LIHU‘E — The Iolani Raiders went to its bag of weapons and hammered out the championship of the 8th annual Kaua‘i Challenge with a 25-18, 25-19 win over the Troy Warriors of California, Saturday. Lovejoy Leopards eliminated the Waiakea Warriors,
LIHU‘E — The Iolani Raiders went to its bag of weapons and hammered out the championship of the 8th annual Kaua‘i Challenge with a 25-18, 25-19 win over the Troy Warriors of California, Saturday.
Lovejoy Leopards eliminated the Waiakea Warriors, 25-19, 25-14 to nail down the third place spot for the Po‘okela — Championship and Exceptional division.
“The Waiakea bunch is really scrappy,” said Rich Roberts, the tournament coordinator. “I really thought they were going to beat Troy to get into the championship spot.”
Earlier in the day, the Warriors from the Big Island opened with a 25-14, 25-22 win over Huntington Beach, advancing to meet Troy that bested the Hawai‘i team 27-25, 26-24 to earn the right to meet Iolani for the championship.
The Huntington Beach Oilers were a 25-21, 25-16 winner over the Maryknoll Spartans to lock up the seventh place of that division at the Kaua‘i High School gym.
Iolani opened with a 25-21, 25-15 win over Maryknoll to advance against Lovejoy and emerged following three sets, 25-21, 24-26, 15-13 to engage Troy for the title match.
Troy got the better of Newport Harbor, 25-20, 25-19 in the Saturday opener, advancing to face the Waiakea Warriors before meeting Iolani.
Iolani, a Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Division I squad, lost little time taking control of both sets in the title match.
Utilizing the heavy hitting power of Mahina Haina, Alissa Youart and freshman Loxley Keala, the Raiders were set up by the setting of Mali‘e Yoon to get the hammers.
That sent the ball everywhere as Troy tried to defend on the pounding. The Fullerton, Calif. team went to its own hammers, Maddy Barrett and Juliana Crum, but those surges only came twice in each set before Iolani shut down the charge.
Keala set the final steps of the first set by hitting off a Troy block followed by a pair of Youart hits, one from the outside and the other down the middle for the 24-18 bulge. Mahina Haina sealed the deal with a kill down the line.
Troy’s Rachel Jensen blocked an Iolani hit up the middle in the second set to pull the California team to within a point, 7-8, but the Raiders’ hitting forced Troy passing errors and a Georgette Lopes-Liutolo hit into an open pocket pulled Iolani to an 11-7 margin.
A Keala ace moved Iolani to a 19-11 lead before Youart slammed the ball down the middle to seal the title.
