HONOLULU — Honokaa looked like a volleyball team out of sync — for good reason with two missing starters — on Wednesday against a Kailua rocket ship that was firing on all cylinders.
The Surfriders swept the Dragons 25-16, 25-13, 25-19 in the first round at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II state championships at Kaimuki High’s gym.
Kailua (7-8), the Oahu Interscholastic Association runner-up, simply had much better ball-control and too much firepower with far more kills, 47-12, and aces, 17-4.
Honokaa (10-8), the Big Island Interscholastic Federation’s No. 3 team, next plays the HPA-Radford loser at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in a consolation match at Kaimuki.
“I’m really proud of them, even though we were missing key players,” Honokaa coach Mike Fernandez said. “They kept their composure. Kailua served tough and at one point we were flat-footed, and couldn’t adjust to their hitting style. We were missing a lot of blocks and that was a key for us.”
Monica Muskat, a 5-foot-10 senior middle blocker, was most of Honokaa’s offense with six kills. Kayla Requelman, a 5-3 senior hitter, and Delsey Vaimauga, a 5-8 middle, had two kills each while 5-7 hitter Leilani Pupuhi and Esther Benanua each had one kill.
The Dragons were without 5-10 senior middle/hitter Chasity Nickel and 5-5 senior setter/hitter Tehane Reynolds, who was on a mainland trip. Their experience was missed, especially Nickel’s length on the block and Reynolds’ ball-handling.
To put Honokaa’s ball-control woes in a nutshell, the Surfiders had more points on over-pass and free-ball kills, 5-0. Without Reynolds sharing the setter role with senior Ashlynn Kaiamakini, the Dragons couldn’t get into any type of offensive flow and rarely had a good, clean swing.
In fact, the Dragons’ most effective offense was Kailua unforced errors, 30 in all to Honokaa’s 15 giveaway points. The Surfriders passed balls on a dime to setter Marie Garcia, who distributed all across the net to her hitters, who all took huge rips.
Kailua capitalized on its height advantage. Raelynn Leong, a 5-9 hitter, had 13 kills, 5-10 middle Delice Williams added 11 kills and 6-1 hitter Jasmyn Kehohina-Malina had 11 kills. Amber Tai, a 5-10 sophomore middle, put down eight kills.
In the OIA championship, the Surfriders struggled with their passing in serve-receive against Kalaheo, surrendered 18 aces and lost in four sets.
Still, Kailua got a lot of production from Leong (20 kills) and Tai (10 kills, four blocks). Both were better against Honokaa.
The Surfriders took a page from the Mustangs’ playbook and fired fastballs at the Dragons, whose serve-receive passing was wobbly all match long, and especially so in the opening set 25-16 loss.
Kailua had more aces, 6-1, and more kills, 14-5, than Honokaa, which couldn’t stop the tall Keohohina-Malina (five kills) and shot-making Leong (five kills).
It was nice symmetry in the second set 25-13 win for the Surfriders, who again held a firepower advantage, 14-5 in kills. Keohohina-Malina (five kills) and Leong (four kills) again carried the offensive load.
In the third set, Muskat had three kills and Requelman had one kill. Kailua gave away a ton of points, 14 unforced errors, but knocked down 17 kills, including five from Tai.
It was Honokaa’s first trip to states since 2010, when the standouts of the team — Muskat, Kaiamakini and Requelman — were in eighth grade.
On a positive note, it was a good eye-opening experience for three Honokaa underclassmen starters: sophomore Pupuhi, freshman Vaimauga, and sophomore middle Randy Iona.
La Pietra 3, Hana 0: Savana Breen compiled 13 kills and Peri Green added 11 in the Panthers’ 25-13, 25-13, 25-17 victory at McKinley High in Honolulu.
In the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. Thursday at McKinley, BIIF champion Konawaena (15-0) begins its state title defense against La Pietra (10-6), the Interscholastic League of Honolulu runner-up.
Jaymalee Ho’opai posted nine kills, but Maui Interscholastic League runner-up Hana (9-4) was outhit .316 to .067 and didn’t register a block.
