CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Pomani Grube-Hose and Olivia Freitas of Mililani went up for a block against Marie Fujii of Pearl City last night.

Soares leads Mililani to victory

The difference for the visitors from Mililani, however, was Candace Soares. The senior slammed 21 kills as the Trojans outlasted Pearl City 25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 25-20 before 300 fans at the Chargers' gym.

"She's their go-to player and she's smart," Chargers coach Stephanie Shigemasa said. "She doesn't try to bury her shots. She uses the line, the angle. Smart player."

Nalani I also fueled Mililani with nine kills and four of her team's nine aces. Middle blocker Olivia Freitas tallied eight kills and four blocks, while Kelsee Cornelio had a team-high 22 assists.

Tonisha Buford paced Pearl City (2-1) with 12 kills. Tiana Inong added six kills and four aces.

Mililani improved to 3-0 in the OIA Red West, knocking off a team that had stunned Radford earlier in the week.

"Radford is the team everybody talks about. Pearl City coming off those heights, we knew this match would be hard," Mililani coach Val Crabbe said. "Every match is hard."

Soares, a 5-foot-8 outside hitter, was invaluable and efficient. She hit .488, drilled four service aces and added two blocks. It was defense, however, that buoyed the Trojans.

"Our defense, the blocking and passing, was good," Soares said. "We played together. There's no 'i' in team, definitely."

Pearl City struggled against Mililani's block and back row. The Chargers hit .138 for the match, but stayed close with steady serving - 11 aces and just three service errors.

"Our girls played hard. There were points where we couldn't finish," Shigemasa said. "For us to compete against Mililani, that's a positive, but we definitely have work to do on defense."

The visitors hit .288 in the match and were hot from the start, piercing Pearl City's defense at a .413 clip in the opening game.

Pearl City led 14-10 when the Trojans went on a mesmerizing 11-1 run, sparked by a pair of aces from I, a senior outside hitter.

In the second game, Pearl City rallied to tie it up at 10-all, 16-all and 21-all. The Chargers finally went ahead on a net violation and started a game-closing run with an ace by Inong.

Pearl City spent most of game 3 chasing Mililani and tied it at 18-all, but Soares and Freitas came up with blocks. Soares then had two more kills and finished the game with an ace to give her team a 2-1 edge in the match.

The Chargers led the fourth game 18-16 and seemed ready to even the match, but Mililani finished the contest with a 9-2 blitz courtesy of several Pearl City hitting errors.

In the Blue Division match, Mililani swept Pearl City 25-17, 25-8. The Trojans also won the JV match, 25-13, 25-8.