OIA Girls Volleyball
Kalani rallies past Anuenue, 25-14, 18-25, 15-8


  



Wed, Sep 14, 2016 @ Kalani [ 7:30 pm ]


FINAL  1   2   3   4   5      
ANUE (5-8) 14 25 8 - - 1
KLNI (6-6) 25 18 15 - - 2
Kill: K. Krug (ANUE) 13 kills

It is a not-the-norm schedule for Kalani (3-1) this week, three games in four days, as teams make up postponed contests due to the visit of President Barack Obama on Aug 31.

And after a three set win on the road against Kaiser on Monday, the last thing the Falcons needed was to repeat another full state of games Wednesday evening at home against Anuenue (1-3).

The bad news, yet another three-set adventure for the Falcons.

The good news, another victory for the Falcons,  25-14, 18-25, 15-8.

Despite the three-game winning streak the Falcons currently are riding, head coach Nina Waialae would have preferred to have played less than six sets with a matchup with Farrington looming Thursday.

"We have a game tommorrow, so we wanted to try and give our girls some rest since we don't normally plays two nights in a row," said Waialae.

Freshman setter Kelsie Nakashima ran the Falcons' offense with aplomb, notching a game-high 20 assists to go along with two aces and 10 digs, and got key contributions from seniors Ofeira Petaia (four kills, three total blocks), Charity Lopes (6 kills, 11 digs) and Jazlyn Bulatao (6 kills) in the win.

"She's (Kelsie's) definitely doing a good job, she does spread our sets a lot more than typical. We are only four games, so there's still a lot more we need to work on as far as connection between our middles and her," said Waialae. :But (she's) very techinically sound, we're just trying to build her leadership, vocal, take charge mentality."

The opening set saw the Falcons extend to an early 8-3 advantage on a Charity Lopes kill, but Na Koa clawed back to within three points on a Moana Vaughan-Darval kill at 12-9.

Jazlyn Bulatao's kill off an assist from Nakashima extended the lead to 18-12, part of a 8-2 scoring run capped off by a Cameron Woods kill that ended the first set 25-14.

Kalani opted to rest a few starters in set two, but it was the tough serving of Vaughn-Darval that sparked Na Koa in the opening moments of the set, with three of her game-high four aces coming in a single service rotation to spot Anuenue a 6-1 lead.

The tough serving Vaughn-Darval, who also had a game-high 23 digs, was complemented by the power-hitting Kamalei Krug, who slammed down her third kill of the set to push the Na Koa lead to 12-5, forcing Kalani to call for time.

In the waning moments of set two, a Petaia kill pulled the Falcons to within four points at 22-18, but Anuenue notched the final three points in the second to force a deciding third set.

Set three was all Kalani, with back-to-back kills from Bulatao and then Petaia followed up by a Nakashima ace to spot the Falcons an early 5-1 advantage.

"Our coach told us just to reset and pick up the energy a bit more," said Nakashima of set three. "We were really down in the second set, but we didn't want it to effect our play in the third."

Krug, who finished with a game-high 13 kills, put down six in the third set alone, got Anuenue to within two points at 5-3, but Na Koa just didn't have any answers for the Falcons' balance offensively.

Three hitters notched a trio of kills in the final set, Petaia, Bulatao, and junior Kylee Aiwohi, who slammed down back-to-back-to-back kills to get the Falcons to match point.



Reach Brien Ing at [email protected].




Show your support

Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ScoringLive continue its mission to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage of high school sports in the state of Hawaii and beyond.

Please consider making a contribution today.

ADVERTISEMENT


IMAGE GALLERY



MORE STORIES

Waialua stuns Kailua in five sets to win first-ever OIA D2 crown

The Bulldogs dropped the first two sets and rallied for the next three to stun the Surfriders for their...

Moanalua fends off Mililani in 5 for fifth straight OIA boys volleyball title

Ezekiel Sablan put down 20 kills, Jaycen Bush tallied 14 and D'Angelo Ross added 13 to lead Na Menehune...

Punahou needs extra innings to top Maryknoll, keep season alive

Buffanblu scored five big runs in to break a 2-2 in the top of the ninth then held off a Spartans' rally...

Higashionna leading the charge for Pearl City; Bautista's emergence a boon for Mililani

The junior second baseman batted 9 for 15 in four OIA tournament games for the Chargers last week, while...

Trojans sweep past Knights, Na Menehune cruise by Sabers to set-up familiar OIA final

Wednesday's OIA Division I championship will be a rematch of the last two title games; Moanalua will...

Aiea downs Radford to claim first OIA D2 title since 2017

Na Alii led early and rapped out 13 total hits to pull away from the Rams to clinch their first OIA Division...