The Kamehameha boys volleyball team celebrates after a point against Mid-Pacific. CJ Caraang | SL

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KAPALAMA HEIGHTS — The crowd in Kekuhaupio Gymnasium took home court advantage to another level as Kamehameha celebrated Senior Night with a 25-16, 25-20, 23-25, 25-17 victory over Mid-Pacific Tuesday afternoon.

The Warriors improved their record to 6-7 with the win, and the Owls fell to 3-10 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I standings.

It was all Kamehameha in the first two sets of the match. The Warriors' combination of height and length made it difficult for the Owls to get into an offensive rhythm, which led to 10 Mid-Pacific errors in each of the first two sets.

Kamehameha had no problems on offense, however. Kade Apuna led the Warriors with 13 kills and three digs while Kaioluhia Kalani added 11 kills to go along with five digs. Both middle and outside hitters scored with ease in a balanced attack that saw four Warriors record at least seven kills for the match.

After going up two games to none, Warriors' coach Randy Nako went to his reserves in the third set.

"That was my set where I tried to get everybody in," said Nako. "I focused on getting the seniors in first for Senior Night. In that third set I tried to make sure everybody got a few rotations."

With the Kamehameha starters on the bench, Mid-Pacific kept the score close.

"That allowed Mid-Pac to crawl back into the set," said Nako. "We tried to finish it off at the end but they played well, so I give them credit. They played well enough to take that set away from us."

Nako stayed with his starters at the beginning of the fourth set, and they were able to build a lead due to Mid-Pacific's continued ball-handling woes.

Kamehameha continued its efforts on offense and concluded the match on a powerful spike from senior middle George Kailiwai, who finished the game with nine kills, four blocks and three digs.

"It feels great. I'm just glad that all of our seniors get to celebrate their final year together," said Kailiwai.

Nako explained how important it was for the team to get their seniors the win tonight.

"This is the last time that some of these guys are gonna be playing on this court," said Nako. "So as a team, it's sort of like a legacy. The seniors of course will love it because they got a win on their Senior Night, but it's nice to see the freshmen, sophomores and juniors playing for them so that they know next year somebody else got their back."

Kamehameha is now 6-3 after a rough four-game losing streak to start the season, and that momentum couldn't have come at a better time.

"The message that I'm trying to impress upon the team is that we just have to take steps to get where we want to be," said Nako. "Our postseason has already started. We're looking to try and go undefeated the rest of the way."

Kailiwai echoed the thoughts of his coach and looks forward to the two remaining games of the season.

"This win gives us a lot of momentum moving forward. I know that we have Marykoll coming up (on Thursday), and we'll eventually have Iolani on Saturday, and we're looking forward to those matches and working hard," said Kailiwai.

Davis Haas recorded six kills and seven digs for Mid-Pacific in the loss.