The Tigers celebrate after winning a point over Kalani in a 25-19, 25-23 win Monday night at Student Council Gymnasium. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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_18091152_McKKalani_0305.jpg - Greg Yamamoto | SL

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KAKAAKO — The McKinley girls volleyball team's second win of the season was well-earned.

With a strong defensive effort and a multifaceted attack, the Tigers got back into the win column with a straight set sweep over visiting Kalani Monday night in an OIA East contest at Student Council Gymnasium.

The match was fairly even for most of the night with 18 total ties in two sets, but it was the Tigers who were able to pull away late in both games to even their record at 2-2 on the season.

"We put up a lot of energy tonight," said senior libero Colby Lane, who had a match-high 24 digs in the win. "Our losing streak was unfortunate. We played hard the Kahuku game...Roosevelt game we played hard as well. We fell short at the end on both games, however (tonight) we were able to push back and all of our errors were cleaned up."

McKinley coach Matt Charles said ball control was key in his team's victory.

"The main thing that I try to teach the girls as much as possible is that you need to pay attention to what's going on the other side of the court so that we're able to control the ball," he said. "To me, volleyball is about controlling. The team that controls the ball tends to make the least amount of mistakes. Whoever makes the least amount of mistakes tends to win the majority of the games."

Both teams gave up the same amount of points in terms of combined hitting and service errors, but it was McKinley's serve receive that was the difference. The Tigers had just one return error while the Falcons (1-3) had four of their own, which led to five aces for McKinley.

"The defense was very aggressive tonight," said Lane. "I'm really proud of my teammates for moving to the ball and we got our serve receives high middle. Our coach always tells us to pass it high middle whenever we're struggling. This game we really listened and executed."

The Tigers' aces also came in key moments as McKinley won each set with a point from the service line. Jada Dias led the way with three aces, one of which gave McKinley a key 22-20 lead in the second set.

"We do try our best to serve tough," said Lane. "I'm really proud of my teammates for pushing hard and getting those serves in when it counts."

Seven different players registered a kill for the Tigers, who played 12 of their 13 players on the roster in the win. Dias and Sapioamoa Steffany had four each while Alyssa Martin and Atiyona Mose had three apiece. Stella Martinez and Jillayne Faoa each had two while primary setter Arianna Llamas added 13 assists with a kill and the match-ending ace.

"Our strength is that every player is valuable," Lane said. "When we throw in one player, they fit right in with our rotation and that's the good thing about us. I think we're really strong this year and we're going to get to states."

Maya Hamaoka had eight kills with nine digs and Kelsie Nakashima added 11 assists and 12 digs to lead the Falcons in the loss.