Same teams. Same court. Same story.
A year after ‘Iolani advanced to the state final by fending off a Kahuku comeback, the Raiders followed the same script on Friday to set up a rematch with Kamehameha in the Division I final of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championships.
Although the scenario was similar to ‘Iolani’s four-set win in last year’s semifinals, several new cast members helped push the Raiders to a 25-23, 25-19, 17-25, 25-18 win over top-seeded Kahuku and into a second straight final.
‘Iolani freshman Elena Oglivie was in middle school during last year’s state tournament and tied junior Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres for match-high honors with 25 kills.
“They stepped up big,” ‘Iolani coach Kainoa Obrey said. “It’s funny we depend on a freshman and a junior to carry the load for us and we’re very impressed by both of them to have them do what they’re doing.”
Senior Ana Oglivie, the Raiders’ libero last year, distributed 51 assists while running an ‘Iolani offense that hit a collective .268.
‘Iolani’s win kept the state final an all-ILH affair for the 14th straight year and for the 34th time in the last 35. In last year’s final the Raiders rallied from two sets down to force a fifth before Kamehameha pulled out a 15-12 win to capture its 20th state championship.
“Since the ball dropped last year all I could think about was this year just coming back with a new team, playing different positions. It was so fun last year. I’m glad we can be there again,” Ana Oglivie said.
Kahuku’s title in 2002 remains the last time an OIA team claimed the crown. The Red Raiders have reached the semifinals eight times since and came up just short against ‘Iolani for the third time in that span.
“They battled … and if they feel like they left everything on the court, I can’t ask for more,” said second-year Kahuku coach Mounia Tachibana.
Utah-bound middle blocker Phoebe Grace led Kahuku with 19 kills in 36 attempts and hit .500 for the night. ShaLi Niu added 12 kills and Cheyenne Teo finished with 11.
‘Iolani pulled away late in the first set and rode an 8-2 surge in the middle of the second to move within a set of returning to the final.
“The biggest thing for us is serve and pass,” Obrey said. “I thought we put a lot of pressure on them serving tough and they had a tough time really excecuting the middle cleanly and we ball-handled well in the first two sets.”
Kahuku recovered to race out to a 6-1 lead in the third set and didn’t allow ‘Iolani to get closer than four the rest of the way to extend the match.
Elena Oglivie had nine kills in the fourth set and Ka’aha’aina-Torres hammered eight and the Raiders again pulled away late to snuff Kahuku’s comeback hopes.
“We expected them to fight back, we know they’re a great team,” Ana Oglivie said. “They weren’t going to let up and we weren’t going to let up on our end. We knew we were playing well. we didn’t want to change anything, we didn’t want to freak out.”
