No. 10 Damien only knows one speed — and that’s full throttle.
The Monarchs’ up-tempo offense lit up Kaimuki’s gym to topple undefeated Seabury Hall 25-15, 25-19, 25-18 in the Division II quarterfinals of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championships on Thursday. Outside hitter Shelby Capllonch hammered 17 kills, hit .433 and recorded three aces for the Monarchs (13-6).
“We had very little film of them, so we just went off of what was on YouTube,” said third-year Damien coach Don Faumuina. “Because we didn’t know Seabury, we wanted to show them what we had in terms of offense and just keep going at them and showing them a different tempo.”
When asked if his young squad had any nerves playing an unfamiliar and undefeated team, Faumuina said that his girls are always nervous.
“I tell them nervous is a good thing.,” he said. “It keeps us on our toes. I don’t want them to be comfortable. I always want them to be uncomfortable, but ready to play at any time.”
The Monarchs looked ready to play and came out with a 5-0 run to start the match. Damien led by as many as 12 points in the first set, when Capllonch hammered a pipe set that clipped the back line for a 22-10 lead. The 5-foot-8 junior blasted ball after ball at the Spartans defenders, including multiple rips shanked into the ceiling. Even when Seabury Hall’s diggers were in the right position, the velocity of Capllonch’s attacks was too much to handle.
Similar to Set 1, the Monarchs earned a 6-1 lead to force an early Spartans timeout. Although each squad strung together five- and six-point runs, Damien continued to have the edge. No. 2-seeded Seabury Hall committed six service errors in the set, the same number of points it fell short by.
The third set appeared to be more competitive, but once again the Monarchs pulled away, thanks to their fiery offense and five more Seabury Hall service errors. Despite trailing 22-12, the Spartans continued to battle and ran off five straight points to force Damien’s first timeout. Back-to-back kills by freshman Heavenly Campbell gave the Monarchs aloha ball, and Ilana Sagapolutele hammered her eighth kill from the middle to close the match.
Senior outside hitter Erica Pilotin led the Spartans (14-1) with 15 kills, one year after tearing her ACL and MCL.
“Granted, the competition (on Maui) is different than Oahu, but we still expected to come out here and do some of the things that didn’t involve the other team, like serving and passing,” Seabury Hall coach Scott Zucco said. “We kind of got it going a little bit there at the end, but with a tough team like Damien, you really don’t get that luxury of having a slow start.”
After falling to Le Jardin in last year’s Division II semifinals, the Monarchs are ready to face league rival Hawaii Baptist in tomorrow’s semifinals. Damien split with the Eagles in league play, but won the most recent encounter in four sets. Senior setter and tempo leader Hali‘amaka Gora, who finished with 19 assists in Thursday’s win, said this year’s squad has stronger chemistry because of their positive energy and the number of returnees.
“I think it’s going to be a really good game, because we definitely improved from the last time we played them, and I’m sure they improved too, but I think we got this,” she said.
The first serve will take place at 7 p.m. at St. Francis.
Hawaii Baptist 3, Konawaena 0
The unseeded Eagles swept the No. 3-seeded Wildcats 25-22, 27-25, 25-21. Senior outside hitter Kallie Langford led Hawaii Baptist (12-4) with 24 kills, while two-time Fab 15 selection Ally Wada dished out 35 assists.
McKayla Ventura and Cherilyn Molina led the Wildcats (9-10) with eight kills each.
The Eagles held an 8-point advantage in the third set at 14-6, with Langford’s third kill of the set. Konawaena rallied with six consecutive points to close the gap to 14-12, forcing an HBA timeout. The Wildcats tied it at 17 on Riyana Werny’s attack into the net, but the Eagles refused to give up the set. With Wada behind the service line, HBA racked up six straight points, including an ace, to secure the win.
HBA will face No. 10 Damien in its fourth consecutive Division II state semifinal match.
Nanakuli 3, Waimea 2
Janae Odom exploded for 20 kills on 84 swings and the Golden Hawks beat the Menehunes 23-25, 25-21, 13-25, 27-25, 15-13.
Kanani Diamond and ShayAnn Hoojuli each had eight kills for the OIA D-II champions and Cheylah-Marie Marfil dished out 41 assists.
Gabrielle Peleras led Waimea with 26 kills on 68 swings.
Le Jardin 3, Sacred Hearts 0
Natalie Piper threw down 18 kills with only two errors and the ILH D-II champion Bulldogs swept the Lancers 25-16, 25-21, 25-16.
Piper did her damage on 33 swings and also had seven digs.
Julia Fisher had 10 kills for Le Jardin and Nive Tuileta dished out 33 assists.
Tate Lulu led Sacred Hearts with 11 kills, but had 11 errors to go with them.
