Brandon Ching | ScoringLive
October 30, 2015, 10:39pm
Kamehameha sweeps Moanalua to return to title game
Kamehameha's Kayla Afoa led the way with 18 kills and 8 digs in the Warriors' straight set win over Moanalua. Peter Caldwell | SLKamehameha-Kapalama swept second-seeded Moanalua, 25-10, 25-10, 25-17 in the nightcap of the semifinals of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association/New City Nissan Volleyball Championships at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium.
The Warriors will face Iolani in a rematch of the 2007 state championship game at Neil S. Blaisdell Arena on Saturday night. Kamehameha looks to avenge last year's loss as they seek their 20th overall state championship.
"We have to play our game and play together. It motivates us and no one likes to feel that way like we did last year," said Afoa.
"I don't think we played our best game yet and we can't wait for tomorrow. Iolani is a great team with great players and coach Kainoa and his staff do a good job, and we're happy to be back in the final match," said Kamehameha coach Chris Blake.
Kayla Afoa led the team with 18 kills, Lexis Akeo had 33 assists, Kyra Hanawahine led the team in digs with 14. Shiloh Peleras had five block assists.
"Lexis was distributing well and Brooke was connecting and our passes were good," said Afoa.
The Warriors had four of their 10 service aces in the first set. Brooke Kaawa led the team with six aces.
Kamehameha started off hot in all three sets and later jumped out to double digit leads and never looked back. In the first set, the Warriors went on a 7-0 run to set the tone.
"We talked about what we needed to do to control our side and we put a lot of pressure on them with our serve. It came down to execution in the beginning part of the match," said Blake.
In the second set, the Na Menehune and Warriors traded points as Moanalua trailed, 7-6. The Warriors outscored Moanalua, 18-4 to win set two.
"In set two they were trading with us, but when Brooke went back to serve we got a nice run with her and we were able to separate," said Blake.
Kamehameha jumped out to a 6-0 start and held off a late Moanalua rally in the third set to complete the sweep.
Moanalua's Jojo Kruize led the team with 13 kills and Lindsey Ng led the team with 10 digs.
Moanalua will play Kahuku for third place at 3:30 p.m.
