Kahuku powers past Pearl City, 25-19, 24-26, 25-10, 25-18

Kahuku MB Tyra Williams attempts to put a kill attempt past the block of Pearl City's Taylor Inong. Peter Caldwell | Special to SL

Tyra Williams spiked 11 kills and Tatiana Brown added 10 kills and two of Kahuku's 13 aces last night as the Red Raiders powered past Pearl City, 25-19, 24-26, 25-10, 25-18 in the second round of the O'ahu Interscholastic Association girls volleyball playoffs at Moanalua.
Kahuku, the OIA Red Conference Eastern Division's No. 3 seed, improved to 11-2 in league play and will face East champ Moanalua (13-0) in today's 5 p.m. quarterfinal at McKinley. Pearl City, the West runner-up, fell to 7-4 and will play West No. 4 seed Wai'anae (7-5) in a 5 p.m. losers' bracket match at Radford under the tournament's modified double-elimination format.
The Chargers stayed close with Kahuku in the first two sets last night, but appeared to wear down as the match progressed against the Red Raiders' constant pounding.
"When our serving and passing was on, we did well, and in that third set almost all of our serves and passes went where we wanted them to," said Kahuku coach Kaniela Kalama. "In the last half hour of practice -- when the girls are tired -- that's when we push them the most, so maybe that's why they're able to finish strong. We try to stress a sense of urgency, to play every ball as if it's the last ball."
The first set was tied at 18-18 before the Red Raiders finished with a 7-1 run. Pearl City led the second set, 16-11, before Kahuku clawed its way back and eventually tied it at 22-22. It was tied again at 24-24, before Brandee-Gail Chun's kill and Courtney Mersberg's kill through a block evened the match at one game apiece.
The third set was tied early at 4-4 but the Red Raiders blitzed their way to a 10-0 run to make it 14-4 and the Chargers could not get closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Kahuku broke away and made a similar run in Game 4, as Pati Anae had a block and a kill to spark a 6-0 run that broke a 5-5 tie.
Pearl City got as close as 13-9, 20-16 and 22-18, but a serving error and kills by Williams and Sinamoni Tonga ended it.
"They served tough, and we couldn't adjust," Chargers coach Kory Toyozaki said.
Tonga finished with nine kills, one block and four aces and Anae added nine kills, five blocks and a pair of aces.
Chun led Pearl City with eight kills and two aces, Chun added six kills and Tiari-Marie Walker contributed five kills and two blocks.