David Kaaa had 4 kills on the night for the Warriors. Steve Erler | Special to SL

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031015_03_10_15_kam_stlouis_steve_erler_53.jpg - Steve Erler | Special to SL

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KALAEPOHAKU — Kamehameha got one last tune-up in before its trip to San Diego with a sweep of Saint Louis, 25-7, 25-17 at McCabe Gym Tuesday night. 

Naone Cannon racked up nine kills and eight digs to help the Warriors dispatch the Crusaders in 42 minutes. Kamehameha improved to 4-0 in Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I play while Saint Louis dropped to 1-3.

The Warriors are taking part in the Best of the West tournament this weekend. They will leave Wednesday night and fly back on Sunday night, before a pivotal matchup against defending state champion Punahou (4-0) next Tuesday.

"We just want to go and have a good mainland tournament and give our boys a lot of experience against top notch volleyball teams," said Kamehameha coach Kainoa Downing. "Hopefully we can recover in time. That's a quick turnaround to play Punahou. They're going to be full strength when we come back." 

Although Kamehameha has yet to drop a set this year, Downing is still searching for the lineup that works the best.

"We're still trying to solidify our starting lineup," he said. "We have three good setters and we got about four good outside hitters. I think we're getting closer to finding out who are hitters are and our setters are kind of getting down to two out of the three. We just have to be consistent no matter who's in there."

Kahiau Machado had the next most kills after Cannon with five. David Kaaa added four more and Kapu Mau and Kalawaia Fano each had three. 

Kamehameha setters Nainoa Barlan-Garcia and Kamoku Panee split time in between sets. The duo combined for 19 assists and three aces. 

"I felt like today they did a much better job," Cannon said on Barlan-Garcia and Panee. "The sets were better, easier to hit and was consistent throughout the entire game."

While Kamehameha tinkered with the rotation, host Saint Louis was short handed with a couple of guys out with injuries, including middle blocker Jordan Goo. Kai Fonesca and Kevin Marks combined for five kills to lead the Crusaders' attack. Setter Jimmy Nunuha, a second team ILH all-star last season, added eight assists, two digs and a kill. 

The Warriors won the first set with ease, forcing timeouts with leads of 9-3 and 18-9. The second timeout that Saint Louis called was in the midst of a 13-1 run that Kamehameha used to close out the opening set.

"We had good passes, stayed disciplined on defense and did what we had to do," Cannon said on the Warriors' early success. 

Saint Louis had a stronger showing in the second set, staying within five points until the score got into the higher teens. Kamehameha eventually was able to pull away to take a 10-point lead and complete the sweep.

"Effort was there," said Saint Louis coach Jon Rewson. "It's just a couple of things with a lot of guys that don't play year round. We have the athletes and physicality; it's just the IQ of volleyball. This next week and a half will be good for us to sit down and go over what we did wrong, what we did right and move forward."