Thursday, October 11, 2001
[ PREP VOLLEYBALL ]
La'akea Campbell had one of the best seats to watch last year's girls volleyball state tournament. But it was far from where the Iolani standout wanted to be. Iolani sweeps
St. Andrew’s to gain
tournament berthBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com"I was a ball shagger ... and I promised myself that I'm not doing that this year," said Campbell, the Raiders' senior outside hitter. "I said, 'we're going to states and we're playing this time.' "
Campbell and her Iolani teammates accomplished their mission yesterday by sweeping St. Andrew's to capture the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's first round title and a berth in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association tournament in November.
"You know all those sayings about how hard work pays off, it's really nice when it really does pay off," Iolani coach Ann Kang said.
The Raiders' improved to 11-0 with the 15-7, 15-4 win, while St. Andrew's closed its season at 2-9. Iolani's victory also washed away 15 years of frustration for a program that hadn't qualified for the state tournament since 1985.
"Iolani hasn't done this in a long time and it's a big turnaround for this whole program," Iolani setter Kanoe Kamana'o said. "It opens up not only the Iolani ohana's eyes, but everyone in the state. It's something we really wanted from the beginning of the season and we just worked our way towards winning it."
The Raiders cruised past St. Andrew's thanks to their proficiency from the service line. Kamana'o had streaks of three consecutive aces in both games to give Iolani comfortable leads. Campbell closed Game 1 with an ace and Blair Nonaka had a string of four aces in the second game. The match ended when St. Andrew's couldn't return a serve from Jackie Sasaki.
"We have a variety of serves," Kang said. "Kanoe serves from far back, (Campbell) has a drive serve and the other girls come with their different types of serves. So it's hard for a team to get into a rhythm."
Iolani entered the week needing two wins to win the first-round title and avoid a playoff with Punahou on Friday. The Raiders survived a scare from Hawaii Baptist with a 12-15, 15-9, 15-1 win on Tuesday. And the close call helped the team focus on yesterday's clinching match.
"That set that we lost to HBA really put us in our place," Campbell said. "We realized that at any time a team can beat us and our goals and dreams would be over."
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