No. 2 ‘Iolani fends off feisty Mid-Pacific

There hasn’t been much time to step off the court for ‘Iolani.

The Raiders opened their season with two tough preseason volleyball tournaments on successive weekends, then dived into the competitive ILH season. With a few girls playing through some illnesses on the opening week of league play, ‘Iolani finished 2-0 after a 25-19, 25-19 victory over host Mid-Pacific in an ILH girls volleyball match on Saturday.

"We’ve been going pretty hard," said ‘Iolani setter Bailey Choy, who finished with 26 assists. "A lot of us are under the weather, but we’re still working and trying to do our best to get the title this year."

With Choy directing the offense, three ‘Iolani hitters finished with at least six kills. Sierra Buscher led the Raiders (2-0) with nine.

"She thinks quickly and makes good, sound decisions," ‘Iolani coach Kainoa Obrey said of Choy. "The biggest thing is she’s locating it for the hitters. It’s nice to be able to locate it in all the positions, all the sets, it kind of frees up our hitters a bit."

Lekaleka Kiner-Falefa had 13 kills to lead the Owls (0-2) and Madison Collier had 20 assists. The Owls hung with the Raiders for most of the match, but errors here and there provided the separation room for ‘Iolani to pull away.

"We missed a lot of serves," said Mid-Pacific coach Tommy Lake. "’Iolani is way too good of a ballhandling team. We missed eight serves. You can’t give that good of a team (points)."

Mid-Pacific hung with ‘Iolani in Set 2, scoring three straight to tie it at 15. Moea Kekauoha had back-to-back kills to help ‘Iolani open a 20-16 lead, but Mid-Pacific rallied to get within 20-19 after a kill by Jordan Ishida.

A Mid-Pacific serving error started a 5-0 spurt that allowed ‘Iolani to finish off the match.

Mid-Pacific entered Saturday’s match coming off a near upset of defending state champion Kamehameha.

Kamehameha held off Mid-Pacific 28-26, 26-24 on Monday.

"You can see that they’re solid," Obrey said of the Owls. "They have a couple of players who can carry the load for them."

Much like during the ‘Iolani match, minimizing a few errors would’ve swung the match in Mid-Pacific’s favor against Kamehameha.

"Just a few little errors here and there," Lake said. "But at this point of the season, we’re pretty happy with the progress. Starting off with Kamehameha and ‘Iolani, that’s going to be tough. The girls are competing and we’re pretty happy with the development."