Not waiting for the dramatic finish this time, Moanalua swept Kaiser, 25-22, 25-17, 25-20 last night in O'ahu Interscholastic Association girls volleyball playoff action at McKinley.

Na Menehune improved to 13-1 in league play and will face Eastern Division rival Kahuku (12-2) in Tuesday's semifinals, also at McKinley. First serve is set for around 7 p.m., or about 25 minutes after a 5 p.m. elimination match.

Kaiser (11-4) plays Castle (8-7) in an elimination match today at McKinley, following the 5 p.m. elimination match between Pearl City (12-2) and Mililani (11-3).

The Cougars had pushed Moanalua to the limit in two regular season matches, losing 15-13 in the decisive third set the first time and 17-15 the second time around. But Na Menehune had no interest in going down to the wire last night.

"We had the mindset that the first two times we played Kaiser, it wasn't our best volleyball," said Moanalua junior Erin Perez, a 5-foot-8 outside hitter who finished with a team-high 14 kills last night. "We know how they play, and tonight was do-or-die. We wanted to leave everything out there on the court."

The match appeared headed toward another fantastic finish in the first set, which was tied at 19-19. But two Cougars errors and a lift call helped Na Menehune pull ahead, 23-19, before kills by Taylor Ka'alele and Nikki Taylor closed it to 23-21. Courtney Calicdan's kill made it 24-21, and after a serving error, Perez landed an angle shot from the left side to end the game.

In the second set, Perez had three kills to spark a 6-1 run that stretched a 17-15 lead to 23-16 before ending it on another angle kill.

Moanalua jumped to an 11-5 lead in Game 3, but Kaiser rallied to close it to 11-10 after a kill by Shelby Pa. Calicdan then had three straight kills to push Na Menehune ahead at 14-10 and the Cougars could not get closer than two points the rest of the way.

"We came out flat, and our passing was not accurate -- we had a hard time running anything," Kaiser coach Ernest Noborikawa said. "If you cannot pass, you cannot set and you cannot swing."

Calicdan added 11 kills. Taylor finished with a match-high 15 kills.

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