GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Camilla Ah-Hoy of Kahuku blocked a kill attempt by Victoria Boden of Thousand Oaks yesterday.

Kahuku and 3 California
teams advance as
Kang tourney opens

One mainland team trampled the competition, while a local powerhouse is simply thankful to be in the next round.

Los Alamitos (Calif.), a favorite to win the Ann Kang Invitational, breezed with an 8-0 record in pool play in yesterday's opening round. Led by Rachel Moss and Alex Filkins, the Griffins swept through a pool composed of Bakersfield (Calif.), Hawaii Baptist, Kalani and Maryknoll.

The top two teams of each of yesterday's two pools at Iolani School qualified for the championship round. Joining Los Alamitos are Bakersfield (5-3), Kahuku (7-1) and Redondo Union (Calif.).

"Defensively, I liked our intensity at times. We need to work on little things, like errors and giving away points," second-year head coach Jimmy Munoz said. His team reached the final of a tourney in Las Vegas last year, losing to 2004 Ann Kang Invitational champion Mira Costa.

Kahuku looked sharp at times, using prodigious Camilla Ah-Hoy and middle blockers Ane Vea and Lily Latu to finish nearly unbeaten in Pool B. The only split -- each team played two sets against each other -- came against Redondo Union, a team familiar with the annual tourney.

The Lady Raiders lost four starters to injuries and academic probation in the past week. Alayna Galeai and Melissa Peters went down with anterior-cruciate-ligament injuries. Of the four, two are 6-footers and another is 5-10.

"We had to make drastic changes," Ah-Hoy, a senior, said. "Lily was supposed to play outside, but she moved back inside."

Coach Mona Ah-Hoy, Camilla's mother, appreciates Latu's versatility.

"She'll do anything to help the team," Ah-Hoy said.

Kahuku capped its pool play with a 25-14, 24-21 win over Thousand Oaks.

Kahuku was ahead 8-3 in the first game when Ah-Hoy's serving helped spark a big run. Kahuku's lead extended to 15-5 with Vea, Latu and Keisha Moeai patrolling the net.

Kahuku's new defense puts a big weight on the shoulders of its middle blockers.

Thousand Oaks zoomed to a 5-1 lead in game two after an ace by Kristen Berthiaume. However, Vea's powerful left-handed slams took a toll on the Lancers. Vea had four kills in the set, including three dink shots, as Kahuku rallied.

"They didn't give up and they hustled," Thousand Oaks coach Yariv Lerner said. "They kept digging the ball. They ran their rotation defensive and took away the line."

Coach Ah-Hoy was wary of Thousand Oaks' size.

"We knew they have a good ball-control game. They hit high and deep," she said. "We had to delay on our blocks."

Yesterday's pool-play teams have a bye today and will resume play tomorrow. Today's pools include powerhouses like Rim of the World (Calif.), Harvard-Westlake (Calif.), defending state champion Punahou and host Iolani.

One of the highlights for local teams yesterday came when Iolani's B team upset Thousand Oaks for a split. The Iolani B is the school's junior-varsity team.

"It's a Cinderella story for us. We haven't had a full day of practice yet," coach Ruth Tawarahara said.

To be fair, Thousand Oaks played its lineup liberally.

"We haven't practiced much. We're seeing who can do it on the floor," Lerner said.