Hawaii Baptist players celebrate after sweeping Le Jardin to win the school's fourth state title in girls volleyball. Greg Yamamoto | SL

×

11011557_HBA_9767.jpg - Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase this image
4x5 5x7 8x10 image download

Hawaii Baptist claimed its fourth state title and first since 2009 with a 25-17, 25-23, 25-16 win over Le Jardin at the Neal Blaisdell Center Saturday night.

Setter Ally Wada was the catalyst in the Eagles' straight set victory in the New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II championship game. The 5-foot-8 sophomore finished with 37 assists, 14 digs and four aces, and was named the tourney's most outstanding player.

"She did incredible," said Hawaii Baptist coach Myles Shoji. "She's probably one of the better setters in the state. Her location was excellent and I'm happy for her. She has great potential in the sport."

Keri Lum and Kallie Langford got most of the touches and had 18 and 15 kills respectively. Brienna Nishimura chipped in eight more from the right side and Britney O'Donnell manned the middle for three kills. 

The multifaceted attack helped limit the effectiveness of the Bulldogs' double block. Le Jardin got most of its seven total blocks early in the match, but used a single block down the stretch to leave another player in coverage. 

"It was good to get everyone involved because we could have an attacked from the outside, middle or opposite so it was hard for the other team to block," said Wada.

The Eagles, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II champ and third-seeded team in the tourney, also did a solid job defensively and held the Bulldogs to a .077 hitting percentage for the match. The combination of libero Kailey Young (29 digs) and freshman Naiya Fujikawa (17 digs) in the back row delivered solid passes all night for Wada to operate with. 

"They just played such great defense tonight, said Le Jardin coach Lee Lamb. "They generated so many opportunities off of that. In the regular season when we faced them it wasn't like that. They were just pursuing and touching everything and I think that kind of got to us a little bit." 

Hawaii Baptist was able to pull away late in the first and third sets, but faced trouble in the second frame. The Eagles had a 22-10 lead in set two before giving up a 12-1 run to make the score 23-22. Langford and Kassidy Naone traded kills before a long Le Jardin serve ended game two.

"We've been in tight matches the whole year so I told the girls there's no need to feel any kind of anxiety," said Shoji. "Just the play the point for what it is."

The Bulldogs maintained momentum into the third set and took early leads of 2-0 and 6-4. Hawaii Baptist was able to take the lead for good, 7-6, after a Lum kill, two Le Jardin attack errors. The Eagles gradually built their lead from that point on and went on to win the match in one hour and 29 minutes.

Naone had 13 kills in the loss for Le Jardin, who was making its first state tournament appearance. The Bulldogs advanced into the title game thanks to a four-set win over two-time defending Division II champion Konawaena in the quarterfinals.