OIA Girls Volleyball
Kalani rallies past Anuenue, 25-14, 18-25, 15-8


  



Wed, Sep 14, 2016 @ Kalani [ 7:30 pm ]


FINAL  1   2   3   4   5      
ANUE (5-8) 14 25 8 - - 1
KLNI (6-6) 25 18 15 - - 2
Kill: K. Krug (ANUE) 13 kills

It is a not-the-norm schedule for Kalani (3-1) this week, three games in four days, as teams make up postponed contests due to the visit of President Barack Obama on Aug 31.

And after a three set win on the road against Kaiser on Monday, the last thing the Falcons needed was to repeat another full state of games Wednesday evening at home against Anuenue (1-3).

The bad news, yet another three-set adventure for the Falcons.

The good news, another victory for the Falcons,  25-14, 18-25, 15-8.

Despite the three-game winning streak the Falcons currently are riding, head coach Nina Waialae would have preferred to have played less than six sets with a matchup with Farrington looming Thursday.

"We have a game tommorrow, so we wanted to try and give our girls some rest since we don't normally plays two nights in a row," said Waialae.

Freshman setter Kelsie Nakashima ran the Falcons' offense with aplomb, notching a game-high 20 assists to go along with two aces and 10 digs, and got key contributions from seniors Ofeira Petaia (four kills, three total blocks), Charity Lopes (6 kills, 11 digs) and Jazlyn Bulatao (6 kills) in the win.

"She's (Kelsie's) definitely doing a good job, she does spread our sets a lot more than typical. We are only four games, so there's still a lot more we need to work on as far as connection between our middles and her," said Waialae. :But (she's) very techinically sound, we're just trying to build her leadership, vocal, take charge mentality."

The opening set saw the Falcons extend to an early 8-3 advantage on a Charity Lopes kill, but Na Koa clawed back to within three points on a Moana Vaughan-Darval kill at 12-9.

Jazlyn Bulatao's kill off an assist from Nakashima extended the lead to 18-12, part of a 8-2 scoring run capped off by a Cameron Woods kill that ended the first set 25-14.

Kalani opted to rest a few starters in set two, but it was the tough serving of Vaughn-Darval that sparked Na Koa in the opening moments of the set, with three of her game-high four aces coming in a single service rotation to spot Anuenue a 6-1 lead.

The tough serving Vaughn-Darval, who also had a game-high 23 digs, was complemented by the power-hitting Kamalei Krug, who slammed down her third kill of the set to push the Na Koa lead to 12-5, forcing Kalani to call for time.

In the waning moments of set two, a Petaia kill pulled the Falcons to within four points at 22-18, but Anuenue notched the final three points in the second to force a deciding third set.

Set three was all Kalani, with back-to-back kills from Bulatao and then Petaia followed up by a Nakashima ace to spot the Falcons an early 5-1 advantage.

"Our coach told us just to reset and pick up the energy a bit more," said Nakashima of set three. "We were really down in the second set, but we didn't want it to effect our play in the third."

Krug, who finished with a game-high 13 kills, put down six in the third set alone, got Anuenue to within two points at 5-3, but Na Koa just didn't have any answers for the Falcons' balance offensively.

Three hitters notched a trio of kills in the final set, Petaia, Bulatao, and junior Kylee Aiwohi, who slammed down back-to-back-to-back kills to get the Falcons to match point.



Reach Brien Ing at [email protected].




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