Hawaii Prep, Le Jardin win in straight sets to set up semifinal pairing

Brian Bautista | SL

Hawaii Prep advanced to the semifinals of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division II Girls Volleyball Championship with a straight set win over Damien, 25-22, 25-23, 25-21, where it will match up with Le Jardin, who swept past Maui Prep, 25-13, 26-24, 25-20, in the other quarterfinal at Kaimuki High School.

The BIIF champs are making their first appearance past the quarterfinal round since 2013, where Ka Makani fell to Konawaena in four sets in the title match.

A decided height advantage for Hawaii Prep likely factored in to the success at the net it enjoyed, to the tune of 14 total blocks to just four for Damien.

The Monarchs actually recorded more kills (30 to 25) in the match than Ka Makani, with both Marion Hall and Tiani Pitt reaching double digits with 14 and 12 respectively, but only hit at .081 hitting clip.

Four Ka Makani recorded at least two aces in the match, good for 12 as a team. Chloe Willman had three of those 12, and added seven kills to go along with two block solos and four assisted.

Le Jardin continued its postseason success, reaching at least the state semifinal round for the third time in four years.

The Bulldogs bested Na Pueo in just about every statistical category, but most notably in hitting percentage (.300 to .103) and in total blocks (12 to 6).

Sydney Kennedy led all attackers with 18 kills and Sydney Gardner chipped in seven kills, nine digs and two blocks for the Bulldogs, who cruised in the first set before ekeing out a 26-24 win in set two.

In the second, Na Pueo actually had set point at 24-23 on a Lauren Brown kill, but the Bulldogs scored the final three points on a pair of unforced errors bookending a kill by Kennedy to end the threat.

Brown was a standout for Maui Prep, with 11 kills to go along two blocks and two aces.