Kayla Afoa pounded 14 kills, Shiloh Pelaras slammed 13 and Kili Robins tallied 12 as No. 2 Kamehameha swept No. 1 ‘Iolani 25-21, 25-17, 25-21 on Thursday night at the Raiders’ gym.
The tiebreaker win advances the Warriors into the final match for the second-round title. Kamehameha will play against Punahou at HBA’s gym tonight at 6 p.m.
The winner will advance to the ILH title match and earn the league’s second state-tournament berth. The loser will be pau for the season.
Punahou was scheduled to host the match, but it has been moved to a neutral site due to a cheerleading competition at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.
‘Iolani, which had already won the first round and an automatic state-tournament berth, will await Friday’s winner. The Raiders (14-2) will host the second-round winner on Saturday at 3 p.m. with the ILH championship at stake.
The tiebreaker series was necessitated by a three-way tie for first place in the second round when the three teams finished at 4-1. Punahou swept ‘Iolani in a regular-season finale on Tuesday to force the tie, salvaging its last hope at the league title and a state-tourney berth.
On Thursday, Kamehameha (12-4) made surprisingly quick work of an ‘Iolani squad that had stood at No. 1 in the Top 10 for the past five weeks. Now the Warriors are in an elimination matchup.
"I feel great. It’s part of that building process. I’m proud of our team and our staff," Warriors coach Chris Blake said. "We’re definitely going to have to pick up our game. We saw some of the Punahou staff and players here. One step at a time."
The Raiders looked like a team that played fairly well but got overwhelmed by a more athletic squad. ‘Iolani faced an outstanding serve by the visitors, but didn’t get a consistent attack going most of the night.
"Our kids battled, but on serve-receive, there were a few moments where it broke down," coach Kainoa Obrey said. "We had some communication errors that were rare during the regular season. We usually take care of that."
The Raiders hit .204 to Kamehameha’s .391. They outblocked Kamehameha 9-3, but the Warriors had the edge in aces, 7-3.
Hawaii Baptist 3, Le Jardin 2
The Eagles won their second straight ILH Division II title with a 23-25, 25-15, 22-25, 27-25, 15-13 victory over the Bulldogs.
Keri Lum led the way with 28 kills and Ally Wada dished out 53 assists for HBA.
