Kahuku takes over first place

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By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com

The Kahuku girls volleyball team overpowered Kalani last night to claim sole possession of first place in the Oahu Interscholastic Association's Eastern Division with a 15-7, 15-10 win at the Falcons' gym.

The defending OIA champion Red Raiders (5-0) unleashed all of their weapons against the Falcons (4-1) as Michelle Peters and Camilla Ah-Hoy led Kahuku with seven kills each and Musie Olevao contributed five kills and five blocks.

"It's not like we only have one person to go to, we can go to the whole team," Peters said.

While Kahuku featured a balanced attack, Kalani relied on sophomore Tamari Miyashiro, who finished with a match-high 12 kills.

Kahuku lost to Kalani last season and entered the battle of 4-0 teams determined to avoid another breakdown in Kahala.

"Last year we came here and Kalani blew us out," Kahuku coach Irwin Ah-Hoy said. "So this year we don't take any teams lightly. We told them to focus, block out everything and just focus on their game and they'd be OK."

Kahuku never trailed in the match against a stubborn Kalani squad. The Falcons saved several points with their defensive quickness, but cost themselves more with errors at the net and on the service line.

"We killed ourselves tonight, too many unforced errors," Kalani coach Tehani Fiatoa said.

"They didn't look like themselves tonight. They didn't look like the team we've been practicing as and the team we've been playing as."

Peters, Olevao and Camilla Ah-Hoy, daughter of the coach, posted four kills each in the first game. Olevao also registered three blocks and served up an ace in the first game.

Kahuku built an early lead, but Kalani rallied to pull within two points at 9-7. The Red Raiders pulled away to a 13-7 advantage and Olevao closed the game with a kill and a block.

Kahuku jumped out to a 14-6 lead in game two and snuffed a Kalani surge late in the game on Krisha Kai's kill to end the match.

Irwin Ah-Hoy served as Kahuku's head coach in place of his wife, Mona, who is recovering from surgery.

"She was going to come but I told her, 'take care of your health first, there will be a lot of other games,' " Irwin Ah-Hoy said. "But she told me after the game to please call her right away."

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