Moanalua is one win away from a perfect season and unprecedented territory.
Na Menehune swept Kahuku 25-22, 25-15, 25-16 in Tuesday’s semifinals of the OIA boys volleyball tournament at Radford. Moanalua (13-0) will go after its fifth consecutive OIA title when it faces Waianae in Thursday’s Division I championship, and no squad has ever strung together that many successive championships. The final will follow the 5:30 p.m. Division II championship between Pearl City and Castle at Radford.
“It’s a good feeling because as a senior, it’s every senior’s dream to go out and win,” said Moanalua senior middle Karson Cruz, who had nine kills and six blocks. “It’ll be a good thing for all the seniors on the team.”
Third-ranked Moanalua, the East’s top seed, has won its past three titles under coach Alan Cabanting. He had much to say during Set 1 timeouts when Na Menehune started slowly, led 21-14 and allowed the Red Raiders to get within three at 23-20 and 24-21. Na Menehune have not dropped a set in OIA competition this season.
“We were talking about basic things we needed to do, how we can improve our communication to get a better outcome,” Cruz said.
Na Menehune rebounded from the slow start by pulling away midway through Set 2 behind the play of Cruz and Seyj Engleman. Austin Matautia led Moanalua with 15 kills and Zach Kagehiro had 30 assists.
“In the beginning, the sets were really low and I was trying to go over the block instead of playing smart,” Cruz said.
Moanalua started the final set with 7-0 and 10-2 leads. Kahuku (10-4), the East’s third seed, couldn’t cut into the deficit, and were led by Micha Maiava’s eight kills and seven kills from Spencer Niutupuivaha.
“We usually do start slow in the beginning, but what’s special about my team is we’re always able to pick it up at the end, gather ourselves and stop being so tense,” said Engleman, who had 11 kills, four blocks and two aces.
Kahuku’s Cameron Renaud said his team prepared for Moanalua, but couldn’t combat the adjustments Na Menehune made.
“We prepared our game plan for them,” said Renaud, who had 22 assists. “They made us adjust.”
Now, Moanalua is a win away from an undefeated season and making it 5-for-5.
“I think it’s a great experience, especially to know I’m part of something bigger than myself,” Engleman said.
Waianae defeats Kalaheo
The Seariders advanced to the championship match with a 19-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-23 semifinal win over the Mustangs.
“It’s very, very exciting,” Waianae setter Jahren Muliagatele said of making the finals. “Not a surprise, but we’re very confident we can give Moanalua a very good battle.”
Sixth-ranked Waianae (12-0), the West’s top seed, led 20-16 in Set 4 before Kalaheo tied it at 23-23 after back-to-back kills from Daniel Beaton.
“At that point, the team started to get comfortable and we tried to talk over it,” Muliagatele said. “We had to focus on what we wanted to do.”
Hezekiah Agiga’s kill out of the right back put Waianae at match point. Kalaheo called a timeout and Muliagatele’s ace ended the match. It capped an impressive night for Muliagatele, who had to set balls to hitters going up against a big block.
“I tried to get my sets off the net because they jump so high with their block,” he explained. “We’ll get trapped inside so I moved the ball.”
Kalaheo (10-3), the East’s second seed, will play Kahuku in the third-place match.