Malu Garcia of Moanalua brought everything she had, but Kahuku had even more.
The junior outside hitter pounded 29 kills, including 15 in an epic fourth set, but OIA champion Kahuku hung on for a wild 25-18, 21-25, 26-24, 31-33, 15-13 quarterfinal win at the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championships on Wednesday night.
Second-seeded Kahuku will meet the Punahou/Kamehameha-Hawaii winner today at 5:30 p.m., at McKinley Student Council Gymnasium.
A raucous audience saw a gritty effort by Moanalua, which lost in the OIA quarterfinals and finished fifth in the league. That set up an unusual matchup between Kahuku and a team that was ranked in the top five statewide for much of the season.
Kahuku did it with resilient defense and balance. Cha’lei Reid and Mele Taumoepeau led Kahuku (22-4 overall) with 14 kills each, while Ma‘o Lauhingoa tallied 13 kills and Sidney Keni added 10. Hehea Pulotu had a team-high 24 digs and Taumoepeau hustled for 23. Madison Mamizuka had 18 digs to go with 18 assists. Dani Kapu had a team-high 25 assists.
“I’m relieved that it’s finally over. It was a good war. I’m glad that we came up on top. They deserve it. I’m glad we could fight through. Moanalua’s just so awesome,” Kahuku coach Tuli Tevaga said. “It’s just remembering the mission, why we’re doing what we’re doing, why we train the way we do and speaking positively into the girls even though they made a mistake.”
Leilani Giusta added 13 kills, Aniya Gant had eight, Sadie Alana tallied seven and Hokulani Perez added five for Moanalua (32-9-1). Natalie Fukumoto had a match-high 31 digs, while Haylee Deponte (34 assists) and Jayde Taamu Perifanos (23 assists) kept feeding Garcia.
She finished with 87 attempts, not far from the 96 attempts by Sarah Palmer of Hawaii Baptist more than a decade ago in a Division II state final.
“She’s definitely our go-to person. At times, I wish we could’ve gone to her a little bit more,” Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting said. “Everybody was doing their job.”
When the teams met in week one of the regular season, Kahuku went to Moanalua and left with a four-set win. This time, Moanalua refused to relent. Kahuku had a chance to close the match out in set four, but on seven match points, Garcia came to the rescue with kills. Eventually, she gave Na Menehune a 32-31 lead, and Fukumoto’s ace — her third of the night — ended the set, tying the match and forcing a fifth set.
Kahuku regained momentum and took advantage of a weary Garcia. After a roof by Reid on Giusta, the Lady Raiders had an 11-6 lead. Moanalua rallied took a 13-12 lead before Taumoepeau tied it with a kill.
On the next point, the ball suddenly caromed off the low ceiling at McKinley, and Lauhingoa pushed it toward the left pin and off Giusta on a bang-bang play that gave Kahuku a 14-13 lead.
“Unfortunately, we had one unlucky play. Otherwise, the team fought really hard and gave it their all,” Cabanting said.
A hitting error by Garcia ended the match.
The fourth set won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
“For this group, I didn’t have to say anything much. They were always going positive, positive, positive. We’re going to make plays. Even going into the fifth set, we continued to have that positive mindset. We only can play up until 15. One unlucky play didn’t go our way,” Cabanting said.
Rebounding from Moanalua’s remarkable fourth set wasn’t easy.
“As much as we’re paying attention to what’s going on, on their side, we need to make sure that we’re ready on our side. Staying tight on defense, being aggressive on our attacks and making sure we stay together through our errors,” Tevaga said.
Kahuku played some reserves through some key moments in the fourth set.
“Next man up. That’s what we’ve been stressing all season long,” Tevaga said. “Even though one of your sisters can’t, make sure to back her up.”
Mililani 3, Baldwin 0
Alexis Rodriguez hammered a match-high 15 kills and Erica Roberts added 10 kills in 25 attempts with no errors to lead the Trojans (13-2) past the MIL champion and fourth-seeded Bears (14-1) 25-23, 25-14, 25-16.
Anae Asuncion had 35 assists and seven digs for Mililani, which is making its 15th consecutive appearance in the state tournament.
The Trojans are in the semifinals for the third time in the past four tries but haven’t made a final during that span.
Amanda Naipo had 12 kills and Ariana Naipo added 11 for the Bears, who hit .126 for the match.
‘Iolani 3, Kapolei 0
Senna Roberts-Navarro hit .382 with a match-high 15 kills and three aces and Tessa Onaga had 19 digs and seven assists to lead the top-seeded Raiders (14-1) to a 25-10, 25-13, 25-13 win over the Hurricanes (12-4).
Brooke Naniseni added nine kills and Eryn Hiraki chipped in seven kills and five digs for ‘Iolani, which last won a state title in 2018.
Malinah Purcell-Telefoni had a team-high eight kills to lead Kapolei, which made the quarterfinals for the second time in the last three tries.
