OIA Girls Volleyball
Na Menehune sweeps Hurricanes for fifth OIA crown


  



Wed, Oct 18, 2017 @ McKinley [ 7:30 pm ]


FINAL  1   2   3   4   5      
MOA (15-2) 25 27 25 - - 3
KAP (14-3) 20 25 15 - - 0

ALA MOANA — If it seemed that nearly everyone had a hand in Moanalua's Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I girls volleyball championship, it wasn't imagined.

No. 8 Na Menehune got a balanced effort in dismantling No. 9 Kapolei, 25-20, 27-25 and 25-15, Wednesday night to capture their fifth league title before a loud crowd at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium.

Moanalua will get one of the seeded berths for the New City Nissan Division I state tournament, which starts Monday with regional play and resumes Oct. 26 with the quarterfinals. The top six teams in the OIA earned state berths.

"They really believed as a team they could do this," Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting said. "With Kapolei, they're big and physical, so as far as anything is concerned, we knew in order to beat them that we would have to do it as a team."

Indeed.

Freshman Tayli Ikenaga led Moanalua's attached with 11 kills, while Jeslyn Spencer and Emily Dulaney followed with nine each.

Even the assists were shared between Sara Ehnstrom (18) and Dulaney (13).

On the defensive side, libero Hula Crisostomo led with 30, but Rainbeau Oliveira added 17 followed by Ikenaga's 14, Dulaney's 13 and Ehnstrom's 10.

Delylah Sanerivi and Spencer led with four and three block assists, respectively.

"We're not known this year as a big as far (having) a big power hitter," Cabanting said. "But Jeslyn got it going at the right time; she became our big power hitter this game. We weren't expecting that from her, but it did happen and some really good things opened up for us."

Kapolei has seasoned hitters and blockers in seniors Amryi Paris, Anela Pakaki-Pias, Alexis Mareko and Michelyn Pililaau (all at least 5 feet, 10 inches tall). Paris and Pakaki-Pias led Kapolei with 11 kills each. Paris and Mareko had seven and six block assists, respectively.

"We knew they were going to be big hitters and just worked on shots," Spencer said. "And when we saw an opening in the defense, we just took advantage of it."

Ikenaga played beyond her years. She got the kills to close out the second and third sets on assists from Ennstrom and Dulaney, respectively.

"She did so good," said senior outside hitter Dulaney. "It's like she's not even a freshman out here. It's like she's been here forever."

"She's been amazing for us," added Cabanting. "Kudos to Kapolei. We warned her, we told her because you're a freshman everybody is going to go after you. Kapolei, inititally, they served her, they attacked her. She got blocked a couple of times earlier on, but she weathered the storm and eventually, she got it going in the third set."

Ikenaga just soaked up the experience of playing in a title game.

"It's a great experience playing with seniors," Ikenaga said. "I have a lot of good teammates that I count on. They're there to pick you up and a coach that supports you. It's just a teamwork thing where everybody contributes. It's unbelievable."

 

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It was the battle of unbeatens and division champions. Moanalua won for the third time in four years. This was Kapolei's second appearance in the title game; it lost to Moanalua in five sets in 2014.

This time, Moanalua made it a sweep. But it wasn't easy.

After handily taking the first set - Moanalua led 9-1 and never saw its lead dwindle to under three points - but was battled hard in the second. The Hurricanes were within set point at 24-23 and 25-24, only to see Na Menehune reel off three successive points to take second set. Winded Kapolei fell behind early in the third set, 9-2, and only got to within three points at 12-9 before Moanalua pulled away.

"This is amazing," Spencer said. "The last time we won OIAs was my freshman year. I'm just really excited for my team."

Kapolei setter Olivia Transfiguracion led with 32 assists. Tiffany Mook and Transfiguracion had 23 and 21 digs, respectively.



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].




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