Le Jardin is back in the state championship match behind a multidimensional offense and tough serving.
Julia Fisher had 16 kills and Kassidy Naone added 15 as Le Jardin defeated Damien 25-13, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18 in Friday’s semifinals of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball Division II State Championships at Kaimuki.
The Bulldogs (13-3) had 13 aces and will face top-seeded Hawaii Baptist in today’s 5 p.m. championship at the Blaisdell. HBA swept Le Jardin in last year’s championship.
“From the beginning, it was kind of our goal to be in states, but we like to focus one game at a time,” said Le Jardin’s Arianna Lunow-Luke, who had 12 kills and four of her team’s 13 aces. “We were working each day toward that goal.”
Natalie Piper added 12 kills for the Bulldogs and setters Kailey Suezaki and Nina Krupa had 27 assists each. Le Jardin outhit Damien .362 to .292.
“Our serve-receive, if it’s on, we’re in business,” Le Jardin coach Lee Lamb said. “We have more options. Our middles had a great match tonight, especially Ari — she was pretty much unstoppable.
“We were able to run some combinations in the middle. All that was good. As soon as the passing goes away, we’re one-dimensional.”
Shelby Capllonch had 26 of Damien’s 52 kills, helping the Monarchs take Set 3 and rally in Set 4. Kaira Wengler added 10 kills and Ash-Lynn Herring had 28 assists for the Monarchs (11-4).
“Usually the first two sets, we get down, but then we always pick each other up,” Capllonch said.
Damien trailed 11-4 to start Set 4, then used an 11-5 run to close to 16-15. Piper’s kill and a serving run by Lunow-Luke helped Le Jardin pull ahead to 21-15. Fisher then had two kills and Piper’s ace ended the match. Le Jardin’s tough serving disrupted Damien’s passing throughout the night.
“We really just wanted to focus on executing, having discipline and really dialing in and focusing,” Lunow-Luke said. “We knew we had the capability to win and we really had to push to do it.”
HBA won two of three matches from Le Jardin during the ILH season. HBA beat Le Jardin 18-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22, 15-13 to win the ILH D-II title on Oct. 18.
“We always expect them to have really good defense and their outsides can really hit,” Lunow-Luke said. “We’re going to do our best, we’ve studied them a lot.”
HBA 3, Kapaa 0
Hawaii Baptist expects a long match in today’s championship against Le Jardin, probably longer than Friday’s 25-11, 25-8, 25-21 win over Kapaa in the semifinals.
“We’re expecting the coaches at Le Jardin to have their girls ready,” said HBA coach Myles Shioji. “We’ll be ready. We’re expecting a long match, a lot of long rallies. We’re pretty even. It should be an exciting match.”
Keri Lum had 17 kills and Brienna Nishimura added 11 kills for the Eagles (14-1). Kallie Langford had eight kills and Ally Wada finished with 32 assists as the Eagles outhit the Warriors .345 to .015
Kaehukaiihaamainae Keala had six kills and Rachel Pleas had 15 assists for Kapaa (12-3).
Kapaa was competitive in Set 3 after two quick sets. The Warriors kept close with the Eagles and the set was tied seven times, the last at 21 after a block by Kapaa’s Chiara Fumagalli.
“Kapaa is KIF champion for a reason,” Shioji said. “They’re a good team. We got to watch them on the internet a little bit and saw them the night before. We knew they’re going to be a good team. We just had to stay a little more focused in those moments.”
Kapaa served into the net to give HBA a 22-21 lead. Britney O’Donnell then buried a kill in the middle and Nishimura’s kill from the right side put HBA at match point. O’Donnell’s third kill of the match sent the Eagles into the final.
To win the program’s fifth state title, Shioji said his team needs to handle adversity.
“Stay together, a lot of communication, understand that there’ll be times we play well and times we won’t play well,” he said. “Just working through those little situations to be a better team.”
