Sophomore Keahi Kaneakua drilled 12 kills and senior Isaac Guerrero tallied 11 as Radford swept Aiea 25-14, 25-20, 25-18 to capture its first OIA Division II boys volleyball championship on Wednesday night.
A boisterous crowd packed James Alegre Gymnasium as Radford became the league’s top seed at the upcoming New City Nissan/HHSAA Boys Volleyball D-II State Championships on May 11-13.
When Radford and Aiea met during the regular season on April 11, the Rams won 25-15, 26-27, 25-19, 25-16.
“They have come together as a team. That was the hardest part,” Radford coach Melanie Toloumu said. “Getting them to play together, and they’re young players, so they’re afraid of making mistakes. It ends up worrying about myself more than worrying about the team. Over time, they realize that even when I make (a) mistake, my teammates are there to pick me up, and we started to gel and play together.”
Kaneakua was a key contributor at Pearl City last year, but moved back to Radford to live with his father’s side of the family. He had spent his first semester at Radford as a freshman.
“I’m more consistent this year with my jump serve, hitting, setting,” said Kaneakua said. “We all play together as a team.”
The versatile 6-foot-1 player also dished 11 assists with two aces while senior Robert Dilks had 17 assists, three kills and two aces.
“Aiea is a challenge, but it’s sad to see their outside hitter injured,” Kaneakua noted.
Na Alii played without outside hitter Fidelis Mauigoa, who suffered a hand injury while at the beach recently. He is out for the upcoming state tournament.
“We’re still in states. We’ve got to fight back,” Aiea coach Erin Coker said. “It’s a very long season for us. Some of the kids are hurt. We didn’t fight enough, but we’ll get ’em. Radford got better. They’re growing and momentum is there for them. We did a good job, but we have to push a little more, fight a little more.“
Guerrero had two blocks and one ace. Senior Robert Dilks tallied three kills, two aces and 17 assists. Kaneakua dished 11 assists as Radford’s 6-2 offensive attack got into a flow.
Kainalu Shiraishi, another senior, chipped in five kills.
Radford finished 9-3 in league play, with the three losses against D-I teams Waipahu, Leilehua and Mililani.
Marcus Tauanuu led Aiea (8-5) with seven kills. Reace Watkins added four kills, while Levi Harada-Suaava tallied four kills and 14 assists. Chase Terada added four kills and one ace, and Andrew Kunst hustled for four kills and two blocks.
Enjoying the comfort of its home court, Radford opened its lead to 13-6 on an ace by Dilks and a roof by Brady Ruder (three kills, two blocks). After a roof by Jacob Toloumu, the Rams were up 20-11 and unchallenged the rest of the opening set.
Aiea battled back and led the second game, 5-2, with an ace from Tauanuu. However, Radford powered a 14-6 run.
Dilks and Guerrero each had consecutive kills and blocks as Radford took command.
The third set was all Radford, which opened with a 12-4 lead.
