Girls Volleyball
Farrington sweeps past Roosevelt in OIA girls volleyball


 



KALIHI — The Farrington girls volleyball team picked up Tuesday night where they left off last season.

Led by Savannah Kahakai's seven kills, the Governors swept past Roosevelt, 25-18 and 25-17, in the Oahu Interscholastic Association opener for both teams.

Farrington (1-0), which moved up to the Red (Division I) Conference after winning the OIA White (Division II) crown and a third-place state finish last year, made quick work of the visiting Rough Riders (0-1). Roosevelt dropped to the White Conference after a sixth-place finish in the Red East in 2012. The match, which took place before about 250 fans at the Govs' Richard Kitamura Gymnasium, took just over an hour to complete.

"We did OK, we started off pretty slow and then we kind of started getting into a rhythm, so it was a nice first win," Farrington coach Reagan Agena said. "I was a little worried in the beginning with first-game jitters. We have a bunch of kids returning from last year's squad and they should know what it's like and the kids that are filling in, they've gone through the same thing before, too. It's just a matter of keeping them focused and making sure that they stay within the game plan."

Roosevelt held a slim 11-9 lead early in game one, forcing Agena to call his first timeout. His team responded with a 7-5 run to force a tie at 16. The run included four straight Farrington points off Roosevelt errors. The Rough Riders committed 12 errors in game one and 23 for the match.

Following a Roosevelt timeout, Farrington took the lead for good on Kahakai's second kill of the game. After a double-contact violation on the Rough Riders, Kahakai combined with Jeniva Toilolo on a block to give the Govs a 19-16 lead. Kahakai extended her the lead to 20-16 on another kill, but back-to-back Farrington errors pulled Roosevelt to within two. However, the Govs scored the next five points, capped by Kahakai's ace for the 24th point and a Toilolo kill on game point. Farrington closed out the first game on a 13-2 run.

Roosevelt led for much of the early part of the second game, but could not separate by more than two points. Alaia Tam's solo block on a backrow Farrington attack gave her the Rough Riders an 11-9 lead. However, Penina Faumui answered for Farrington with a kill that ignited an 8-2 run that turned a two-point deficit into a four-point advantage.

"Game two we talked about playing with a sense of urgency and finishing the game," Agena said. "Roosevelt is a tough squad, they did push us and they gave us a gut check that we needed to refocus (in game two)."

The Rough Riders committed four straight errors, including a rotation violation, to extend Farrington's lead to 21-14. Roosevelt pulled to within 23-17 on a kill by Kaitlin Hazama, by Lago Manu closed out the match with consecutive kills from the left side.

Hazama had five kills for Roosevelt, as did Ashelyn Jones, who also was in on two blocks and had an ace. The Rough Riders host Kalani Thursday.

Kahakai, a senior outside hitter/middle blocker, also had two blocks for the match. She earned First Team All-OIA East honors a season ago after transferring from Maryknoll after her sophomore season.

"She works hard all the time — she just doesn't stop," Agena said of Kahakai, who has verbally committed to the University of Hawaii. "She listens to instruction, follows instruction and I can't be happier that she's here."

Skyler Taumua had four kills, Faumua added three kills with an ace and Toilolo pitched in three kills with three blocks for Govs, who committed just 13 errors for the match.

Farrington visits McKinley in its next game Thursday at Student Council Gymnasium. 



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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