Damien rallies to beat University and win its first ILH D-II volleyball crown

Most teams let things get away after losing their top player to injury.

Others, such as the Damien girls volleyball squad, rally around one another.

Pili Kekipi-Nuuanu had 14 kills and Rayne Pactol added 13 as Damien won its first Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls volleyball Division II championship with a 23-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-14 victory over University on Friday at Punahou.

“The past three years I’ve been on this team, we always came up short. I really think our team deserves it,” said Monarchs senior Kaira Wengler, who finished with 11 kills.

>> Click here to see photos of the match between Damien and University.

Damien will be the league’s seeded team in the HHSAA Division II tournament, which starts Oct. 23. University and La Pietra also will represent the ILH in the 12-team field.

Things didn’t look too good for the Monarchs late in the first set when Lala Campbell injured her right knee after getting tangled up with a Jr. Rainbows player under the net. Damien lost that point, which cut its lead to 23-22. University scored the next three points on Daphnee Makena Tong’s ace and a double-contact and hitting error by Damien.

“I thought we came out really, really great,” said University coach Kolby Kanetake. “We had a practice before the match in our home gym, at Klum at 3 p.m. I knew we were going to come out good. We executed well in the first set and that’s why we took the set.”

Kekipi-Nuuanu, Pactol and Wengler picked up the slack for the Monarchs (13-1). Campbell, who had four kills in the first set, returned late in the third, but didn’t look the same. She had one kill and one block the rest of the way.

“When Lala got hurt, she’s our main player, so it was like very sad. We needed to step up,” Wengler said.

In the second set, the Monarchs went up 15-10 before the Jr. ’Bows (10-4) came back to take a 19-18 advantage. A 6-0 run, with Pactol serving, put Damien ahead 24-19.

Damien led the third set 14-8 and University rallied to take a 19-17 advantage. It was tied 22-22 before the Monarchs pulled it out with kills by Elsa Radovan and Pactol and an ace by Kaulana Kalulu-Sugai.

“If we would have taken that third set, I would have felt very confident that we would have taken the match,” Kanetake said. “We let one slip away.”

Pactol had six kills without an error and a block as Damien dominated the fourth set.

“I stepped up after moving from libero to the outside, so I really worked hard and really care for this team a lot,” said Pactol, a senior.

Radovan had 23 assists and Hailey Rapoza added 19 for the Monarchs.

University’s Milan Ah-Yat had 14 kills and Makena Tong had 36 assists.