Campbell's Shekinah Clarke puts down a kill attempt past the Roosevelt double block. Sylvia Lee | Special to SL

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Campbell players celebrate after winning a five-set match with Roosevelt. Sylvia Lee | Special to SL

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Campbell's Shekinah Clarke puts down a kill attempt past the Roosevelt double block. Sylvia Lee | Special to SL

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Campbell players celebrate after winning a five-set match with Roosevelt. Sylvia Lee | Special to SL

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'EWA BEACH-The way it worked out, the last team to execute its passes won.

Third-seeded and host Campbell spared the Western Division from a complete sweep in fending off East sixth seed Roosevelt, 20-25, 25-13, 12-25, 25-13, 15-12, to survive the first round of the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red girls' volleyball modified double-elimination tournament Tuesday night.

In an earlier match, East fourth seed Kalani swept West fifth seed Kapolei, 26-24, 25-19, 25-19, to oust the Hurricanes from the tournament. The first round is the only portion of the tournament that is single elimination and Campbell was the sole West team to survive.

"One through six is really tough on the East side," Campbell coach Kalani Gasper said. "In the West, we got Mililani on our side and the rest kind of follows."

The Sabers (8-3) move on to play East second seed Moanalua (9-2) at 5 p.m., while the Falcons (9-3) will take on West top-seed Mililani (10-0) in a match to follow Thursday at Mililani in the first double-elimination round.

The Rough Riders and Sabers won sets in which each was able to execute the passing game. Each alternately labored with its passing in the fifth set, which was tied eight times before Marie Togiailua's kill for sideout broke a 12-12 tie. Ipo Achiu served the final two points with Togiailua putting the finishing touch with another kill.

"The key to our game tonight was our passing," Gasper said. "If we didn't pass, we lost the set. When we were on with our pass, we did good on our offense. We did a better job of getting the ball to our outside hitters to get better hits."

Roosevelt coach Puna Velasco concurred.

"Apparently, every other  game there was a break down on both side of passing," Velasco said. "It just so happens we were the last to break down in the passing."

One of the Sabers' big hitters of the match was sophomore Shekinah Clarke, a transfer from Kapolei, who had five kills in the fifth set.

"She's only a sophomore and hasn't been playing volleyball very long," Gasper said. "She's a great addition to our squad. She gives us that 'boom' on the outside."

In the opener, Melia Kekauoha had 14 digs and Kerri Okino added nine more to guide the Falcons' passing attack that helped Kaiana Iaea with a team-leading 13 kills.

The Hurricanes pushed the Falcons to the limit in a 26-24 in the first set. But they found their focus in the next two sets, winning them handily. Kalani's slow start might have been from the long bus ride. Although they were the higher seed, they traveled 22 miles longer than the Hurricanes, the designated visiting team.

"I do think when we travel on the bus, we do a little slow at the start," Kalani coach Janeen Waialae said. "I try not to let them sleep on the bus rides. But today, they were all passed out. Just that travel in itself gets us a little slower start. There's a correlation between the two. My biggest thing is trying to get the girls focused and mentally strong for anything that comes in our way. I don't want them to have excuses. I want them to think, 'I want to be ready.'"

The Falcons will have to be prepared for another long ride, as their next match is at Mililani.