No. 5 Mililani overhauled its lineup before its playoff game against No. 6 Moanalua on Tuesday night, but the result for the undefeated Trojans was largely the same.
Mililani beat Moanalua 25-23, 25-22, 21-25, 25-21 at McKinley’s gym to earn a date with No. 4 Kahuku next Tuesday. The winner of that will be in the driver’s seat for the OIA championship.
The defending OIA champion Trojans went from the 5-1 lineup that earned them the top seed in the West to a 6-2 to prepare for the bigger teams it will meet as it advances through the OIA tournament and beyond. Tuesday night’s win was the first with the new lineup and featured a few starters who were playing JV the week before.
"We are happy with how it looked," Mililani coach Val Crabbe said. "The good thing is that we have more time to work on it. Our setters are little; we needed to put more hands across the net."
Jordyn Keamo led the Trojans with 17 kills and Inoa Fields added 16 for the balanced Mililani offense, which attacked Moanalua from all angles and had seven players earn kills. After sweeping every opponent during the regular season, the Trojans gave up a set for the second game in a row after beating Kalani 3-1 in the tournament’s opening round.
"I felt very pushed during this game; it was a tough game," Fields said. "Other teams are getting bigger, but our team is capable of a lot, and these guys are very talented."
All four sets were back-and-forth on Tuesday night, beginning with Moanalua being down 24-23 in the first, but Keamo ended that with a blast to the floor. The Trojans took a 17-16 lead in the second set and never relinquished it, but never ran away by more than four. Fields ended it with a kill.
Silerolia Gaogao gave Moanalua something positive to talk about on the bus ride home, almost single-handedly stealing the third set from the champs. Gaogao had all four of Moanalua’s kills in a stretch that turned a 19-18 lead into a 25-21 victory.
"She is hitting the ball really good," Moanalua coach Tommy Lake said. "With her we have to get it to her in a good spot. A lot of the times we were making her scramble around a little bit, but when she gets it in a good spot she can do some damage."
Gaogao led Moanalua with 16 kills, but was limited to only one in the fourth set, which Moanalua also led late. Na Menehune had a 19-18 lead before the Trojans took off with four straight points. They ended it when Keamo split Moanalua’s Daisge Smith and Analise Austin at the net and watched her power shot go off Austin’s hands to the floor on Moanalua’s side.
Moanalua will have to fight through the loser’s bracket to get to the championship, beginning with Kalani on Thursday.
Kahuku sweeps Castle
No. 4 Kahuku ran through No. 10 Castle with little problem, winning 25-7, 25-18, 25-16 in the first playoff match at McKinley.
Talia Brown led the Red Raiders with 11 kills, but head coach Camilla Ah-Hoy gave the credit for the wipeout to the team’s depth.
"If anyone should get the credit it is the subs," Ah-Hoy said. "We have had some great practices lately, and it is all on them to push the starters."
Castle’s starters didn’t give Kahuku any problems. The Knights didn’t have successive serves until the very end of the first set and had fewer kills in the match (14) than Kahuku did in the second set (15).
Ah-Hoy started sprinking in reserves in the third set and the new rotation grew a four-point lead into nine when Brown’s kill ended it.
Castle, which has already earned a state berth, plays Pearl City on Thursday for the right to remain in the modified double-elimination tournament.
