OIA Boys Volleyball
Pearl City surges to repeat as OIA D2 champs


Brandon Ching | ScoringLive
April 25, 2019, 12:01am

  


Wed, Apr 24, 2019 @ Radford [ 5:30 pm ]

Pearl City

3

Nanakuli

1

FINAL  1   2   3   4   5      
PC (5-10) 25 18 25 25 - 3
NANA (5-10) 20 25 21 17 - 1
Kill: S. Tofi (PC) 21 kills
Blk: F. Seei-Tofi (PC) 4 blk
Ast: S. Malaki (PC) 44 ast

ALIAMANU — Sonny Tofi and Jacob Kamanao combined for 39 kills as Pearl City repeated as Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II champions with a 25-20, 18-25, 25-21, 25-17 win over Nanakuli at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium.

The Chargers win their 12th overall league title and avenged a March 29 regular-season loss to their West Division rivals. Getting back wasn't easy as Pearl City had to incorporate new faces in the lineup.

"This is a brand new team. Sonny (Tofi) is our only returning player and JC Lee. Besides that it's brand new players. Just to see them pull together and come through when it mattered is a great sign," Pearl City coach Sean Chang said.

"It's exciting, It was all thanks to the team and they were the MVP. We carried each other," Tofi said.

Tofi led the way with 21 kills and two aces, Kamanao added 18 kills and a pair of aces, and setter Sean Malaki dished out 44 assists.

"He has good vision," Tofi said of Malaki. "He knows how to see me and everyone's sets and where everyone was comfortable."

"It's a lot of fun being able to distribute the ball to really talented outside hitters and even our middles. We have a lot of wealth to work with and it's a blessing," Malaki said.

Nanakuli created separation late in the first set with a four-point cushion, 19-15, prompting Pearl City to call timeout.

"I told them, we have to take care of the things we can take care of. We can't stop them hitting or blocking but we can pass a lot better, we can hit better, and control our sets a lot better. Just take care of our side and it will take care of itself," Chang said of the message in the timeout.

Following the timeout, the Chargers charged out to a 6-1 run to lead, 21-20. Kamanao factored in two kills and Tofi added a service ace as Pearl City led 24-20 as the Golden Hawks called another timeout. Kamanao pounded in a kill to win set one, 25-20.

"If they don't swing, they're not going to get kills anyway," Chang said. "I told them, I'm okay with the errors as long as we get more points than errors."

Lafaele Matautia and Kaipo Burnett combined for the block to give the Golden Hawks their biggest lead of the set, 22-17. Nanakuli pulled away on Chargers service and attack errors. Burnett's assist to Matautia resulted in the set point as the Golden Hawks tied it up.

"We were frustrated with everything and we had to take a step back and focus on ourselves," Tofi said after dropping the second set to the Golden Hawks.

"We talked about how all season long we were fighting for this. It would've been pointless if we didn't push through and fight. As a team collectively, we really wanted this," Malaki said as the team regrouped for the third set.

Tofi landed a service ace to tie the set at 18 to cap a 5-1 run after trailing, 17-13, in the third set. Tofi also placed back-to-back kills as the Chargers pulled away with a 5-0 run to later take set three.

"He's been really consistent for us all season long," Chang said of Tofi. "He got into a rocky start but I'm glad he got into rhythm, found his swing and did a great job tonight."

"We couldn't let off the gas because Nanakuli is a talented team and we went into the third set knowing we had to do better and push more order to win," Malaki said.

Pearl City jumped out to a 7-2 lead and led, 9-3, before the Golden Hawks answered with a 6-0 run to force a Chargers' timeout then tied it up at 9. The Chargers gathered their composure and crept away with a 18-12 lead to hang on for the win.

"We had to take a step back and gather ourselves," Tofi said during Nanakuli's run.

"I tried to get them to build up as much momentum as we could. Once we get going, we're hard to stop," Chang said.

Four different Golden Hawk players recorded five kills and Burnett had 14 assists and an ace.

Both teams clinched spots to the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division II Boys Volleyball State Championships starting May 2.

The Golden Hawks were seeking their first-ever league title in school history.


Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].




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