Moanalua holds off Wai'anae in four

Erin Perez put down a match-high 15 kills against Wai'anae. Peter Caldwell | Special to SL

Erin Perez slammed a match-high 15 kills and freshman Silerolia Gaogao added 14 kills and two blocks last night to help Moanalua hold off visiting Wai'anae, 25-19, 24-26, 25-11, 25-13 in O'ahu Interscholastic Association girls volleyball playoff action.
Na Menehune, the OIA Red Conference Eastern Division champion, improved to 12-0 in league play and will face East No. 3 seed Kahuku (11-2) in today's 5 p.m. quarterfinal at McKinley. West No. 4 seed Wai'anae fell to 7-5 and will play West runner-up Pearl City (7-5) in a losers' bracket game at 5 p.m. at Radford.
"Kahuku is big and athletic, and their block is really solid," Moanalua coach Tommy Lake said. "They're always dangerous late in the season, because that's when their skills catches up with their athleticism. It'll be a tough match."
Na Menehune got a tough first couple sets last night from a scrappy Wai'anae team. In Game 1, Moanalua jumped out to leads of 8-3, 11-5 and 16-11, but the Seariders wouldn't quite go away and still was as close as 19-16 before Na Menehune finally pulled away.
Moanalua also led the second set, 16-11, but Wai'anae battled back and eventually tied it at 16-16 on a kill by Kaitlynn Ka'aha'aina.
Na Menehune appeared to regain control after an ace by Kassie-Ann Kiriu-Dela Cruz put them up, 21-17, but the Seariders fought back again and eventually tied it at 24-24 on Fa'asopo Saromines' ace and then even the match after kills by Ka'aha'aina and Mary Keaulana-Riotutar.
"I thought Wai'anae out-energized us in the first two sets and they took some big swings," Lake said. "Even when we took a big lead, they weren't done and kept coming back. But I thought that was good for us, we needed that."
Moanalua finally took control for good in Game 3, jumping out to an 11-2 lead and not looking back. The fourth set was a little tighter at the beginning but a 5-0 run put Na Menehune ahead, 13-7, and the Seariders could not get closer than four points the rest of the way.
Daisge Smith finished with eight kills and Katiana Ponce added four kills, one block and two aces for Moanalua. Ka'aha'aina led Wai'anae with 11 kills and one block, Saromines added five kills and the ace and Tiffany Mapusaga contributed four kills, three blocks and two aces.