There’s nothing complicated or insane about Kahuku’s poise and endurance.

Ask Kaniela Kalama, though, and he says his team is all about in-sand-ity.

"During the summer, we did in-sand-ity," the coach said, pulling some wordplay on his team’s daily 7 a.m. workout at the beach. "An hour of running and drills on the sand, six days a week."

That conditioning is paying off handsomely. Sixth-ranked Kahuku wore down a fired-up Pearl City squad for a 20-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-18 victory last night in Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference girls volleyball playoff action at McKinley Student Council Gym.

Senior Elizabeth Blake led Kahuku with 13 kills, while classmate Ho’onani Apo pounded 11 kills, mostly from the right side. Sophomore Lepeka Kalulu-Sugai came off the bench for another 11 kills as the Lady Raiders (12-2) advanced in the double-elimination tourney.

Kalulu-Sugai’s spark off the bench turned the tide in what had been a match leaning Pearl City’s way.

"She’s like that all the time," Kalama said of the outside hitter, who is a niece of former UH and Punahou standout Aneli Cubi-Otineru.

"I don’t mind," Kalulu-Sugai said of her role as a reserve. "I know we want to win the championship, so I push myself. Everyone kept their heads up and kept a positive attitude."

Setter Teuila Nautu dished 50 assists and had one of her team’s 10 aces.

Tenth-ranked Pearl City (12-2) got a match-high 18 kills from senior Keani Passi. Brandee Chun and Tabytha Inong added five kills apiece, and Marie Fujii finished with 32 assists.

Both teams reached last night’s round with three-set victories on Tuesday. However, Kahuku clearly had more spring in its legs as the match wore on.

Pearl City got two aces from Chun to take command in the opening set. Passi, a 5-foot-9 outside hitter who hits a very heavy ball, slammed six kills to lead the Chargers.

Pearl City roared to a 12-7 lead in the second game, but surrendered eight points in a row. Apo sparked the Kahuku rally with a couple of aces, and Kalulu-Sugai dominated from the left side.

The 5-7 leaper crushed five kills with only one error in the second as Kahuku rallied. Her string of three kills gave the Lady Raiders a 15-12 lead, but Pearl City pushed back ahead to gain control, 22-20.

Kahuku took the lead on a kill from the back row by Blake and put it away on another Kalulu-Sugai kill to even the match.

From there, Pearl City lost consistency. After dealing four aces in the opening set, the Chargers had only two the rest of the night. Pearl City hit .213 in the last three sets.

The Chargers led 11-7 in the fourth game, but again, Kahuku went on a tear to take a 16-11 lead as Nautu went left, right and middle.

Pearl City got within 19-17, but ran out of gas.

"We just focused on our passing," Kalama said. "That’s always big."

Kahuku, unbeaten in the double-elimination format, will rest up until Tuesday, while the rest of the field starts to untangle in today’s matchups. Mililani will battle Pearl City at 5 p.m. at the McKinley gym in an elimination match. Following that, Kaiser will meet Castle in another elimination match.

Moanalua, the tourney’s other unbeaten team, will play Kahuku in the late match on Tuesday.

Moanalua 3, Kaiser 0

The big blue machine hummed, all right.

Junior Erin Perez led the attack as No. 7 Moanalua swept weary Kaiser 25-22, 25-19, 25-20 in the early match last night at McKinley.

Perez led Na Menehune with 16 kills at a whopping .517 clip. Setter Courtney Uyeda had her pick of weaponry, using Courtney Calicdan (11 kills), Tasha Meyer (seven) and Analise Austin (six) to finish with a match-high 34 assists.

Moanalua (12-1) had struggled with Kaiser in the regular season, pushed to three sets in the best-of-three format in two matches. This time, Na Menehune withstood the towering presence of Kaiser’s 6-2 senior, Nikki Taylor.

She finished with 15 kills, accounting for more than half her team’s total. Shawna Mook added six kills and Kylee Nihipali added five. Jolie Au had 23 assists and two aces for the Cougars (10-4).

Moanalua’s offensive output was impressive against a wall that included Taylor, Courtney Phillips (5-11) and Haley Durham (5-11).