MILILANI, Hawaii — After an unbeaten run through the Oahu Interscholastic Association girls volleyball West Division, there was no chance that Mililani would let up in its first postseason game.
Not against this opponent.
The Trojans and their fans were fired up in their gym against Kahuku in the OIA quarterfinals on Thursday night, and it showed in a 25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 25-12 defeat of the Red Raiders. It avenged a playoff loss from last season.
“Yes, yes, it was (more intense),” said hitter Erica Roberts, one of the Trojans’ two big guns along with Alexis Rodriguez. “Especially after last season when we lost to them in the OIA. It was our motivation for winning tonight.”
Roberts put down 15 kills and Rodriguez 18 for the Trojans, who advanced to face Roosevelt in a semifinal at McKinley on Monday night. The Rough Riders (6-5) upset Kalaheo via sweep in an all-OIA East quarterfinal before Mililani took the floor.
Moanalua and Kapolei will meet in the first Monday semifinal at McKinley at 5:30 p.m.
Mililani (11-0) and its 10 seniors, including Roberts and Rodriguez, have a lot invested in this season. They clinched a state berth with Thursday’s win, but have bigger designs in store.
“We’re really excited to where this takes us,” Roberts said.
Mililani, a four-time OIA champion, most recently won back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019 under coach Val Crabbe.
Crabbe could not be satisfied with Thursday’s effort. Kahuku’s Lamona Lauhingoa put down 18 kills on .300 hitting and the Red Raiders outdug the Trojans by six.
“We still need to work on our defense. We do,” she said. “The rest of it, the blocking, we still gotta work on. It starts at the net. Everybody in the back, it’s a crapshoot if the block doesn’t set.”
Setter Anae Asuncion had 40 assists, six kills, seven digs and a block solo for Mililani. Crabbe started opposite Lylah Worsley after she missed the last three games because of a school research trip to Japan; Worsley had five kills and five errors.
Crabbe also swapped her starting libero, giving Tehanni Tafisi the nod, then bringing in Alaina Valdez mid-match in a reversal of what she did in the team’s biggest game to this point, a reverse sweep of Kapolei on Oct. 2.
Fourteen-time OIA champ Kahuku (8-4) had won the last two league titles under Michelle Tevaga, but has a new coach and a new look this year.
Teisa (Fotu) Auvaa, a former player at Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific, guided the Red Raiders to a fourth-place finish in the OIA East regular season.
Kahuku is without one of its stars, Cha’lei Reid, who decided to sit out her junior year to focus on her recruitment. She has verbally committed to UH.
Auvaa rued a string of errors that allowed Mililani to go on a double-figure run in Set 4; the Trojans led 17-4 and could coast to the victory at that point.
Kahuku, which swept Campbell in the first round Wednesday, must get past OIA East runner-up Kalaheo (9-2) in a consolation match Monday to stay alive for one of the OIA’s remaining two berths to states. Kalaheo defeated Kahuku in three in the regular season.
“I feel like our girls are definitely mentally tougher because of our losses that we’ve had this season,” Auvaa said. “So this is definitely a tough loss and we’ll have to dig deep. I think it could be a good thing. There’s definitely a bigger prize, a state title versus an OIA title.”
Diamen Brown and Dylan Hall combined for 22 kills to lead the Rough Riders in the 28-26, 25-18, 25-21 upset of the Mustangs.
Roosevelt had 10 service aces to Kalaheo’s three.
The Rough Riders have five all-time OIA titles, including three at the Division I level. Their last titles were in 2010 and 2011 in Division II.
Na Menehune got nine service aces from libero Natalie Fukumoto, 15 kills from Malu Garcia and 10 from Kaelyn Flores as host Moanalua (11-0) easily rolled on to the semifinals, 25-10, 25-15, 25-10.
The Mules (7-5) were led by Annie Filisi’s six kills and four blocks.
Coach Alan Cabanting has guided Moanalua to four of its five all-time OIA titles, most recently in 2017.
The Hurricanes (10-1) swept past the Falcons (8-3), 25-18, 25-19, 25-22 at Moanalua.
Kapolei is in the running for its first OIA title at the Division I level, and second overall.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.