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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveApril 30, 2024, 6:05am
Mon, Apr 29, 2024 @ Radford [ 7:00 pm ]
ALIAMANU — A pair of familiar foes will face off for a league championship Wednesday night.
Moanalua and Mililani, the top seeds out of the Eastern and Western divisions, respectively, will meet in the title game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I boys volleyball tournament.
First serve between Na Menehune (13-0) and the Trojans (12-0) is scheduled for approximately 7 p.m. at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium.
Both teams cemented their spots in Wednesday's final with straight-set wins in Monday's semifinal round. Moanalua, ranked fourth in this week's ScoringLive Power Rankings, swept past No. 9 Campbell 25-21, 25-20 and 25-14. In the nightcap, No. 3 Mililani staved off a pesky 10th-ranked Castle squad 25-22, 26-24 and 25-21.
The Trojans got 18 kills apiece from senior pin hitters Aris Mateo and Tyler Duranceau, while setters Tyce Nakamura and Carson Nakamura (no relation) tallied 25 and 18 assists, respectively.
"We studied them a little bit in advance, probably a couple days," Mateo said of the Knights (11-2).
"We were just pinpointing their setters and their hitters' location of swing, that's pretty much it," he added.
Mililani was out-blocked by Castle, nine to three, and committed 20 attack errors over the course of the match. Mateo credited the opposition for a competitive match.
"They really pinpointed a lot of things that we need to work on still yet this far into the season. They really targeted our weak spots in blocking, so I think that's something we need to improve on," Mateo described.
The Trojans separated early in set 1 with a 6-0 run to take a 7-2 lead. However, the Knights made a push late in the set with a 4-0 run to pull to within 23-21. Duranceau went cross court with his kill from the left side to set-up set point and a Castle serve into the net ended the opening game.
The Knights led for much of set 2 and held a narrow 24-23 lead after a kill from Aukanalii Arcala from the right side. However, Duranceau put one down from the right side and Castle committed attack errors on consecutive plays to give Mililani set 2 by a two-point margin.
Set 3 played out in similar fashion. The score was tied at 20 after Ezekiel Fusco's kills off an assist from Cody Pili-Rumusod. However, the Trojans closed out the set by scoring five of the next six points. Mateo's kill from the right side — off a back set from Tyce Nakamura — gave his team the lead for good and Duranceau followed with a kill from the left side to force a Castle timeout.
Arcala put one down from the left side to make it a 22-21 deficit, but Kapena Kanuch came back with a kill and then teamed with Lauvai Pine for a double block to set-up match point. Duranceau then went over the block from the left side to finish off the match.
"It was just a matter of us settling down. A lot of the errors started from the pass and trickled down from there," Mateo said. "It was a combination of (Castle's) adjustments and just our fatigue. Coming out, we came out too hard in the beginning and we weren't able to maintain it through, but we were able to luckily push through in the end, I guess."
Arcala led the East second-seeded Knights with a team-high 12 kills and Pili-Rumusod registered 29 assists in the loss.
In the early semifinal at Radford Monday, Ezekiel Sablan and D'Angelo Ross recorded 11 and 10 kills, respectively, to lead Moanalua past West No. 2 seed Campbell.
Na Menehune got 29 assists and eight digs from setter Malu Wilcox to send the Sabers (10-2) to the consolation bracket.
"We've been studying them for a while," Wilcox said of Campbell, whose only loss prior to Monday was against Mililani in its regular-season finale back on Apr. 10.
The Sabers were coming off of a four-set win over East third seed Roosevelt in last Thursday's quarterfinal round.
Wilcox said one key point of emphasis was slowing down Campbell's prolific junior outside hitter in Julius Momoe-Mitchell, who finished with a team-high 10 kills Monday night.
"He was our main worry and then we always just watched out for who was who, like where was the middle, where was the outside," Wilcox said.
The junior setter was able to spread his set distribution around with a steady first touch from his primary passers and defensive specialists.
"Passing was great tonight. I mean, because I can run my middles, that's why I know we had a good passing day," Wilcox said.
Moanalua made quick work of the Sabers in set 1 and 3 and never trailed in either set. However, the Menes were pushed in the middle set, when Campbell got out to a strong start and held the lead for much of the set.
The teams were tied at 18 before Moanalua scored seven of the next nine points to finish it off. Sablan notched five kills in set 2 and teamed with Ross for a block that gave their team a 20-18 cushion. A roll shot by Chico Rowan out of the back row gave Moanalua set point and a Campbell attack into the net sent it to set 3.
"We had some errors, but we knew that we were gonna come back from that," Wilcox said.
Na Menehune had eight team blocks to four for the Sabers.
Campbell totaled 17 attack errors and nine service errors to 13 and 3 for Moanalua, which will be trying for its fifth consecutive OIA title Wednesday night.
"We have experience here so we know what to expect, we know how the crowd is and how teams are gonna play against us. We're always like a target, so we know how to adapt to that," Wilcox said.
Wednesday's championship match will be the third consecutive year that Moanalua and Mililani will square off for the league crown.
Na Menehune swept the Trojans in each of the last two OIA finals and beat them in four sets back in the 2019 title game (there was no champion crowned in either 2020 or 2021).
The teams scrimmaged earlier in the year, which Mililani won in a sweep.
"They're good," Wilcox said of the Trojans, who are the only team to win an OIA Division I crown other Moanalua since 2011.
Outside of Mililani's triumph in 2017, Na Menehune have won 10 of the last 11 league championships.
Mateo, who transferred from Calvary Chapel Christian, a small school of about 200 students from grades K-12, said he watched last year's OIA title game as an observer. Wednesday night he will be an eager participant in the championship match.
"I'm so ready for this opportunity. I mean, I'm looking forward to this moment since I transferred here," he said. "This was our goal and we're just ready to win it all."
Castle, which saw its 10-match winning streak come to an end, will play Campbell for third place Tuesday at approximately 7 p.m. at Aiea.
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