PUKALANI - After two matches in three days, the Seabury Hall girls volleyball team has the next 12 days off.
Coach Scottie Zucco doesn't mind. Not after the Spartans looked sluggish, in his opinion, during a 25-14, 25-11, 25-16 win over Lanai at the Erdman Athletic Center on Saturday night.
''Very hard to tell where we are at,'' Zucco said. ''Playing on a Saturday, I don't know if the girls are off rhythm or what. There were a lot of mental errors tonight. Yeah, the score worked out in our favor, but we have definitely got to hit the practice floor on Monday and respond to success in the same way we are going to adversity.''
After an easy win for the Spartans (2-0) in the first set, the Pine Lasses were hanging tough in the second, bounding out to 4-1 and 5-2 leads. The score was still just 12-11 in the Spartans' favor when Kanani Santos stepped to the serving line after a kill by Seabury's Lesley Smith.
Thirteen straight Santos serves later - seven of them aces - and the Spartans had won the set.
''Kanani is a fantastic athlete,'' Zucco said of the junior outside hitter. ''You know, unfortunately on past years' teams, she hasn't gotten her shot to show what she has really got. But I'm sure by the end of this year, everybody is going to be asking about Kanani. It has been happening in the preseason tournaments - all the other coaches have been asking, 'Who is number 22?' We have found out how strong a server and how strong an arm swing she has got.''
Santos shared match-high honors for kills with Smith as each had eight. Santos finished the night with eight aces. Junior setter Keana Cramer had 28 assists.
The tallest of the Pine Lasses is 5-foot-10 senior Erin Trevino, who is two inches taller than teammate Sharah Myers. The next-tallest Lanai player, however, is listed at 5-4.
''We definitely didn't underestimate them,'' Zucco said. ''We prepared all week for some scrappy offense. Lanai has a lot of athletes over there. I think most of the things that went wrong for us today happened on our side of the net. Lanai did a great job of putting pressure on us at times.''
The Pine Lasses were without head coach Norraine Riel, who gave birth to her first child Friday on Oahu - daughter Alekah Rayne. Riel's twin sister, Nina Riel, served as the Pine Lasses' coach on Saturday in their Maui Interscholastic League opener.
''Seabury Hall is a very tough team, very good,'' Nina Riel said. ''We are really in a rebuilding mode this year. Erin Trevino is our go-to girl because she is one of only two seniors we have along with Deidra Donato. This is kind of building year for next year.''
Still, the Pine Lasses managed to show that they can be competitive with the team
that advanced to the state Division II final last year.
''The Seabury Hall program just keeps on going,'' Riel said. ''It is so well-structured, so well organized.''
Now, the Spartans have their biggest break between MIL matches. After returning on Sept. 19 to face Kaahumanu Hou, Seabury Hall will play key D-II matches at Hana and Molokai before the end of the month. They don't return to the Erdman Athletic Center until Baldwin visits on Oct. 10.
''We are going to start a four-game road trip in two weeks when we play Hana,
St. Anthony, Molokai and King Kekaulike,'' Zucco said. ''Three of those games are
D-II teams, which means we really are going to have to clean up our play before that road trip.''
Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com
