RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Roosevelt's Jacey Tagavilla tried to put a kill by McKinley's Jazmine Maafala during last night's OIA match.

Roosevelt sweeps
McKinley

Justiana Kalilimoku pounded a match-high eight kills to lead Roosevelt to a 25-22, 25-13 win over Oahu Interscholastic Association East rival McKinley yesterday at the Tigers' home gym.

The Lady Raiders, ranked ninth in this week's Star-Bulletin poll, improved to 5-0, and the Tigers dropped to 1-5.

"It was kind of slow in the beginning, but we picked it up and played our game at the end, so I'm proud of that," Roosevelt coach Bryan Camello said.

Middle Jazmine Maafala notched a team-high seven kills for the Tigers. The junior started the match with a kill, putting down the ball after blocking it back twice.

But bad passing doomed the Tigers for the remainder of the match. On the next two points, McKinley's serve receivers passed the ball too near to the net to get a clean set.

"They just out-served us," McKinley coach Fiona Nepo said. "From their jump serves to their floaters, they just served really tough. They pretty much served us out of the game."

A service ace by Roosevelt's Meleana Yamashiro gave the Rough Riders the lead for the rest of the match at 4-3 in the first game. She followed that with another ace on a jump floater that dropped just inside the back line.

"We push that if we can attack from the service line, then we control the game from the beginning," Camello said. "We served pretty tough."

Yamashiro collected four of the Rough Riders' six aces of the night to go with five errors.

Even when the Tigers were able to get their hands on the ball, the erratic passing made it difficult for setter Chelsie Sato to connect with her hitters. The Tigers struggled, committing 10 errors.

"Everything starts with a pass, and we couldn't get a pass," Nepo said. "Our setter had a hard time adjusting, and then our hitters had a hard time adjusting, too."

Trailing by two points early in Game 1, the Tigers saw that margin increase to five with three straight hitting errors. The string included a bump attack into the net that was forced by another shanked pass.

But despite the passing troubles, the Tigers closed within two on a kill by Sato midway through the first game. The Rough Riders were able to slowly creep away, getting an eight-point lead at 23-15. But the Tigers went on a 7-1 tear to close to 24-22. The run was fueled by a mix of better passing by the Tigers and offensive miscues by the Rough Riders.

With the offense struggling, Roosevelt setter Hoku Oleole ended the game with a double-handed dunk to the empty space in the center of the Tigers' side of the court.

The Rough Riders started Game 2 with their offense back on track, putting down three straight kills by three different attackers. They led by at least two points for the rest of the game.

Already with a 16-9 lead, the Rough Riders further distanced themselves from the Tigers with a 5-1 run, punctuated by Kalilimoku's final kill of the match.

"Her job is to, when she has the opportunity, terminate balls and also to pass and to play defense and to talk. She did all those little things," Camello said of the 5-foot-6 senior. "We look at her to lead a little bit more, and she's been stepping up."

With their chances to catch up running out, the Tigers turned to Maafala and outside hitter Luana Sala. From the back row, Maafala picked up two kills, and Sala added another two in last few points. But unlike the first game, the Rough Riders were able to keep their large lead and finish the match at 25-13.

Nepo said that her squad has the makings of a good team, but that they need to believe in themselves.

"There's just that hump. They need to get over that hump," Nepo said. "The sooner they realize they have the potential to be a successful team, I think that's when we'll start being successful."