The OIA East girls volleyball race was razor close before Wednesday night’s first-place matchup, and nothing changed by the time it was over.
No. 3 Moanalua snuck out of No. 7 Kahuku’s gym with a 26-24, 19-25, 15-13 victory to take the top spot in the standings. Na Menehune (8-0) are one game ahead of the Red Raiders (7-1).
Fortunately for Na Menehune, they pulled out of a tailspin just in time. They were out of sync for most of the second set, which the Red Raiders dominated.
"Kahuku has a great team and a great coach," Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting said. "They made some adjustments to get them ahead in the second set, so we had to make our own adjustments. We wanted to attack as much as possible and make that our first priority."
The Red Raiders led by as many as three points early in the third set, but at 10-7 Na Menehune forged back. Cassady Texlia made a huge play, dropping in a shot after a long rally to push Moanalua into a 12-all tie.
Jojo Kruize slammed home two kills for a 14-13 edge and Moanalua closed it out on Lia Gaogao’s back-row kill.
"Jojo is one of our go-to players," Cabanting said. "She calls for the ball in crucial situations and it’s great to have that kind of player who wants that set."
Kruize and Kahuku’s Carey Williams tied for a match-high 10 kills. Gaogao had seven.
Red Raiders coach Lee Lamb was happy with his team’s overall play, especially in the second and third sets.
"We had some small breakdowns in the first set, struggling with our passing," Lamb said. "That is our emphasis, and it was good (in the second and third sets) and it will get a lot cleaner as the season goes along."
Kahuku setter ShaRae Niu, who ran the offense smoothly all night, concurred.
"It felt good out there tonight," she said. "The past couple of weeks we’ve been trying to figure out a lot of things about our lineup. We were finally clicking tonight. We are not at our peak yet."
Moanalua controlled the first set, breaking away for a 15-8 lead. Kahuku battled back to get to 22-20 when Williams blasted a Niu set. The Red Raiders also pushed it into a 24-all tie, but dropped the next two points on a service error and a hitting mistake.
In the second set, multiple kills by Kahuku’s Williams and Thea Leiataua and Moanalua’s erratic play gave the Red Raiders leads of 15-9 and 22-17.
At 23-19, Kahuku closed it out with Brittany Waite’s kill from the middle and a Na Menehune hitting error.
But Moanalua got it done when it counted.
"When we were down in the second set, we were thinking of trying to get them out of system," Kruize said. "We knew we could come back and win. We feel that we can absolutely beat anyone this year and take it all the way. We have the passion to do it."
