Moanalua MB Amariis Garcia hits through the Waianae block in an HHSAA Division I first round match. Peter Caldwell | SL

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_19102233_WaianaeGVB-50.jpg - Peter Caldwell | SL

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SALT LAKE — Moanalua survived a scare from Waianae to win, 25-20, 24-26, 25-19, 23-25, 15-13 in the opening round of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division I Girls Volleyball State Championships at Na Menehune's gymnasium Monday.

"Kudos to Waianae, they forced us to be uncomfortable. Let's get this out of the way we play better in the next couple of days," Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting said.

Tayli Ikenaga led all players with 22 kills and 14 digs and Tradie DeBina-Bautista added 20 kills, four aces, and 14 digs to lift Na Menehune into the quarterfinal round to face fourth-seed and Maui Interscholastic League champion Kekaulike on Thursday at Moanalua at 5 p.m. followed by top seed Kamehameha and Kapolei. 

"Those two, you can't say enough. There were a couple balls, I don't know how they got to it. The set was bad, but somehow they make something out of nothing. They figured out a way to attack the ball," Cabanting said.

"This was a good bounce back from the Mililani game," Debian-Bautista added.

Johnny Jardine had 17 kills, 14 digs, and an ace, Chevy Wagner-Chun was everywhere on the court with 37 digs, and Gabby Canienero had 37 assists as the Seariders end their season.

Moanalua held a two-point lead but could not shake off Waianae as the scrappy Seariders tied the set at 9, 10, and 12 before taking a 13-12 lead. DeBina-Bautista tied the set at 13 and took the lead on another kill. Na Menehune benefited from a double contact violation to win the match.

"It was the first day of the state tournament, somehow things weren't clicking, we were tentative. I thought we had some good practices, but you never know until you get to the state tournament. Waianae played an amazing, awesome match. The girls figured it out at the very end," Cabanting said.

"We didn't want this to be the last set of the season and we didn't want to go out like that. We were playing for each other and for the sake of the season," DeBina-Bautista said.

Waianae had 95 digs for the match compared to 64 by Moanalua.

"They were digging a ton of balls and we were making a ton of errors. It goes back to the tentativeness, they dig two or three balls, we're tipping the next one instead of attacking and making the play. Waianae was making the play and forcing us into uncomfortable situations," Cabanting said.

Moanalua built a five-point lead in the latter part of the first set and withstood a Waianae rally as it cut it down to two before Amerika Jones and Madison Williams combined for the block to take set one, 25-20.

The Seariders tied the second set four times before Jardine landed two consecutive kills as Waianae won set two, 26-24 to even it at a set apiece.

"We can't play scared. We were in the right place and rather than make the play, we were one step away from making a play on the ball and rather than making the play, the balls were landing on their hand and all other stuff," Cabanting said.

Na Menehune trailed to open the third set until DeBina-Bautista had three consecutive service aces. After Waianae tied the set at 9, Moanalua clung onto a one point lead until Ikenaga and DeBina-Bautista had kills off of Allexis Iramina passes to give Na Menehune breathing room. Aaliyah Allagonez's only ace of the match claimed the third set for Na Menehune.

Waianae jumped out to a 4-0 lead to start the fourth set but Moanalua chipped away as Ikenaga's kill tied the set at 7. Na Menehune's lead was short-lived as momentum shifted toward the Seariders as it led by five three times. Moanalua closed in with a run to bring it within one, 23-22 following Amariis Garcia's solo block and DeBina-Bautista tied the set at 23. A net violation on Moanalua and Shania Kepoo-Caspino's kill forced a fifth set.