Ashlee Vaoifi had 26 kills, including nine in the final set, to lift Leilehua to a 26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 9-25, 17-15 win over fourth-seeded Hawaii Prep in Thursday night's quarterfinals of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division II Girls Volleyball State Championships at McKinley High School.

Leilehua (13-4) advances to play top-seeded University High (15-3) in Friday's 7 p.m. semifinal at McKinley.

"We are very tired," Vaoifi said. "But I got to thank God on this one. It's not me, it's all God."

Ka Makani (13-1) served for the match at 14-12, but Kayla Kilaulani's and Samantha Talaeai's service ace helped the Mules tie the match at 14-14 in Set 5. Talaeai's service error put Hawaii Prep at match point again, but Vaoifi responded with a kill to tie it at 15-15.

Tatiana Alailima's service ace gave the Mules match point and Vaoifi's ninth kill of the set ended the match. Vaoifi had nine of her team's 11 kills in the final set.

"She's our go-to player, we were going to keep setting her until they started picking her up," said Leilehua setter Krystin Kubo.

Leeta Grap had 17 kills, Lana Queen had 14 and Katie Ho had 12 for Hawaii Prep. Ka Makani trailed 11-9 in Set 5 before Grap's kill and a Leilehua hitting error put them ahead 14-12.

Talaeai added 11 kills for the Mules in the two-hour match that left the team exhausted.

"Everybody is emotionally tired but this where we have to push hard and we're doing a good job of it," Kubo said.

---