Saturday, November 17, 2001
[ PREP VOLLEYBALL ]
In the battle of the second bests, being able to call yourself the defending champion means something. ILH, Big Island teams
fill semifinal fieldBy Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.comPunahou, defending state champion but second-place finisher in the ILH this season, dispatched OIA bridesmaid Kalani 15-12, 15-7 at the Blaisdell Arena last night to advance to tonight's semifinals of the Nissan Girls State Volleyball Championships.
The Buffanblu came out sluggish in Game 1 and Kalani freshman outside hitter Tamari Miyashiro made them pay for it, scaring them by trading leads until the score was tied at 12. Miyashiro accounted for seven of Kalani's 12 points in the run. She was held scoreless for the rest of the game, possibly because her dominance woke Punahou up from its long quarterfinals nap.
"It took us awhile to get warm," Punahou coach John McDermott said. "We have a lot of youngsters on the team playing for the first time in the Blaisdell, but the difference was that we spent so much energy getting out of pool play last night."
After matching Punahou's height with her grit for most of the night, Kalani outside hitter Cecily Goo hit a free ball into the net and Miyashiro followed by doing the same thing. Punahou put away Kalani when Michelle Look, who struggled to get going against Kalani's little block of Goo (5-foot-5), Laine Sota (5-9) and Nara Fujita (5-6), finally put one through to take the first game.
Then McDermott made a change that transformed Game 1 Punahou and Game 2 Punahou into two different animals.
McDermott decided to keep Marissa Chow in at setter for the entire second game and it paid off, as Chow opened up the previously stifled Look, Puna Richardson and Aneli Otineru.
With Chow in charge, Punahou scored nine times before letting Kalani on the board again, and cruised to the win.
St. Joseph def. Kauai 15-2, 11-15, 15-12: Kauai is going away, but it is not leaving quietly.
After being blown out 15-2 in the first game of the state semifinals, Kauai came back to send St. Joseph's to a third game before giving the Cardinals their ticket to the state semifinals.
The Cardinals nearly didn't get a return trip to the Blaisdell, falling 15-11 in the second game and needing five aloha balls in the third before sending the pesky Raiders home.
St. Joseph ran out to a comfortable 13-6 lead in the deciding game, only to have Kauai close to within 14-12.
The run was not over, only delayed, as Kehaulani Regidor answered a Lindsey Lee kill to get back the serve. St. Joseph earned its third aloha ball on a crosscourt kill by Kuuipo Hayes, but could not convert as Regidor and Tiana Lum-Tucker took turns digging out the best shots the Cardinals could muster.
The teams rallied until Lindsey Lee blasted a set from the net to her position in center court between Kauai defenders.
Iolani def. Waianae 15-2, 16-14: Iolani swept Waianae 15-2, 16-14 to advance to the state volleyball semifinals yesterday, but had to figure out the jump serve of Waianae outside hitter Briana Mairnas first.
The Seariders played even with the undefeated Raiders after being blown out of the first game 15-2.
The Seariders scrapped back to within two points, 14-12.
Tiare Hobron tied the game at 14, then teamed with Hokulani Bailey to keep things going for the underdogs, blocking a hard shot by Elliazar.
Their effort fell untouched out of bounds though, giving Iolani a one-point advantage that became game point when Linda Collins and Hobron let a dinker land between them under the net.
Hilo def. Pearl City 16-14, 15-4: Nobody is perfect all of the time, so Hilo's Sarah Mason settles with being perfect when her team needs her most.
Mason buried three of her team's final five points in an overtime win over Pearl City in Game 1, then came back to get two of her team's final three in the second.
She allowed Pearl City to hang around in Game 1, actually finding her team behind 14-12 to the Chargers. Then she took over.
Mason earned the ball back with an uncontested kill down the line and got Hilo's 13th point on an equally unchallenged bomb from the middle.
Hilo did not have to wait for Mason to bail it out in the second game, scoring 10 times before allowing the Chargers on the board.
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