Moanalua tops Kaiser in straight sets to win East

Moanalua OH Erin Perez puts down a kill attempt against Kaiser. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Moanalua turned last night's girls volleyball showdown between O'ahu Interscholastic Association unbeatens into a quick sweep of Kaiser, 25-16, 25-13.

Na Menehune finished the regular season at 10-0 and will be the OIA Eastern Division's No. 1 seed entering next week's league playoffs. The Cougars (9-1) will be the East's No. 2 seed.

Last night's match, played before a Senior Night crowd of about 800 at Moanalua, started out close but Na Menehune took control behind seven straight service points -- including two aces -- by Ashley Johnson that put Moanalua up, 14-6.

Kaiser finally broke the string with a kill by Annika Rigterink, but the Cougars could not get closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Na Menehune jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the second set, again behind some tough serving. Kaiser got as close as 12-8, but Moanalua responded with an 8-1 run to make it 20-9 and won going away.

"Our girls played with a lot of energy tonight," Na Menehune coach Tommy Lake said. "Usually we're more of a defense/counter-punch type of team, but we're not as small as we were last year, so that helps quite a bit. And AJ (Johnson) is a defensive specialist, but her serve was huge tonight and that's what got us that separation in the first set. She did a super good job."

Cougars coach Ernest Noborikawa said his team's problems with serve-receive proved costly.

"Our passing broke down completely," Noborikawa said. "Moanalua is well-balanced, and they run a quick offense. We played in this same kind of atmosphere at Kahuku (and won, 27-25, 25-20), so I thought we'd be ready. But Moanalua is tough no matter where you play them."

Erin Perez led Na Menehune with five kills, Katiana Ponce added three kills and four aces and Analise Austin contributed three kills and two blocks.

Courtney Phillips led Kaiser with three kills and Rigterink and Haley Durham each added two kills.