PAHOA — Ka‘u just couldn’t handle all the missile serves from Pahoa, which fired ace after ace.
The hard-serving Daggers defeated Ka‘u 25-18, 18-25, 25-15, 25-11 in a Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division II first-round playoff match Tuesday night.
No. 4 seed Pahoa (8-6) plays No. 1 seed Konawaena (13-0) in the semifinals at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Konawaena’s Ellison Onizuka Gym.
The season is over for No. 5 Ka‘u (6-9), which lost to Pahoa in five sets at home during the regular season.
Erleen Oguma produced a double-double for the Daggers with 14 kills and 12 digs. Tapenga Orevillo had eight kills and 12 digs, and Jordyn Tagalicod added five kills.
Pahoa held the largest statistical edge in aces, 14-3. Golden Rowan and Tagalicod had five aces each while setter Daecee Subia had three aces for the Daggers.
Denisha Navarro had eight kills to lead the Trojans while Bea Padrigo racked up a match-high 14 digs.
The last time the Daggers and Trojans met in the postseason there was a lot of significance on the line at last year’s BIIF third-place match.
Pahoa won in five sets and qualified for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state tournament for the first time since 1997. Oguma had a monster match with 20 kills.
That loss stopped a state appearance run of three straight trips for Ka‘u, which was also the defending BIIF champion.
The Daggers have a chance to tack on more history. Should they upset Konawaena — the Wildcats swept the teams’ regular-season meeting — or win Saturday’s third-place match, the Daggers will qualify for states back-to-back for the first time.
It won’t be easy. The Daggers had a road loss in three sets at Honokaa. They didn’t play the other semifinalist, Hawaii Preparatory Academy, which drew a first-round bye along with the Wildcats, the reigning Division II state champs.
Dragons advance
Kayla Requelman put down five kills and Monica Muskat and Chasity Nickel each added four as Honokaa swept East-Pac 25-9, 25-7, 25-15 at Honokaa Armory.
The third-seeded Dragons (9-6) face No. 2 HPA (9-4) at 4 p.m. Thursday in the Division II semifinals at Konawaena. Ka Makani beat Honokaa in five sets at home in the regular season.
Sixth-seeded East-Pac finished its season 3-11.
Randy Iona compiled three blocks as Honokaa moved a step closer to getting back to states for the first time since 2010. Delsey Vaimauga and Muskat each had two blocks for the Dragons, who swept the Firebirds for the second time this season.
