Kahuku punched its ticket to the girls volleyball state tournament for the 15th straight season by stopping Kapolei 25-17, 24-26, 28-26, 23-25, 15-12 on Thursday night in the Oahu Interscholastic Association quarterfinals.

In front of a boisterous crowd at the Mililani High gym, the Red Raiders (11-1) had just a bit more oomph in the fifth set.

"All of that running and conditioning is good for something," first-year Kahuku coach Mounia Tachibana said when the victory was in hand. "I think it came down to who wanted it more. It was a really good match, a good first match of the playoffs for us. Now the girls know what it’s like to be under this kind of pressure with this kind of crowd."

The Red Raiders, who got 14 kills and four blocks from Jasmine Niutupuivaha and 15 kills from Cheyenne Te’o, move on to Tuesday’s semifinals.

Kapolei (8-4), which beat Kaiser on Wednesday in a playoff opener, plays in the four-team consolation bracket that will decide the OIA’s fifth- and sixth-place, state-tournament-bound teams.

"We’re still alive," said Hurricanes coach Naidah Gamurot, whose team reached the state semifinals a year ago. "It was good for us to be in a match with that kind of intensity. It was pretty even and we pushed it to the end. I think it came down to the team that made the least amount of errors at the end. I think they out-passed us and played a little better in that fifth set. Looking at them across the net, it seemed like a mirror image of us."

Both teams got plenty of mileage from two setters, and they all passed the swing attempts around without bias. No hitter, it appeared, was overused. Kahuku’s Laken Te’o had 30 assists and ShaRae Niu added 21. For Kapolei, Olivia Transfiguration led the way with 21 assists and fellow freshman Tiffany Mook had 16.

Carey Williams contributed 14 kills for the Red Raiders and Lauolive Tonga had eight.