Kalani begins
volleyball season
beating champs
Kalani solidified its position in the high-rent district of prep volleyball yesterday afternoon in Kahuku, where the Falcons opened their season with a 25-17, 18-25, 15-6 win over the defending state champion Red Raiders in Oahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Conference play.
"We felt we were ready," said Kalani defensive specialist Keri Hee, who posted several key blocks for the day. "It's sweet. We hadn't beaten them since my freshman year. We've been pushing ourselves in practice, and all that hard work should pay off -- and it might as well pay off now."
While Hee played a key role in the Falcons' victory, Tamari Miyashiro ultimately drove Kalani across the finish line, accounting for three of her team's final six tallies in the decisive third game. She finished with a game-high 12 kills for the match.
"Tamari played an excellent all-around game," Kahuku coach Mona Ah-Hoy said. "As I've said before, she's an excellent player. We didn't execute what we needed to execute -- and that was to stop her."
Kahuku, which won the previous three meetings between the schools, including last year's OIA championship game, fell behind 24-14 in Game 1 and suffered a pair of scoring droughts in Game 3, each of which saw Kalani (1-0) strike for six points in succession.
In between, in Game 2, the Red Raiders pressed the issue and seemingly owned all of the momentum heading into the final game.
"We got bigger blocks, and our back row was much better defensively (than in Game 1)," Ah-Hoy said. "Everything flowed really well (in Game 2). Even our setting was good. We told the girls if we could get the pass to our setters, we were almost on top of them, but we couldn't get the pass. We were in trouble in the net, offensively."
Said first-year Kalani coach Aven Lee:
"After Game 2, I told the girls we had to get back to doing what we did in the first game and take care of business in the third. We caught some momentum and found some things that worked for us. But Kahuku came back strong, and I knew they would. They play with a lot of heart.
"I was happy with the way we received the serve," continued Lee, who picked up her first win as the Falcons' coach. "You can't start the play unless you have some good passing going. Winning that first game is important. We wanted to start our season off right. We knew we had to come in here and try not to be distracted by their crowd; and them being the defending state champions, I was real proud of our effort today."
Miyashiro had five of her kills in Game 3, while a handful of missed opportunities by Kahuku (0-1) also sealed the Red Raiders' fate.
"Kalani is an excellent team," Ah-Hoy said. "To me, I think the difference was the first pass. And we didn't serve strong at all. We were just putting the ball in play. Our balls were going right to the setter, and you can't do that with a good passing team."
Ah-Hoy remained upbeat after the match, however. The Red Raiders have rebounded big in the past and recovered from a road loss to Kalani in 2001 by going on to win the first of their back-to-back OIA championships.
"I tell our girls, 'It's not how you start -- it's how you end,' " she said. "I know we're going to bounce back from this."
Camilla Ah-Hoy and Mona Ale had six and five kills, respectively, to lead Kahuku.
For more high school volleyball scores, please see Scoreboard on B7.
