Waipahu's Frank Vili puts up a kill attempt from the left side in a OIA D1 quarterfinal match against Kaiser. Steve Erler | SL

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MILILANI — A few late season acquisitions made Waipahu's trip back to Mililani a lot more enjoyable the second time around.

The Marauders virtually used the same seven-man rotation to sweep Kaiser, 25-19, 25-19, 25-20, in the quarterfinals of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I playoffs at the Trojans' gymnasium Thursday night.

Waipahu struggled with consistency throughout the regular season, but the addition of freshman Frank Vili and 6-foot-2 sophomore Ofu Ofoe from the junior varsity helped fill the missing holes that the Marauders' lineup lacked early in the year.

The new lineup has been successful in the first two matches of the postseason. The Marauders swept McKinley in the first round of the playoffs and then took care of the Cougars, the second-seeded team from the OIA East, in straight sets to punch their ticket into the Division I state tournament.

"The boys have been working hard, they have goals, this was just one more step to getting there," said Waipahu coach Julna Pasicaran. "The new additions kind of filled the gap. Two of them were in my starting lineup so that fills up the missing void from the season."

Waipahu's last visit to the Mililani gymnasium saw the Marauders fall in straight sets to the Trojans on a statewide broadcast for their first loss of the season. Thursday's match against Kaiser, which was also televised, showed how much the Marauders have grown since then, said senior Jeminae Solomua.

"I think after that Mililani game on TV, it really pushed us to work a lot harder to get our errors a lot lower, our kills at a higher percentage, and everything as well."

Speaking of the Trojans, that's the Marauders' next opponent in the Division I semifinals. Waipahu will have a chance to avenge its regular season loss when the two teams face off next Tuesday at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium in the second semifinal match.

"We're ready, thats the team we're preparing for," said Solomua.

Solomua led the way in Waipahu's win over Kaiser with a double-double of 14 kills and 12 digs, but he didn't have to do it alone. With Nofoalii Saolotoga distributing sets all across the net, the Cougars' defense was left guessing for most of the night.

"Throughout this whole week of practice we learned that Kaiser had a lot of blocks all across the net, so we just tried to use as much as we can all around the net on our side," said Solomua. "I think Nofo did a great job distributing."

Vili had seven kills, Bradley Tacata added six kills, three aces and nine digs, and Ken Bactot chipped in four more kills to round out the pin attackers for Waipahu.

Saolotaga, who transferred to Waipahu from American Samoa, also provided a spark offensively with a handful of overpass kills and provided a solid block. He finished with four kills, three blocks, an ace, five digs and 27 assists in the three-set win.

The Marauders also had an opportunity to experiment with a 6-2 offense late in the third set when they had the lead. Waipahu brought freshman setter Michael Tacata in the lineup, which allowed Saolotaga to be an option from the right side. 

"Yeah, we'd like to do a 6-2 because Nofo can hit, as well as set," said Pasicaran. "Right now the other setter is only a freshman, but hopefully we can get Nofo attacking as well."

Jon Stanley Jr. led Kaiser in the loss with 13 kills, eight digs and two aces.