Moanalua had its hitting combination of Christian Tafao and Keanu Kawaa in full gear and its setting duo of Malu Wilcox and AJ Matsumoto running a smooth offense Monday in a dominant victory over Kaiser.
Tafao had 11 kills without an error and Kawaa added nine kills as Moanalua beat Kaiser 25-13, 25-17, 25-14 in the semifinals of the OIA Division I boys volleyball tournament at Radford.
Wilcox finished with 18 assists and Matsumoto added 14 for Na Menehune, the OIA East’s No. 1 seed.
“They served well, they passed well and because of that we took Kaiser out of its usual offense,” said Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting. “We played well today. We hit efficiently.”
Moanalua (12-0) will play Mililani, the other semifinal winner on Monday, for the title Wednesday at Radford following the 5 p.m. D-II final.
The semifinalists and the fifth- and sixth-place teams will represent the OIA in the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division I Boys Volleyball Championships, which starts Monday.
“Same thing as last time and every time we play. We just have to stay dominant, stay disciplined and play our game,” said Kawaa, a senior. “If we can keep that going, we can go far.”
In the first set, Moanalua jumped out to a 5-0 lead and pulled away. Na Menehune had 11 kills and three hitting errors, while the Cougars had four kills and seven hitting errors in the set.
Kawaa had five of his kills in the set.
“He is a true middle and we pushed him to the outside,” Cabanting said. “I told him you have to be able to play for six rotations. He’s been doing phenomenal for us. His volleyball IQ is super high.”
In the second set, Na Menehune took an 11-4 lead, and the Cougars could only get as close as four points on three occasions. Moanalua ended the set on a 9-5 run.
Tafao had six kills and two aces in the third set, which Moanalua ended on a 9-3 run.
“I just play my game and play for my team and be a team player and try to contribute as much as I can for the team,” said Tafao, a junior.
The setting was on point throughout the match for Na Menehune, who passed accurately.
“We have a lot of weapons — Anu, Christian. All we have to do is put a ball up in the air and they’ll find a way to put it away,” said Wilcox, a freshman.
Cabanting said of Matsumoto, a junior: “AJ is the silent, consistent setter. He knows where he has to set the ball. He’s the older of the two, so he knows what offense to run.”
Moanalua also got multiple deflections on Kaiser spike attempts, something that wasn’t there earlier in the season.
“It’s been a focus the last couple of weeks. We’ve been a horrible blocking team in the past,” Cabanting said.
Moanalua finished with eight hitting errors, compared to 19 for Kaiser (10-3).
Seth Harman and Gabriel Singelman each had six kills for the Cougars, the East’s No. 3 seed. Mihael Stromsdorfer had 14 assists.
Moanalua beat Kaiser 25-13, 25-15, 25-20 on April 12.
“That’s a really good team, head and shoulder above any team we’ve seen this year on the OIA side. Hopefully, we get another crack at them, who knows?” said Kaiser coach Michael Smyrychynski.
Mililani 3, Roosevelt 0
The Trojans found a way to shift into a higher gear each time the Rough Riders got close in each set.
Manase Fetulimoeata had 13 kills as Mililani beat Roosevelt 25-19, 25-16, 25-17.
The scores don’t indicate how close the sets were.
The Trojans, the West’s No. 1 seed, led 15-12 in the first set, 16-14 in the second and 19-17 in the third.
“We have the personnel, we have a lot of kids coming from club (volleyball) who have experience and give us that extra effort when we need it or the couple extra points when we need it,” said Mililani coach Gabby Maunupau.
Mililani (12-0) will face Moanalua in Wednesday’s final at Radford.
“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be interesting,” Maunupau said. “We’re going to get challenged in a lot of different ways.”
Fetulimoeata, a junior, wasn’t satisfied with his team’s performance against the Rough Riders, the East’s No. 2 seed.
“We need to clean up some errors. We didn’t do our very best,” he said. “Some of the errors we made need to be cleaned up during the game.”
James Saffery finished with 22 assists and Brycen Yadao added 19 for Mililani, which has swept its past eight matches.
Nathan Vo had eight kills for Roosevelt (10-2).