Pearl City sweeps Mililani, claims Red West


Pearl City took sole possession of first place in the OIA Red West with a sweep of Mililani. Greg Yamamoto | SL
PEARL CITY - With a near-capacity senior night crowd on hand, Pearl City swept visiting Mililani, 25-14 and 25-23 Thursday night in a winner-take-all match for the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red West Conference title.

The Chargers completed the regular season with an 11-1 mark and will be the top seed from West in next week's OIA Red Division Tournament. The Trojans fell to 10-2 - both losses coming against Pearl City - and will be West no. 2. Both teams will have a first-round bye in the double-elimination tourney.

Senior outside hitter Keani Passi put down a match-high 15 kills with two blocks to lead the Chargers. Mililani was led by freshman Jordyn Keamo, who had seven kills and six aces.

Pearl City was fueled by a rowdy crowd of about 350 mostly-home fans and its seven seniors to complete the season sweep of Mililani. The Chargers won by a score of 25-18, 25-16 at the Trojans' home gym on Sept. 9.

The Chargers outside hitters consistently beat the Trojan blockers to the outsides. Setter Marie Fujii kept her opposition guessing while her hitters finished most of their chances against mostly one - or even no - blocker(s).

The teams were tied at 5 early in the opening set when Pearl City went on a 9-2 run - including four straight points - to take a 13-7 lead. Mililani forced a timeout after a Keamo tip kill cut the lead to 15-12, but Pearl City closed out the set with an 8-0 run, which was made up of Passi kills and five Trojan errors.

"We told them to keep pushing and extend that gap between us," Chargers' coach Stephanie Shigemasa said. "That really helped to give us some confidence for the rest of the match."

Mililani got four straight service aces from Keamo to go ahead 7-4 in set 2, but committed consecutive errors to tie it at 12 and Pearl City quickly pulled ahead with three straight points. The teams were tied at 20, 21 and 22 before the Chargers took a 24-22 lead. Passi, a 5-9 senior outside hitter, went between blockers for Pearl City's 23rd point before putting down her 15th and final kill of the match to give her team match point. After a Keamo kill made it 24-23, Passi blocked a Mililani attack to close it out.

"It's been a while (since Pearl City has won a divisional title), so I'm very excited for the girls," Shigemasa said. "It was senior night so it was a tough one emotionally to be able to keep focused on the game."

Despite the straight-sets loss, Mililani coach Val Crabbe expressed mostly satisfaction in her team's performance against the Chargers, whose only loss was a three-set home match against Kapolei.

"For the most part, we're fairly oversized in terms of height. We knew what rotations would be weak, but they were still able to score points in them," she said. "When we're try to take the line from the hitters, they would go cross court. They're a good team and they're definitely playing together now for a while."


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].