Mililani's Kristen Miguel puts down a kill attempt against Kapolei. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Mililani's Kristen Miguel puts down a kill attempt against Kapolei. Peter Caldwell | SL

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KAPOLEI — Mililani served tough and played steady defense Tuesday night and the result was a sweep of host Kapolei, 25-17 and 25-12.

The reigning Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I champion Trojans made quick work of the Hurricanes in a Western Division match played before about 120 fans.

Kristen Miguel put down a match-high nine kills to pace Mililani, which improved to 2-0. Kapolei committed 11 hitting errors and three service errors to fall to 1-2.

"I give all the credit to the passers and the setters today, they were on-point," said Miguel, a senior outside hitter. "I think that this was the best match that we've played through the preseason and the first match of the regular season and I can't be more thankful."

The Trojans had four service aces, including three by junior Nina Torio.

"Everybody has been really working on serving, as well as serve-receive, in practices," Mililani coach Val Crabbe said. "We try to serve tough. It's the only part of the game that we can control, so we put in a lot of work on that."

Despite two separate 4-0 runs in the opening set, Mililani couldn't separate from Kapolei until a 6-0 run that turned a 17-14 advantage into a 23-14 margin. Four of those points came off of Hurricanes' errors, while Miguel notched the two other points on kills from the left side. Crabbe said the run was largely due to the serving of libero Kayla Magbaleta.

"That was awesome," Crabbe said. "If we can control the serving that takes the other team out of their system and they've got to free ball it over to us and that's what we want."

The Trojans closed out game one with a kill from Hope Carter, who finished with four kills and an ace.

Game two was tied at 7 when Sarah LeGalley ignited a 6-1 run that included a pair of aces from Torio to force Kapolei to call a timeout trailing 13-8. Mililani's lead shrunk to 15-12 after a 4-2 run by the Hurricanes, but the the visitors scored the final 10 points of the game to close out the match. Miguel had three kills from the left side in the run and five in game two.

"I kind of got into the groove and I was all warmed up by then," Miguel said. "The first set I was so nervous. After I kind of got my act together, the second set I relaxed a little bit and I just played my game."

Savannah Baldomero had three kills and two aces to lead the Hurricanes, who finished second in the West last year, but dropped their first two matches in the OIA tournament and failed to reach the state tournament.

The Trojans have already had to overcome a few season-ending injuries, including senior Niki Carter, a returning starter from last year's team that placed third in the D1 state tournament. Additionally they graduated Western Division Player of the Year Jordan Keamo and fellow standouts Sarah Liva and Ashlee Vaoifi.

"I think the injuries did impact our team, but each and every one of us has the drive and we all stepped up," Miguel said. "I think we're going to be a great team as long as everyone keeps it up."

Crabbe said she's simply taking things as they come.

"I think we're just going one game at a time," Crabbe said. "Every team is going to get better over the season and we're not in a position to take anybody for granted."

Both teams next play Thursday when Mililani hosts Pearl City and Kapolei visits Waipahu.