye and will face the winner of today's Kalani-Punahou match in tomorrow's 6 p.m. quarterfinal.

Ku'ulei, a 5-6 junior setter/outside hitter, led No. 4 seed Kamehameha-Hawai'i to its third straight Big Island Interscholastic Federation crown. The Warriors (18-1) also have a first-round bye and will meet the winner of today's Baldwin-Kahuku match in tomorrow's 7:30 quarterfinal.

So for today, there will be a long-awaited reunion of the sisters/best friends who learned the sport together and are drawn close by volleyball once again.

"I can't wait to see her," Ku'ulei said by phone interview Monday night. "I finally get to reunite with my 'other half.' Every time we see each other, it's good. We always jump and hug."

Said Kaleinani: "It feels so good to go home, to go back to where I started playing volleyball."

The sisters were virtually born into the sport, since their mother, Carla Carpenter-Kabalis, was a standout player at Kamehameha and the University of Hawai'i at Hilo and coached at the club, high school and college levels. Older sister Kahala was an Advertiser All-State player for Moanalua in 2000 and later played for Chaminade.

Since their toddler days, Kaleinani and Ku'ulei would tag along to practices and matches and bump, set and spike the ball to each other on the side.

"They were always together growing up, they've always been best of friends," Carpenter-Kabalis said. "Those two girls have played volleyball together since they were 5 or 6 years old, and they don't even fight on the court."

Kaleinani burst onto the high school scene as a freshman at Hilo High, but transferred to Moanalua in the summer of 2005 to live with grandparents Dante and Olan Carpenter. The move was made mainly for academic and volleyball reasons, but the homesickness bug bit Kaleinani hard that first semester.

"I missed peppering in the back yard (with Ku'ulei)," she said. "I missed my family, because we're super close."

Added Ku'ulei: "It was kind of sad. Our house was quiet."

Kaleinani went on to earn Advertiser All-State first-team honors her sophomore season, and slammed 15 kills against eventual state champion Kamehameha in the quarterfinals. She repeated as a first team All-State selection last season, when Na Menehune fell to the Warriors again, this time in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Ku'ulei won first-team All-BIIF honors last year and helped the Warriors to a near-upset of Punahou in the state quarterfinals.

Carla spent this season island-hopping to watch both girls play, but now she and husband Sodie Kabalis can sit back, relax at the Civic and cheer for both.

"Everybody is very excited," Carpenter-Kabalis said. "It'll be great having the two of them here. It's a great homecoming."

And a Happy Halloween.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.