Kapolei's Michelyn Pililaau finished with 10 kills and 1 block in the Hurricanes' win. CJ Caraang | SL

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Kapolei's Seleni Bartley puts down a kill attempt past the Kaiser block. The Hurricanes swept past the Cougars to reach the OIA Division I quarterfinals. CJ Caraang | SL

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KAPOLEI — The Kapolei Hurricanes used a balanced attack to sweep Kaiser in the first round of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I playoffs Wednesday night.

Kapolei, the Western Division's third seed, saw seven players register kills in its 25-18, 25-15, 25-14 win over the Cougars. The Hurricanes (8-3) move on to face Kahuku (10-1) in the quarterfinals for the second straight year.

Kaiser's season is over with a 4-8 mark.

Sophomore middle blocker Michelyn Pililaau took advantage of a handful overpasses and used timely tips to lead the team with 10 kills. Seleni Bartley and Jayleen Abregana commanded the outsides and had nine kills each. Also with kills were Aneal Lee-Pakaki (five), Kaile Tuisamatatele (two), Taylor Bell (two) and Shayze Wessel.

Freshmen setters Olivia Transfiguration and Tiffany Mook split time at the setter position and combined for 29 assists.

"They have a pretty balanced attack," said Kaiser coach Ernest Noborikawa. "The setters do a really good job setting the offense, which makes it hard to defend their attack."

The Hurricanes also served well and racked up 10 aces. Abregana led the way with five.

"Our coaches would give us numbers where to serve," said Abregana, who also had 10 digs and an assist. "We just followed and tried to maintain our consistency in that area."

Chantelle Fiso-Naki led the Cougars in the loss with a game-high 12 kills.

Kapolei was in control for most of the night and never trailed, but had a slow start in the opening set.

"We had some trouble on defense early on that caused us to struggle a little bit and didn't allow us to run our offense much in the first set," said Kapolei coach Naidah Gamurot.

After Kaiser tied the score 7-all on a service error in the first set, Kapolei went on a 11-3 run to take a commanding 18-10 lead. This helped the Hurricanes stave off a late rally by Kaiser in set one.

The second set was a similar story. Both teams traded points early on in set two and saw the Hurricanes clinging on to a 9-8 lead before a 12-2 run gave them a 21-10 lead. Kapolei won the set, 25-15.

Kapolei found its groove in the third set and jumped out to a 10-1 lead. Kaiser strung together a handful of points to make it 11-4, but never got closer as the Hurricanes dominated the match the rest of the way.

First serve between Kapolei and Kahuku is slated for 5:30 p.m. at Mililani Thursday.

Kalani sweeps Campbell to advance

The Kalani Falcons defeated Campbell in straight sets, 25-19, 25-13, 25-19, before Kapolei's contest with Kaiser.

Kalani (7-5) will face Mililani, the top-seeded team from the Western Division, in the quarterfinals. 

Jazlyn Bulatao and Rika Okino had 13 and 11 kills respectively to lead the Falcons. Okino also had 15 digs and five aces for a double-double performance.

AddieLynn Laupola had nine kills to lead the Sabers (4-7). Keisha Schutte and Shayla Limatoc chipped in seven kills each.