Freshman OH Elena Oglivie puts down a kill against Moanalua. Oglivie had a career-high 19 kills with 13 digs in the Raiders' straight set win over Na Menehune. Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 1 of 1

Iolani dispatched Moanalua, 25-17, 25-16, 25-18 in the opening round of the New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Girls Division I Volleyball State Championships at Iolani's Lower Gymnasium on Monday night.

"It was a cool experience and this was my first state game and our team treats the games the same and we put the same effort for every game and it showed tonight," said freshman outside hitter Elena Oglivie.

The Raiders, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu runner-up, advance to play fourth-seeded Hilo in the quarterfinals at McKinley on Thursday.

"Every match for this group is a great experience and it was a tough match to get through," said Iolani coach Kainoa Obrey.

The Na Menehune, who finished fourth in the Oahu Interscholastic Association, had five seniors and 15 underclassmen on its roster and the youth and inexperience showed caught up with them down the stretch.

"Moanalua is a tough team, they are coached well and we know Alan real well and he gets his teams prepared. They aren't a typical Moanalua team in terms of offense, but they have kids who ball handle and set different spots that keeps us off balanced," said Obrey.

"We told the girls, that they experienced what it means to be in the state tournament and this situation and now you have to get to a point where you're making plays instead of allowing the plays to come to you. For the younger girls, you have see and understand that you have to make plays," said Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting.

Elena Oglivie had a game-high 19 kills—which is a season high for her, 13 digs, and an ace, Saige Kaahaaina-Torres added 17 kills, 13 digs and three aces, Ana Oglivie facilitated the attack with 41 assists.

"It's good when we get passing so we can execute some of the middles and backside attacks," said Obrey.

"We have a strong bond off the court, it's comfortable to have her on the court setting me," said Oglivie, on her sister Ana.

Moanalua trailed by as much as 10 in the first set, but went on a 5-0 run to trail, 18-13 and Iolani called timeout. Iolani started to pull away with a 6-2 run and later claimed the first set, 25-17 after Elena Oglivie's kill.

Moanalua and Iolani traded points until the Raiders took a 9-7 lead. Iolani went on a 5-0 run and led, 17-9 to force Moanalua to call a timeout. The Na Menehune brought it within five, but the Raiders pulled away with a 7-3 run.

"As we moved the lineup around, it allowed us to be more consistent. The youth and inexperience we have in this situation, we just couldn't keep up with what Iolani was throwing at us," said Cabanting.

The Na Menehune led 10-5 after back-to-back service aces by Emily Dulaney and led, 11-6 that led to Obrey calling a timeout.
Dulaney and Keila Williams each added 10 kills to lead the Moanalua attack.

"They started hitting well and serving the right spots. Of course when you're up like that, the confidence starts to come. The confidence they had in each other was great, but we couldn't sustain it," said Cabanting.

"I think we need to remind ourselves where we're at and stay in the moment and treat it point by point. We tried to be more disciplined, we got away from what our game plan was defensively and they scored points. They made us earn our points, which was difficult to do," said Obrey.

However, the Raiders rallied to tie the game at 12 and led, 13-12 to prompt a timeout by the Na Menehune. The Raiders and Na Menehune would trade points to tie the game at 18, but Iolani went on a 7-0 run capped by Kaahaaina-Torres' third service ace to complete the sweep.

"I look up to her and she's a role model and I love the bond that we have on the court and I think we got stronger during the school season and she's my best friend," said Oglivie, on Kaahaaina-Torres.

"Their big players started to play big and their super stars started came out in the end to make big plays. Some of those serves were really tough and she made it difficult for us to run our offense," said Cabanting.

Emree Sato dished out 21 assists, Hula Crisostomo had a team-high 16 digs and Kelcie Sumida added 12 digs for Moanalua.