Emily Dulaney spent last year’s OIA playoffs coming off the bench after being pulled up from Moanalua’s junior varsity team.
This year, she’s helping Na Menehune make a run for another title.
Dulaney had 10 kills and 19 assists in Moanalua’s 23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-12 win over Kalaheo in Tuesday’s OIA volleyball semifinals at McKinley. Fifth-ranked Moanalua (13-0), the defending OIA champion, will face Kahukuin Thursday’s championship match at McKinley.
“Today, she showed even more range,” Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting said. “There was that line shot where they only gave her this much room and she was still able to find it and get it through, and the same thing on the back side as well. She’s really coming together.”
Syenna Masaki had 14 kills for 10th-ranked Kalaheo (10-4), last year’s OIA Division II champion. Siani Yamaguchi had 18 assists, eight kills and four blocks for the Mustangs.
“We wanted to win this, but we came out short,” Yamaguchi said. “We just got to fall back on it and regroup tomorrow.”
Moanalua rallied by finding hitters to help out senior outside hitter Jojo Kruize, who had 26 kills. Dulaney and Angelica Hulett were especially effective when hitting from the right side. Hulett finished with 10 kills and two blocks. Emree Sato had 29 assists for Moanalua.
“She holds up the team, she tries hard, she pushes through,” Dulaney said of Kruize. “Sometimes we need others to push through and do really good. It can’t always go to Jojo. She has to last the whole game.”
Dulaney, one of two setters in Moanalua’s 6-2 offense, said running the middles was an adjustment made after Set 1. Moanalua’s middle blockers combined for just two kills in the first set before finishing with 10.
“We tried to set the middles more because they were getting us kills and we were trying to play smart, aggressive and trust each other,” Dulaney said.
Moanalua’s passing stabilized when defensive specialist Hula Crisostomo, who left Set 1 with an injury, returned later in the match. She served seven straight to give her team a 24-11 lead in Set 4. Dulaney had two aces while serving the final five points of Set 3. Bryanne Yasui served consecutive aces to help Moanalua pull away late in Set 2. Moanalua had nine aces to Kalaheo’s two.
Kahuku 3, Mililani 0
Kahuku swept Mililani 25-17, 25-17, 25-17 to advance to the championship match against Moanalua. Kahuku was swept by Moanalua during their regular-season meeting on Sept. 28.
Sixth-ranked Kahuku (12-1) finished the match on a 6-0 run to hand No. 8 Mililani (11-1) its first loss of the season. Mililani (11-1) will face Kalaheo in today’s third-place match at Farrington.
Kailua 3, Roosevelt 0
The Surfriders punched a ticket into Thursday’s OIA Division II championship with a 25-20, 25-13, 25-16 win over the Rams.
Farrington 3, Pearl City 0
The Governors swept the Chargers 25-11, 25-14, 25-20 to earn the other spot in the Division II final.
