Marie Nataniela pounded 15 kills as top-seeded Kapolei outlasted Kailua 25-23, 25-19, 21-25, 25-22 last night to capture the Oahu Interscholastic Association White Conference volleyball championship.

A crowd of about 800, mostly Kailua fans, saw the Hurricanes play just well enough to stifle the Surfriders.

Kapolei is 17-0 and will have a seeded berth—good for a first-round bye—at next week's Division II state tournament.

“;They always make us struggle. All three times, it was like this,”; Kapolei coach Naidah Gamurot said of her team's three encounters with Kailua this season. “;Kailua's an awesome team. We just had to hang in there.”;

Kapolei's strong back-row play and balanced offensive attack were key. Gabrielle Matautia had 10 kills and two blocks, and Courtney Seminavage added nine kills. Kirsten Otsuka finished with 36 assists and Luana Scheer had three aces.

Kayzsa-Ann Konohia led Kailua (14-3) with 17 kills. Dancel Williams added nine kills and three aces, and Sherie Recca added seven kills and two aces. Nycole Masaki tallied 21 assists.

Kapolei never had it easy on a humid night in McKinley Student Council Gymnasium. The Hurricanes were outblocked 8-5 and committed 11 service errors to go with six aces.

“;We know what works for us,”; Gamurot said. “;We had some lulls, but we learned through the season that we need to play with emotion to be at our best.”;

In the double-elimination format, a win by Kailua would have forced a final match tomorrow. The Surfriders led the opening set 17-13 after back-to-back blocks by Recca, but Kapolei caught fire with a 7-0 run.

Kailua rallied to take a 21-20 lead on Kayelynn Kohatsu's ace, but costly mistakes gave fuel to the Hurricanes, who closed the game with a 5-2 run.

The second game was close again—tied at 19-all when officials discovered that Kailua had served out of order. That cost the Surfriders two points, giving Kapolei a 19-17 lead, and the Hurricanes outscored Kailua 6-2 the rest of the way to seize a 2-0 lead in the match.

Kailua hit .257 and added three aces to win the third game, but seemed to run out of gas in the fourth.

Playing a third road match in as many nights, Kailua was even until Kapolei went on a 6-0 run to take a 13-8 lead. Kailua got within 20-18 on a pair of aces by Williams, but got no closer as Kapolei finished strong by hitting .444.