Chase for the Championship
KS-Hawaii pulls away from Moanalua in four sets


  



Fri, May 15, 2015 @ Moanalua [ 7:00 pm ]


FINAL  1   2   3   4   5      
MOA (16-1) 25 22 19 23 - 1
KSH (2-1) 17 25 25 25 - 3

SALT LAKE — Emmett Enriques and Isaiah Laeha each put down 18 kills to lead Kamehameha-Hawaii over host Moanalua in the semifinal round of the New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Boys Volleyball Championships Friday night.

The Warriors outlasted Na Menehune in four sets, 17-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-23, and will face defending champion Punahou in the tourney final at the Neal Blaisdell Center in a rematch of last season's championship match.

"This is what we've been working for all season," said Enriques. "We've been working to play Punahou to get a shot at redemption. It feels amazing and it's an awesome opportunity."

KS-Hawaii was able to weather an early storm to win the final three sets of the match. With some of their starters on the bench due to team rules, the Warriors dropped the opening set in front of an inspired Moanalua crowd.

Bad serving also plagued the Warriors early on. KS-Hawaii gave away 17 free points on service errors.

"It was a little tougher because we missed like six serves in the first two games," said KS-Hawaii coach Guy Enriques. "Serving is our forte, and it wasn't there for us most of this match. First half we struggled simply because we weren't serving like we normally do. You can credit this arena and this crowd."

The Warriors were able to get back into it after taking an early 8-5 lead in the second set, which forced a Moanalua timeout. After a series of serving errors from both teams, KS-Hawaii pushed its lead to five, 15-10 after Na Menehune failed to get the ball over. KS-Hawaii was able to keep its lead until it had a 22-19 advantage. Moanalua scored the next three points to tie it up at 22-all before KS-Hawaii closed it out for the final three points of the set.

With momentum on their side and the Moanalua crowd muzzled, the Warriors turned up the jets and took a commanding 11-4 lead in the third set. Great play from Na Menehune middle Karson Cruz helped spark a 7-1 run to force a KS-Hawaii timeout.

"When they passed well, that Cruz kid pretty much manhandled us," said coach Enriques. "Theyr'e a good team. We're lucky to stay ahead in this one."

Laeha accounted for three of the next four points to help KS-Hawaii go back up by three, 15-12. Moanalua got it back after a serving error, but turned it over with the same result.

"That's what helped us at one time," said coach Enriques. "We were missing serves and they were missing serves. That helped neutralize our bad plays."

Moanalua trimmed the Warriors' lead down to two on an Austin Matautia kill, 20-18 but turned it over on another service error to spark a 5-1 run for KS-Hawaii. Na Menehune committed 10 errors on serves in the match.

"We kind of slowed down with the ball," said Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting. "We missed a couple of opportunities to capitalize. One or two more plays short. Every time we had a run we couldn't convert on the easy plays that we needed to convert on."

The fourth and final game of the match was the closest of them all as the score was tight until KS-Hawaii pulled away for a 16-9 advantage. The Warriors clung on their lead as Moanalua started to climb back into it with the home crowd sensing elimination.

Moanalua was able to trim the lead down to four, 16-12 and 20-16, before KS-Hawaii went up by six, 22-16 to put Na Menehune's hopes in jeopardy. Looking for a point, Na Menehune turned to Matautia to get themselves back into it. Matautia helped Moanalua make it a 23-19 game before KS-Hawaii's Alapaki Iaea sent a kill down the middle to set up match point.

"We try not to focus on where we are and what the score is," said coach Enriques. "Our motto in this game is to rise again. After every single point, it's like starting over. We're not going to sit on something. Rise again, start from zero. Forget the score because we're not home. We have to rise all the way until we're at home."

With their backs against the wall, strong play from junior Kamalu Kaaa helped Na Menehune trim the deficit to 24-23. KS-Hawaii was able to close it out from a kill from Emmett Enriques to set up a rematch with Punahou.

Matautia had 19 kills and 12 digs to lead Na Menehune. Cruz added 12 kills racked up two solo blocks and three block assists.



Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].




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