HONOKAA — A barrage of aces compensated for a lack of firepower for Honokaa, which served bullets on the volleyball court all night against Christian Liberty.
HONOKAA — A barrage of aces compensated for a lack of firepower for Honokaa, which served bullets on the volleyball court all night against Christian Liberty.
The Dragons defeated the Canefire 25-15, 20-25, 25-15, 25-12 in the first round of the BIIF Division II playoffs on Tuesday night at the Honokaa county gym.
Leilani Pupuhi and Randy Iona each served six aces to spark the Dragons (12-6), who clinched a berth to the HHSAA state tournament, which will be held Oct. 26-29 on Oahu.
They will play at Hawaii Prep (13-4) in the BIIF semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Castle Gym.
In the other first-round match, Kohala swept Pahoa 25-21, 25-23, 25-12, clinching its first berth at the HHSAA tournament since 1999.
The Cowgirls (12-6) will face Konawaena (12-4) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Kealakekua in the semifinals.
The season is over for the Canefire (11-6), who lose their best player in Chantal “Telly” Koon and three other seniors in libero Mary Pratt, outside hitter Jade Arellano, and Raesha Picar-Cabal.
Koon, a 5-foot-10 senior middle blocker, blasted 18 kills or 64 percent of her team’s offense, which finished with 28 kills and 41 unforced errors (hitting, serving, and ball-handling). Riley Brown, a junior middle, added seven kills and freshman outside hitter Misty Brown had two kills.
Tiera McKenzie, a senior outside hitter, led Honokaa with 14 kills. Esther Benanua, a junior middle, added eight kills, including six in the fourth set. Iona chipped in six kills and Pupuhi had four kills for the Dragons, who compiled 33 kills and 30 errors.
The most lopsided stat was the ace total. The Dragons dropped 19 aces while the Canefire had just six aces.
In the second set, Koon was major source of offense. She scored 13 points (eight kills, three blocks, and two aces). That was the only game Christian Liberty had fewer giveaway points, 6-11.
The rest of the time Honokaa gave the Canefire’s serve-receive passing hard rubs with fastballs, sliders and sinkers from the service line.
Honokaa coach Mike Fernandez didn’t need to look at a stat sheet to know his offense neutralized its kills total with a bunch of unforced errors.
“We were a little shaky, but we came around at the end,” he said. “We tried to get everybody in there. The Canefire came out on fire. Our serves really helped us out. We didn’t get the offense that we expected.”
In the first set, McKenzie slammed five kills, Pupuhi racked up four of her team’s seven aces, and the Canefire had 12 giveaway points.
Then it was the Telly show in Game 2, when Koon led off with a smashing kill, got consecutive roofs, and another rocket shot off a free ball. It was 4-0, and Christian Liberty had a nice momentum roll.
In the third set, Honokaa didn’t hit lights out but had better balance across the board. Iona, a senior middle, had four kills, McKenzie three, and Benanua two kills to make each rotation a hitting threat.
It didn’t help that the Canefire had 11 unforced errors; they had nine each in the second and fourth games.
Honokaa junior setter Karly Requelman opened Game 4 behind the service line, and although she didn’t get any aces her tough serves gave the Canefire all sorts of problems getting the ball to freshman setter Rhylee Corpuz.
Christian Liberty had five straight hitting errors, and then it got worse.
Later, McKenzie stepped up to serve and ripped three aces in a row for a 9-3 lead. Then Iona was behind the line and rifled three aces during a seven-point run for a 17-5 cushion.
The Canefire’s 41st unforced error (a hitting miscue) closed the match and sent the visitors back in the van for a 90-minute drive back home.
With a return trip to Oahu in the bag, the Dragons, who last went to states in 2014, can relax a little against HPA. Too often, they had spurts of solid play, followed by shaky passing and skids of unforced errors.
“Randy, Leilani and Karly went to states, and it’ll be a good experience for the other girls,” Fernandez said. “If we can stay in the moment, we’ll be strong.”
If not, maybe the Dragons can turn to their ace serving to bail them out. Although, HPA is the two-time defending BIIF runner-up and doesn’t usually beat itself. Then again, Honokaa played good enough and served tough enough to take down a scrappy Canefire team.