Kamehameha returns to semis

It was a bumpy ride, but Kamehameha made it into the state semifinals Thursday night with a sweep of third-seeded King Kekaulike.

In the second and third sets, the Warriors (15-5) needed to come back to charge to the 25-13, 27-25, 25-19 victory in the Division I quarterfinals of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championships at the Moanalua gym.

"We needed to play one of our better games against an awesome team like King Kekaulike," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said. "They won their league and brought it out of us. We didn’t play our best game, but their great defenders made us play hard. We were lucky to come out with the ‘W.’ "

The Warriors, runners-up in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, play Oahu Interscholastic Association champion Moanalua tonight at 7 at in the semifinals at the McKinley gym. They are going for their 19th state championship and first since 2013.

"We haven’t got to our potential yet," said Kamehameha middle Shiloh Peleras, who delivered 11 kills and was in on four blocks in the win. "We’re working on it, doing everything we can do to get there. We’re going to have to push through to get to the final and win the championship."

Na Alii (13-3), the Maui Interscholastic League champions, offered little resistance in a first set that coach Al Paschoal called "a wash."

"The girls got used to the bright lights after the first set and settled down to play some fantastic defense," he said. "Our goal was to spread them (the Warriors) out across the net, and it worked to an extent, but our passing eventually broke down and that stretched our defense and we were weren’t able to cover the same areas."

Still, King Kekaulike held a big 22-18 lead in the second set before faltering. Peleras’ kill on freshman Lexis Akeo’s set made it 26-25, marking the Warriors’ first advantage since 16-15 and the fifth lead change of the set. Na Alii followed with a critical hitting error, giving Kamehameha a 2-0 match lead.

Na Alii led throughout the first half of the third set until the Warriors began to take control on Lauren Condon’s kill for a 14-13 edge. Later, after nursing the lead to 18-16, Kamehameha pulled away on the strength of four Akeo assists on kills by Peleras, Kili Robins, Brooke Ka’awa and Kayla Afoa. A block by Braelyn Akana added the final exclamation point.

"Kamehameha has terminators on all sides," Na Alii’s Paschoal said. "And that freshman setter (Akeo) had a real nice game. She’s very poised. They served great too."

Akeo had 31 assists and Ka’awa had nine kills and five of her team’s nine aces, including three in a row in the first set. Afoa came through with 11 digs and nine kills.

Breannalye Rodrigues put down seven kills for Na Alii, and teammate Treyanna-Lee Freitas had nine digs and four kills.

Moanalua 3, Kapolei 0

Na Menehune are in the state semifinals for the second straight year after sweeping the Hurricanes 25-15, 25-22, 25-15 at the Moanalua gym.

Second-seeded Moanalua (15-0), the Oahu Interscholastic Association champion, will play Kamehameha in the semis at McKinley tonight.

Jojo Kruize had 21 kills and 14 digs and Emree Sato dished 26 assists to lead Na Menehune.