Farrington rolls past Kailua, into OIA White title game

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KAT WADE
Kat Wade / special to the Star-Advertiser Jeneva Toilolo, above, slapped the final point of the second set past Shaeanijanee Naihe of Kailua. Below, Toilolo bent backwards to make a point.

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KAT WADE
2012 OCTOBER 23 _ SPT GIRLS VOLLEYBALL - The Lady Governors #6 Jeneva Toilolo bends backwards to make a point when the Farrington Governors took on the visiting Kailua Surf Riders in the Division II tournament on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at Farrington High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. photo by Kat Wade Special to the Honolulu Star

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There might be a team out there that the No. 7 Farrington girls’ volleyball team can’t beat, but it certainly isn’t in the OIA White.

The Governors swept Kailua 25-18, 25-15, 25-15 in the OIA White playoffs at Farrington on Tuesday night, leaving them with two chances to earn one win for its first OIA championship since 2007.

Farrington improved to 6-0 against OIA White teams with its second victory over the Surfriders, all of them sweeps. The Govs also know that unless something freaky happens and they get a home game in the state tournament, they will have gone the entire season unbeaten in their gym.

"Everyone is beatable," Farrington coach Reagan Agena said. "Anything can happen, but we are doing well and I don’t think we have hit our stride yet. This is going to be a very missed place. As our record shows we have done well here."

The Governors benefited from a mishap in warm-ups that cost Kailua middle blocker Patria Vaimoana. Vaimoana wanted to play through an injured right knee, but sprained her ankle before the match and didn’t get in until late in the third set and wore a pained expression on her face when she tried to jump. The Governors ran unopposed without her on the floor, getting 12 kills from Savannah Kahakai and 11 from Trinity Alualu. The Governors had kills or aces on 47 of their 75 points.

"I think we played good," Kahakai said. "We could have done better, but we stayed up and finished it, so that is good. We have a lot to improve, though."

Farrington took the first set, but it wasn’t easy. The Governors were hit with a loud Kailua crowd and allowed the Surfriders to ride that momentum to a 17-all tie. Farrington’s Jessica Vele took the crowd out of it, though, going on a seven-point serving run to make it 24-18. A service error by Kailua’s Shaeanijanee Naihe ended it.

The Governors controlled the second set throughout, running up a 12-point lead at one point. Kailua’s Keala Kaio-Perez, who led the team with eight kills, stood up to the bigger Farrington squad with five kills at the net, but six kills from Kahakai were too much for the Surfriders to overcome. The third set was merely a cat-and-mouse game for the Governors, as they built a 17-7 lead and held it. Five players had multiple kills for the Govs in the set, which ended mercifully on a service error by Naihe.

"We came across them in the regular season," Kailua coach Mani Taufa‘asau said. "We knew what we were up against; they are a good team."

After a successful run through Waialua and West top seed Radford to begin the tournament, Kailua moves to the loser’s bracket to play Kaimuki today at Farrington. The Bulldogs shocked Radford 25-18, 21-25, 15-7 in an earlier match on Tuesday.

Farrington will get its first chance to wrap up the OIA White title on Thursday at McKinley against the winner of that match. Should Farrington lose, it would get another shot against the same team on Saturday.