Roosevelt tops Leilehua to force winner-take-all playoff

Kaitlin Hazama attempts to put a kill down against Leilehua. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Jasmine Fujimoto spiked nine kills and served one ace, Alida Holt added seven kills, three blocks and two aces and Kyanna Guieb contributed seven kills and three aces last night as Roosevelt edged Leilehua in four sets, 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-23, to force rematch tomorrow for the OIA White Conference girls volleyball championship.

The winner-take-all match is set for 3 p.m. at McKinley, with the OIA Red title match to follow.

The Mules (7-6 in league play) won the tight first set only after sophomore Kayla Kilaulani's kill broke a 23-23 tie and middle blocker Alea Hamm finished it by winning a joust. Leilehua jumped out to a 5-2 lead in Game 2, but Holt had three kills to help the Rough Riders (10-6) tie it at 7-7 and two straight aces by Melissa Tom put Roosevelt ahead for good at 10-9.
A 7-1 run later pushed the lead to 21-14, but the Mules eventually closed it to 23-21 before a kill by Brandi DeLeon and Kaydee Yukawa's ace tied the match at 1-1.
Holt had a kill and two blocks to spark a 7-1 run in the third set to put the Rough Riders up, 13-8, and they later led 19-11 before Hamm notched a kill and block to help tie it at 23-23.
Yukawa then landed a kill and a Leilehua error gave Roosevelt a 2-1 match advantage.
The Mules took leads of 6-2, 10-4 and 17-10 in Game 4 before the Rough Riders scratched their way back and eventually tied it at 22-22 after consecutive Leilehua hitting errors. Another error made it 23-22, and Roosevelt then ended it with kills by Taylor Bradley and Holt.
Kaitlin Hazama added six kills and DeLeon finished with five kills for the Rough Riders. Hamm led the Mules with 11 kills, Ashlee Vaoifi added seven kills and four aces and Kilaulani finished with six kills.