Girls Volleyball
Moanalua rallies past Mililani in 5 set thriller


 



Moanalua overcame a 10-3 deficit in the fifth set to rally past Mililani, 25-22, 26-24, 19-25, 17-25, 15-13, last night and advance to tonight's O'ahu Interscholastic Association girls volleyball finals vs. Kahuku.

The match is set for around 7 p.m. at McKinley's Student Council Gym, or about 25 minutes after the 5 p.m. OIA White Conference finals meeting between Roosevelt and Leilehua.

Both matches will be televised live statewide on OC16 and broadcast live on ESPN1500 AM.

Kahuku, 13-2 in league play, held off Moanalua, 25-22, 27-25, 21-25, 25-22, in Tuesday night's semifinals and is unbeaten in the tournament's modified double-elimination format. The Red Raiders would win the title with a victory tonight, and even if they lose, will get a winner-take-all rematch on Saturday.

Na Menehune, meanwhile, must dig down deep after a second straight long night of intense playoff volleyball.

They somehow found enough left in the tank last night at Farrington after Mililani staged a stunning rally to overcome a two-games-to-none deficit and take a 10-3 lead in the fifth set. Courtney Calicdan had three kills and a block to spark Moanalua's comeback that was capped by Courtney Uyeda's ace to tie it at 12-12.

The teams then traded points before Calicdan spiked a kill off a block to put Na Menehune ahead, 14-13, and a Trojans kill attempt went long to end it.

"At 9-2, I was looking at my teammates, and nobody was down," said Calicdan, a 5-foot-8 senior outside hitter. "Our girls were still serving bullets and playing with courage, like we had nothing to lose."

It was a sudden role reversal, since Moanalua (14-2) was the team that appeared to be in control early on after winning the second set, 26-24, following Erin Perez's kill off a back set and a hitting error by Mililani (13-4).

Na Menehune coach Tommy Lake then pulled his starters for Game 3, thinking they could use the rest.

"Erin and Coco (Calicdan) worked really hard last night (against Kahuku), it was a real physical match," Lake said.

But the Trojans took advantage of the window and used a 9-3 finishing run to force a fourth set, and they carried that momentum into Game 4 to win despite the return of Moanalua's starters.

Lake then was forced to burn both of his timeouts early in the fifth set after Mililani jumped to the 10-3 lead highlighted by freshman Jordyn Keamo's three kills.

But the run ended with a serving error, and a lift call made it 10-5. A hitting error closed it to 11-7, and a mishandled set closed the gap to 12-9. Calicdan then landed an offspeed kill and followed it with a slam down the line. Uyeda's ace tied it at 12-12, and Calicdan pushed a shot that fell into an empty space in the back row to give Na Menehune their first lead at 13-12.

Calicdan barely missed on another line shot from the left side, but earned a kill off a block to make it 14-13.

Mililani then went long on a kill attempt from the left side.

"I made a couple substitutions, but that was all I could do -- the girls did the rest on their own," Lake said. "I guess they really wanted to play one more match."

Perez led Moanalua with 15 kills, Calicdan added 13 kills and sophomore Anuhea Paiva finished with 11 kills. Shyanne Cossey led the Trojans with 15 kills and Keamo added 10 kills.

Mililani will be the OIA's third seed in next week's state tournament on Maui and begins play in Wednesday's first round.




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