Waimea rallies past Radford in D2 quarterfinal Wednesday

Waimea's Mariyah Oliver had 18 kills against Radford. Evan Asato | SL

Mariyah Oliver recorded a match-high 18 kills and Lei Alejandro added 17 kills to help Waimea rally past Radford in five sets in a quarterfinal match of the New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II Girls Volleyball State Championships Wednesday night. The scores were 25-17, 22-25, 29-31, 25-14 and 15-11.

The Menehunes, who won the Kauai Interscholastic Federation, improved to 14-2 with the win and moved on to face Konawaena in a 7 p.m. semifinal at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium Thursday. Radford, the Oahu Interscholastic Association-titlist fell to 8-8. The Rams were one of three seeded teams to fall Wednesday. No. 1-seed University High lost in four sets to Konawaena and No. 2-seed Seabury Hall lost in five sets to defending champion Saint Francis.

"It took a lot (to beat Radford)," Waimea coach Chad Delanoza said. "We go unnoticed, we're pretty unknown, but it just took a lot for us to play a good team match against a good Radford team. A lot of credit to them, they kind of gave us a lot of problems in the second and third games, but our girls found a way to stay focused and sticked with what we've been working on and not get rattled, so credit to the girls tonight."

Waimea won the opening set before Radford tied it at one game-apiece. The Rams won a marathon third set by a score of 31-29, but the Menehunes won the next two games to come from behind to win.

"It's never over and it's always hard to make the kids realize that, but that third game just took a lot out of their sails," Delanoza said. "They showed some resiliency playing in that fourth game and then it just kind of gave us the momentum going into the fifth game. They stuck together, they hung together and that's what gave us this win."

Radford scored the first point of the fifth set, but Waimea went on an 8-0 run to take a commanding lead. The Rams pulled to within 12-11 following three consecutive errors by the Menehunes, but Waimea scored the final three points on a Alejandro kill and back-to-back blocks by Kawena Warren, who combined with Bailey San Agustin on match point to turn back Radford. Alejandro had three kills and Warren had three blocks in the game five.

"We tell the kids that it's too late to do things at the game — we need to do it at practice and our coaches just emphasize the little things during the game: play defense, pass the ball, do your responsibilities and they stuck to it," Delanoza said.

Breayna Webster had 14 kills, Arianna Feleti 12 and Noel Phillips 11 to lead Radford, who will play University High in a 5 p.m. fifth-place semifinal Thursday at Kaimuki. The other fifth-place semifinal will follow and feature Roosevelt playing Seabury Hall.

Meanwhile, Konawaena and Waimea will follow a 5 p.m. semifinal between Saint Francis and Hawaii Prep.

"That sounds pretty good right now," Delanoza said of a Konawaena-Waimea matchup. "The outer island teams are slowly getting recognized and (the KIF) is only so small, but as the years go, our league is only going to get better. Konawaena-Waimea, I'll take it anyday."

Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].