Chargers rout Sabers
to reach OIA boys final

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By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.com

Pearl City coach Reid Shigemasa didn't have much to say after the first semifinal of the Oahu Interscholastic Association boys volleyball championship.

There was little to talk about as Pearl City routed Campbell 15-4, 15-4 and the Chargers easily advanced to next Thursday's championship match against Mililani, a 16-14, 16-14 winner over Leilehua in the second semifinal.

In spite of the win Shigemasa still said that the Chargers could have been better.

"There were mistakes that we feel we should not have been making," Shigemasa said. "What helped a lot was the serving. It took Campbell off the offensive and allowed us to be more defensive as well as offensive."

The Charger offense was powered by outside hitter Kapena Wong (eight kills) and opposite Jonathan Charette, who collected 10 kills. Pearl City had five service aces that kept Campbell from finding any kind of offensive rhythm.

Outside hitter Elsworth Kaanaana helped the Chargers surge to a 6-1 lead in Game 1 with one of his three aces. The score was 6-3 after two Pearl City hitting errors, but that was the closest Campbell would get.

Elsworth opened Game 2 with back-to-back aces as the Chargers scored seven unanswered points. Kainoa Rapoza had a kill to get the Sabers on the board, but the points were too few and far between several Charger spurts.

The Sabers didn't have much trouble with passing the ball, but they did struggle with setting and hitting. Campbell had several hitting errors and missed consecutive serves at inopportune times.

Though Campbell is in the postseason for only the second time in school history, the Sabers didn't have the we're-just-happy-to-be-here mentality.

"We're disappointed. Our team doesn't usually play like that," Campbell coach Vince Bajet said. "It must be the first-time jitters. We prepared the right way, but ... instead of us playing our game, we went and made a lot of our mistakes.

"We were digging it up, but (because of) our mental errors on transition, it never worked out. We dug a lot of Pearl City's balls, but in transition, we messed up."

Mililani 2, Leilehua 0:In the second semifinal, Mililani learned that the beginning doesn't matter as much as the end. The Trojans went on a 9-1 run to start the match and had an 11-6 lead they almost let slip away.

Leilehua staged a furious comeback and scored points from Mililani's ball-handling errors and hitting mistakes. A lift by Mililani and a kill from senior Michael Newmeyer gave the Mules their first lead of the game at 14-11.

But senior Trent Niino's dig of Newmeyer sailed over the net and landed untouched for Mililani's 12th point. Puna Neumann stuffed one ball and a Mule net evened the score. Two Leilehua errors gave Game 1 to the Trojans.

Game 2 was just as close, with Leilehua taking a 12-5 lead, but this time Mililani made the comeback. A 7-0 run tied the score and a block by Neumann and Aaron Fujimoto produced the Trojans' first lead of the game at 13-12. Leilehua rallied with a kill from Andrew Talaeai and an ace by Stephen Gascon to tie the game at 14. But the Mules could muster little else as two more hitting errors ended the match.

"It was too close," Mililani coach Kauanoe Eldredge said. "It shows that the West is really competitive, to say the least.

"I'll take the win. Obviously we want to see the boys play their best. I don't know if they were scared to win. It's new territory to make it to the semifinals of the OIA championship. The boys don't have that experience behind them."

Neumann also crushed 10 kills to go with five blocks for the Trojans. Senior Justin Himori also chipped in 10 kills.

Newmeyer led the Mules with 13 kills.

The boys state tournament begins Nov. 13 and runs through Nov. 16 on the Big Island.

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