Photo Gallery: ‘Iolani vs. Kamehameha
‘Iolani’s young volleyball team is learning as it goes, and on Saturday it learned an important lesson.
When Kamehameha outside hitter Tiyana Hallums starts to celebrate, it is time to take cover.
Hallums, one of No. 1 Kamehameha’s tri-captains, dropped eight kills on No. 4 ‘Iolani to help the Warriors stay undefeated in the ILH with a 25-23, 25-22 victory at ‘Iolani on Saturday.
She had three in a row in a particularly crucial stretch at the end of the second set, when she almost single-handedly turned a slim 19-18 lead into a 22-18 advantage. ‘Iolani fought back to close to within 24-22, but Hallums ended its rally with another emphatic kill. After each of her points she rattled the rafters with a loud yell while pointing at her teammates.
"I don’t know, I just get pumped," Hallums said. "My team rallies me up and I just do it for them all the time."
Hallums had only three errors among her eight kills. She was helped out by a balanced offense and Kamehameha’s usual stifling defense. Alohi Robins-Hardy and Kayla Afoa had six kills apiece and Sarah Lau added five, all of them in the second set.
Even with all that balance, when the Warriors needed a point they turned to Hallums. She also ended the first set with a kill when the Raiders pulled within a point, 24-23.
"She is a great kid," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said. "For us, we were looking at what we could do to make our team get better and she decided that she was going to work as hard as she could and she did. That kill to get us to 22 was huge, it was a scramble play and she rose up and put a pretty good move on that ball."
Kamehameha improved to 5-0 in the ILH. It has not yielded a set in its first trip through the schedule. Before Saturday, only Punahou had put more than 18 points in any set. The Buffanblu managed a 22-point set in a loss last week.
Sara Watanabe led the Raiders (3-2) with eight kills and Anna Uhr added six.
"They are definitely good. Their defense is amazing," Hallums said "We just knew we had to come in here and play good ‘D’ with them so we wouldn’t get outmatched. It was great to be pushed like that. We always need a good challenge so we can get better."
‘Iolani didn’t start pushing the state’s top team until 12 points were gone in the first set, allowing 10 straight to fall behind 11-1 before rallying.
"Kamehameha’s a good team, but we lost some discipline early," ‘Iolani coach Kainoa Obrey said. "The kids did a great job. We are proud of them for fighting back, but unfortunately when you spot good teams some points they are going to take advantage."
