Kaiser athletics got a huge boost Wednesday night. The Cougars captured the OIA Division II girls volleyball championship with a 26-28, 25-21, 25-18, 25-22 victory over Leilehua at the McKinley gym.
“This is fantastic for these girls and fantastic for Kaiser,” Cougars coach Kainoa Downing said. “Kaiser has struggled in sports the last couple of years. Hopefully this can help all the kids.”
The championship was in doubt in the fourth set, when the Mules led 17-12 and were poised to send it to a fifth set. But the Cougars got hot at the right time.
The most unnerving part for Leilehua came while holding a 21-19 lead. Kaiser would just not let the ball drop in a supremely long rally and the Cougars’ Jordyn Hayashi finally put it down to make it 21-20.
Two kills by Pulelehua Keb and a block by Tehina Misi gave Kaiser its first lead in the set at 23-22. After a Mules error, Misi knocked down a set from Jaylynn Nihipali to wrap up the championship.
“We were all feeling the pressure with how tight it was,” Leilehua setter Taylor Davis said. “We were thinking about it too much and it was getting in our heads.”
The opposite was true for Kaiser (7-6).
“Our girls are learning how to win,” Downing said. “It’s not easy. All the skill is there, but sometimes the mental part wanders. They’re starting to understand the end game and how to play when it’s at 20 points and on and that how you play then is key.”
Nihipali, who had seven kills, 20 assists and 11 digs for the Cougars, won’t forget the title-winning point.
“I knew my teammate (Misi) would put it down,” she said. “We’re just super happy.
“In the fourth set, I was thinking, ‘Nothing can stop us except ourselves,’ so we just pushed through. We wanted to win for each other.”
Keb finished with 13 kills, seven digs and four aces. Hayashi added four aces.
Alohilani Keola led Leilehua (6-6) with 13 kills, and Aniya Hawthorne added 11. Faith Alejo came up with 24 digs and Davis had 36 assists.
“We were out of sync (in the fourth set),” Mules coach Ernest Balignasay said. “We had a letdown and it was hard to come back up again.”
In the first set, the Mules rallied from an 18-12 deficit to win. From 19-all to 26-all, there were seven ties. A Cougars hitting error and an ace by Alejo finally ended the set.
Kaiser built leads of 10-2 and 18-7 in the second set before allowing Leilehua to get back in it at 19-16 and 23-20. Keb then finished it off with a kill and a block.
In the third set, the Cougars never trailed and Angelica Young’s four late kills gave them the final boost they needed for the 2-1 lead.
Kaiser and Leilehua will play in next week’s Division II state championship.
