McKinley relied on its aces to pull away from Campbell 25-20, 17-25, 25-20, 25-18 in the opening round of the Oahu Interscholastic Association girls volleyball playoffs last night at Kaiser.

The Tigers tallied 15 of their 22 aces in the final two games in advancing to the next round against East top seed Moanalua on Tuesday.

Campbell led 15-12 in the third set with the match squared at a game apiece. McKinley junior Mele Kuma served four aces during an eight-point run, and the Tigers never looked back.

In the playoffs, the format is switched from three-set matches (with the third being a 15-point set) to best-of-five matches.

"I think (playing) three out of five took a little pressure off of them," McKinley coach Brandon Flores said. "The longer game gave us more time to get into our groove."

Kuma matched her jersey number with a game-high 16 kills and Tai Vailisale, one of six seniors on the McKinley roster, added 10.

McKinley’s serving was the difference in the game. Junior setter Tiara Iokepa had seven of the Tigers’ 22 aces, including five in the first set.

"We always work on your serving with the belief that if we get our serving going, it’s a big advantage for us," Flores said.

Campbell (6-7), which had a better record and was the higher seed out of the West, got off to a fast start, taking a 12-4 lead in the first set.

A kill by Vailisale got a sideout for McKinley (5-8), and Iokepa had four aces during a 9-0 run to give McKinley the lead.

Chantay Samante put down a kill to bring Campbell within a point at 19-18, but a hitting error and a net violation did the Sabers in.

Back-to-back kills by Vailisale got McKinley to match point and Iokepa finished things off with her fifth ace.

"I was thinking ‘Oh gosh’ and I had goose bumps," Vailisale said about the early deficit. "But I have faith in my team that we’re a great team and we started playing and blocked everything out."

Junior Ashlee Kealoha-Leopoldo had a team-high 11 kills and Abigail Gifford had 10 for Campbell, which roared back to take Game 2 by a wide margin.

McKinley pulled to 17-14 on a net violation, but a kill by Brandi Wilson jump-started an 8-3 run by the Sabers to close out the set.

The Sabers again got out to a lead in the third set, but McKinley’s advantage with the serve really started to show in the final two frames.

With the score tied at 11 in Game 4, Lenna Morita served consecutive aces and sophomore Miranda Schmillen added two more in a 14-7 run to close out the match.

Vailisale’s 10th kill got the Tigers to match point and Kuma ended it with her 16th.

The victory moved McKinley into the double-elimination portion of the playoffs, while the Sabers saw their season come to an end.

The top six teams in the OIA playoffs advance to the HHSAA state tournament Oct. 27-30.