Govs dominate Knights for back-to-back OIA D2 titles

Farrington's Christian Latu puts down a kill attempt against Castle in the OIA D2 championship game. CJ Caraang | SL

ALIAMANU — Farrington shook off the early first set jitters to dominate the next three sets, 15-25, 25-15, 25-16, 25-13 to beat Castle for their second consecutive Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II title at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium.

"It's tough, everybody is getting better. Everybody's working hard and we're fortunate to get this done," said Farrington coach Reagan Agena.

"It feels so good to accomplish so much. I thank my team and coaches for the opportunities to share with my team to earn this ‘W'", said Elia Mose, who led the team with 13 kills and five aces.

John Salacup added 16 assists and Richard Pili chipped in 10 assists.

Castle jumped out to an early lead and never relented. Farrington got within five, 19-14, but the Knights went on a 6-1 run to take the first set, 25-15.

"Our coaches pulled us together and told us to get everything down and focus," said Mose.

"Absolutely," said Agena, when asked if his squad was bothered by the jitters. "We haven't had all these distractions. We tried to prep them prior but nothing can really prepare them for that."

Kamalei Albinio led the Knights with nine kills and eight assists, while Jaysen Matsumoto added 15 assists and Koltmann Aipia contributed seven kills.

In the second set, Farrington turned it around. The Govs took a 12-5 lead before Castle called timeout. Farrington pushed the lead to 10 before the Knights came back to trail, 21-13 after Olds' ace. Farrington regained their composure and this time it was the Govs who won by 10.

"The plan was to have them trust and believe in each other," said Agena.

Despite numerous service errors from both squads, the Govs had 21 aces for the match compared to Castle's three. Mose and Salacup each had five, while Pili added four.

"Float serves are the most aggressive serves I could produce. It went through my mind at the time and I focused on getting those serves and aces," said Mose.

Whatever momentum the Govs had to end the second set carried over as Farrington took control early in the third set and never looked back.

Mose found a groove in the fourth set when it mattered most for the Govs. The set went back-and-forth with a 7-5 Governor lead until Farrington created separation and it snowballed from there. Mose came alive late in the set for three service aces in a row to end the match.

"I felt good to have the ball contact at a perfect point and it's such a sweet feeling," said Mose.

Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].