Friday, November 16, 2001
[ PREP VOLLEYBALL ]
Iolani and Hilo swept through pool play yesterday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Nissan State Girls Volleyball Championships. Iolani, Hilo advance to quarters
By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comIolani finished first in Pool A with wins over Hawaii Prep 15-9, 15-7 and Pearl City 15-6, 15-10 at Kekuhaupio Gymnasium. Hilo won Pool B by beating Lanai 15-4, 15-2 and Waianae 15-6, 15-6. Waianae and Pearl City also moved on by finishing second in the pools. Lanai and Hawaii Prep were eliminated.
Iolani will face Waianae at 3:30 p.m. today at Blaisdell Arena in the first quarterfinal match of the day. Hilo will take on Pearl City at 6 p.m.
"The girls have a job to do and they're on task," Hilo coach Carla Carpenter-Kabalis said.
"We're here for business. Our itinerary says, 'Today we have business to take care of.' Everybody's goal is to win states, and we need to be focused."
Hilo, the Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion, made short work of Lanai in the first match of the day, then had a five-hour break before taking on Waianae. But the Vikings heated up quickly, taking a 10-1 lead in game one and a 12-2 lead in Game 2.
After Waianae took a 1-0 lead to open the match, Kanani Yockman served 10 straight points to give Hilo control. She served up two aces in that stretch, while Poli Olevao had three kills. After Waianae cut it deficit to 12-6, Yockman served up Hilo's final three points.
Yockman finished the match with four aces and five kills. Olevao registered a match-high six kills.
"That's the first time I've ever seen (Yockman) serve like that," Carpenter-Kabalis said. "I'm really proud that she could maintain that. ... She did an outstanding job of serving tonight."
As good as Hilo's serving was last night, Iolani may have been even better.
The Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion served up five aces in its match against Hawaii Prep, then had 13 against Pearl City.
Kanoe Kamanao and Laakea Campbell combined for four aces against Hawaii Prep and eight against Pearl City.
"They have some great serving, and our passing just wasn't there tonight," Pearl City coach Stephanie Shota said. "That's something we've been trying to work on all season, so hopefully it's there (today)."
In the second game against the Chargers, Kamanao showed off her jump serve to score four consecutive aces and give Iolani a 9-1 lead.
"I'd been working on it at practice, but I haven't done it in games actually," Kamanao said. "I feel more comfortable standing on the ground than jumping."
But just when it looked like the Raiders would cruise to an easy win, Pearl City charged back, scoring the next nine points to take a 10-9 lead.
But the Raiders scored the next six points to close the match, which ended with back-to-back aces by Ashley Elliazar.
Pearl City got the win it needed to advance with a 15-9, 16-14 win over Hawaii Prep. Waianae moved on thanks to a 11-15, 15-12, 15-5 win over Lanai.
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