Baldwin Opens With Volleyball Victory

By Fred Guzman

When Castle rallied to take the first two sets, it appeared as if Baldwin was headed for an opening loss in the state girls high school Division-I volleyball tournment.

But the Bears demonstrated their resilience last night by regrouping and storming  back for a five-set victory to earn a berth in tonight’s 5 p.m. quarterfinal match against second-seeded Mililani at the Farrington High gym.

Kalei Vaivai led the way for Baldwin, registering 14 kills in a 22-25, 23-25, 25-16, 25-15, 15-10 victory over the Knights.

Things didn’t go as well for Molokai, the defending state D-II champion.  The Lady Farmers fell to St. Francis in four sets – by scores of 25-27, 25-16, 25-15, 25-11 – despite 10 kills by Leenell Hernandez.

The loss relegated Molokai to the consolation bracket, where it will meet Kau in a 3:30 p.m. match at Kaimuki High.

The MIL’s two overall champions – Kamehameha-Maui in D-I and Seabury Hall in D-II — open their bids tonight.

Fourth-seeded Kamehmeha-Maui meets Kahuku at 5 p.m. at Farrington High.  Kahuku opened with a 25-21, 17-25, 25-13, 25-16 win over Kaiser.

Seabury Hall, also a fourth seed, faces Leilehua at 5 o’clock at Kaimuki.  Leilehua advanced into the quarterfinals by defeating Kauai High 27-25, 25-27, 25-11, 25-13.

The state volleyball tournaments run through Saturday night, with final day of action to be held at the Blaisdell Arena.

In last night’s other D-I matches: six-time defending champion Kamehameha-Kapalama defeated Pearl City 25-11, 25-11, 25-22 and Moanalua routed Hilo 25-11, 25-5, 25-22.

In other D-II openers: Sacred Hearts defeated Ka‘u 25-15, 25-23, 27-25 and Konawaena outlasted Radford in a five-set thriller by scores of 25-16, 25-27, 27-25, 21-25, 16-14.