Three teams from the Oahu Interscholastic Association East Division advanced to the third round of the girls volleyball league tournament with victories on Tuesday, October 12th.
 
Defending two-time tourney champions Kahuku, a second place finisher in the OIA East Division, will square off against OIA West Division regular season champions Pearl City in the second match of a mega doubleheader on Wednesday, October 13th at McKinley. OIA East Division regular season champions Moanalua improved its record to 12-1 and will meet third-place OIA East Division finisher Kaiser in the first match on Wednesday.

The victors of Wednesday’s match ups will move on to the winner’s bracket in the modified double-elimination tournament for a chance to play in the championship match. The two defeated teams in Wednesday’s games will have an opportunity to continue in the tourney in the loser’s bracket on Thursday, October 14th.

“Kahuku will definitely be a major challenge,” commented Pearl City coach Stephanie Shigemasa after the victory on Tuesday. “We are looking forward to playing them. We haven’t played them this season, but we just are going to tell our girls to go out and play hard.”

Pearl City captured the OIA West crown in grand fashion. The Chargers won eleven of its 12 league matches, losing only to Kapolei. In Tuesday’s game, Pearl City overwhelmed Castle 25-19, 25-23, and 25-22 behind the brilliant performance of setter Marie Fujii.

Under new coach Kaniela Kalama, Kahuku won ten of its 12 matches this season. For the past two seasons, the Red Raiders have won this tournament and later advanced to the final four of the state tournament. Kahuku dominated Kailua on Tuesday 25-1, 25-11 and 25-7 via standout frontline play by Lizzie Blake.
“This will be a key game for us,” said Kalama. “Playing against the top teams in the league helps push us to play our best. But our team still has to work on the little things like combinations and communication to keep winning.”

Moanalua won the OIA title in 2007 and hopes to be that team that will halt Kahuku’s win streak in OIA tourney play. Moanalua stopped Kahuku on the road on September 2nd then suffered a loss to the Red Raiders on its home court on September 25th.  A 25-13, 25-13 and 25-13 winner over McKinley on Tuesday, Moanalua features a scrappy play offense led by Courtney Cailicdan.

Kaiser will be out for revenge against Moanalua. Two of their three regular season loses have come courtesy of Moanalua. The other loss came at the hand of Kahuku.

The Cougars won the OIA White Division tournament title last season and has proven that their can compete in the upper echelon of the OIA Red Division, having won nine of its 12 regular season matches this season in addition to victories in this tournament over Mililani and Waianae.

Castle fell to 7-7 and will battle Kailua (3-11) in an elimination match Wednesday at Radford following a 5 p.m. match between McKinley (5-9) and Mililani (10-3).