The O'ahu Interscholastic Association's second- and third-place teams struggled but advanced last night in the first round of the New City Nissan Girls Volleyball State Tournament.

OIA runner-up Roosevelt edged league rival 'Aiea 25-17, 18-25, 25-22 and will play Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion and No. 4 seed Kamehameha-Hawai'i in today's quarterfinals at 3:30 p.m.

Moanalua, which took third in the OIA, was down 23-21 in the third game against Maui Interscholastic League runner-up Maui High before winning the match 20-25, 25-14, 26-24. The Menehunes will face Interscholastic League of Honolulu champ and No. 1 seed Kamehameha in tonight's feature quarterfinal at 8.

In today's other two quarterfinal matches, Kalani will play OIA champion and No. 2 seed Kahuku at 5 and Iolani will meet MIL champ and No. 3 seed Kamehameha-Maui at 6:30. All four matches will be at the Kamehameha Schools' Kekuhaupio Fieldhouse on Kapalama Heights.

Last night at Kekuhaupio, Roosevelt and Moanalua each came out flat and barely survived near-upsets. After winning the first game, Roosevelt allowed 'Aiea to go on a 5-0 run for a 17-9 lead in the second game. The Rough Riders could not get closer than five points the rest of the game.

In game 3, Roosevelt rebounded and built a seemingly comfortable 23-15 lead, only to see Na Ali'i roar back and close it to 24-22. The Rough Riders (14-2) finally ended it on a kill by Justiana Kalilimoku.

"We broke down in the second game and weren't communicating," said Roosevelt junior Kahea Pupuhi, who finished with a team-high 12 kills and seven digs. "We just had to be more aggressive in the third game and have fun. We had to push hard to make that last ball drop."

The Rough Riders knew their first-round match would be tough when the brackets were announced Friday. That's because 'Aiea, which took sixth in the OIA, has an NCAA Division I-bound senior in Lelani Kleman-Maeva.

The 5-foot-11 Kleman-Maeva, who has committed to Nevada, finished with a match-high 24 kills and 10 digs.

"We knew Lelani could take over the game like she did," Roosevelt coach Bryan Camello said. "'Aiea has a good program and they're a tough team. We were lucky to get out of here with a win."

Things don't get easier today as the Rough Riders face Kamehameha-Hawai'i (16-0).

"We've never seen them but they probably saw us on TV (during the OIA season)," Camello said. "We've got to play better than we did today."

Moanalua (13-4) feels the same way.

Maui shocked the Menehunes by taking a 13-12 lead in the first game and never trailing again. Moanalua regrouped and led throughout the second game, but the Sabers hung tough in game 3 and broke a 21-21 tie with Mandy Madrid's kill and an error by the Menehunes.

Moanalua then surged to a 24-23 lead after two kills by Kaleinani Kabalis and Krysten Adsuara's block, but Maui tied it again on a kill by Paea Mataele.

The Menehunes ended it after a dink by Adsuara over a double block and another soft kill by Brianna Amian that found an open spot in the Sabers defense.

"We've been in pressure situations like that before, and we just had to get back to playing hard and playing our game," said Kabalis, a sophomore transfer from Hilo High who had a match-high 25 kills. "We were jittery in the first game and we weren't playing our game. We just had to play Moanalua volleyball and come out strong in the next two games."

Menehunes coach Tommy Lake said Maui made things difficult on his team with scrappy defense and unfamiliar swings.

"Somebody told me they were a scrappy team, and I said, 'Oh, no,'" Lake said. "They were scrappy, and they put a lot of balls over the net. We had a hard time with our block timing; we were (jumping) way too early."

In other first-round matches, Kalani (OIA fourth place) got eight kills from Charly Sampaga and swept BIIF runner-up Waiakea 25-16, 25-17. ILH runner-up Iolani cruised to a 25-10, 25-16 victory over Waipahu, the OIA's fifth-place team. Leinani Keanini led Iolani with 12 kills.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.