'AIEA — Eastern Division teams continued to impress last night in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference girls volleyball playoffs, winning three of four second-round matches.

At 'Aiea, East No. 2 seed Kahuku swept past West No. 4 Mililani, 25-19, 25-16, 25-9. The Red Raiders improved to 12-1 in league play and will face West champion 'Aiea (13-0) in tonight's semifinal round at McKinley.

First serve is set for around 7, following the first semifinal between East champ Moanalua (12-1) and East No. 3 seed Farrington (10-4). Both matches will be televised live statewide on OC16.

'Aiea rallied past visiting East No. 4 McKinley, 24-26, 25-19, 25-17, 25-17. At Moanalua, East No. 1 seed Moanalua swept East No. 5 Roosevelt, 25-22, 26-24, 25-10, and Farrington rallied past West runner-up Pearl City, 21-25, 25-16, 19-25, 25-22, 15-12.

Last night's losers drop into the losers' bracket of the double-elimination tournament, with a chance to re-emerge in the winners' bracket.

Kahuku has won 12 straight matches since dropping its regular season opener to Moanalua in August. With a first-round bye in the playoffs, the Red Raiders had to wait almost two weeks between matches.

"At first we were kind of bummed we had a bye, because we were so used to playing match after match," said Kahuku senior right-side hitter Malia Tonga, who had five kills and an ace as the Red Raiders stretched a 13-12 lead to 22-14 in last night's second set. "We started out slow tonight and we weren't satisfied with the way we played in the first set. We just had to get back to our style and get back to the basics."

The Trojans (9-5) trailed 16-15 in the first set, before making some errors to help Kahuku on a 6-1 run. The Red Raiders then jumped to a 6-1 lead in the third set and never looked back.

Kahuku middle blocker Amanda Tonga had a match-high 15 kills and six blocks.

Shyanne Cossey led Mililani with 12 kills.

McKinley (6-8) surprised 'Aiea with leads of 6-1 and 9-4 in the first set, before Na Ali'i responded with an 8-0 run to go up, 12-9. 'Aiea then served for game point at 24-22, but the Tigers tied it after Angela So'oalo's push kill and a Na Ali'i error.

McKinley then won it after Kylie Sato's ace and another 'Aiea error.

"I don't know what it was — maybe the long layoff — but we weren't playing our game," Na Ali'i coach Blythe Yamamoto said. "I think the East teams are a lot bigger than the West, so we had to adjust playing against their height."

'Aiea rebounded quickly in the second set, taking an 8-3 lead and never allowing the Tigers to get closer than two points the rest of the way.

It was pretty much the same story in sets 3 and 4, with Na Ali'i taking the lead early and never letting go. Kelly Leopoldo led a balanced 'Aiea attack with 10 kills and Tiara Fetui added eight kills.

"We couldn't stop their outsides," McKinley coach Chad Giessman said. "Also, serving tough was one of our strengths this season, but they were able to pass on us."

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