Nervous and noncommunicative on the court, Kahuku struggled to find a rhythm.

After dropping the first set to Hawaii Baptist, Kahuku’s girls volleyball team found its energy to rally for a 25-27, 25-17, 15-9 win over the Eagles at the Ann Kang Invitational on Thursday.

The 16-team tournament, considered one of the most competitive local preseason tournaments, began with pool play on Thursday. The tournament continues Friday and ends Saturday.

"Our jitters were in and we just lost to a really good team (Newport Harbor of California)," said Kahuku setter ShaRae Niu, who finished with 13 assists. "I guess we were just not having it at the time.

"Coach talked to us about having the jitters gone and playing as a team. We played better (after)."

Carey Williams, who led Kahuku with 11 kills, said coach Lee Lamb told them to forget about the nerves and the first set.

"He said ‘next ball’ and to sideout," Williams said.

Phoebe Grace and Jaclyn Ah You came off the bench to liven up Kahuku’s offense in Set 2. Grace had a kill and two blocks and Ah You had four kills.

"They really did a good job of bringing a new vibe to the court," Niu said.

Kahuku benefitted from HBA errors in Set 3. The Red Raiders led 10-6 after two HBA hitting errors and a net violation. Back-to-back aces from Rachel Blake extended the lead to 12-6. Thea Leitupo-Asuao had two kills to close out the win over Kahuku. Leitupo-Asuao finished with seven kills.

"They mixed up their sets pretty well," said HBA’s Ally Wada, who had six kills and six assists. "They had too many options."

With most teams having practiced together for only a few days, the preseason tournament provides a chance to get time on the court. The mix of local teams and schools from California and Texas provide a chance to play higher-caliber opponents that smaller schools like Division II HBA will not see in league play.

"We don’t get to play these D-I teams," Wada said. "It’s much faster than D-II."

Punahou, which won the past two tournament titles, swept all three of its opponents on opening day. The Buffanblu beat ‘Iolani II and California teams Santa Monica and Los Alamitos.

The tournament was a homecoming for Brent Asuka, a 2005 ‘Iolani graduate who is coaching at Village Christian (Calif.). He brought his Crusaders to Hawaii to experience a high-level tournament with tough competition. He also played youth and high school sports with Barry and Marci Kang, whose mother is the tournament’s namesake.

"I told them it’s a high-level volleyball tournament, there’s a lot of good teams," said Asuka, who helped UC Irvine win two national titles in men’s volleyball in 2007 and 2009. "The mainland teams are good, the Hawaii are good. I just want them to compete against higher teams. Most of these teams are higher division than us in California, so it’s good to play up and play good competition."