Warriors pull away from short-handed Eagles

Kamehameha's Kaioluhia Kalani puts up a kill against Hawaii Baptist Tuesday night at Dan Liu Gymnasium. Spencer Honda | SL

Tuesday's Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I Boys Volleyball match at Dan Liu Gymnasium provided both teams with some insight for their respective squads.

Third-ranked Kamehameha beat No. 4 Hawaii Baptist for a 25-22, 25-18, 25-14 win to improve to 6-3 in the league standings with one match remaining in the regular season.

The Warriors started off slow in the opening set, but took control in the last two games of the night to win their third straight match.

Kamehameha was able to get 15 players into the contest and saw 11 different players register kills. Kaioluhia Kalani had nine kills with five digs, Hauolikaukalio Sturm added eight kills and Matthew Saffery added 23 assists with six digs, five kills and two aces to lead the Warriors.

"We played steady," said Kamehameha coach Randy Nako. "It's good to to get everybody in the game, and whoever got in actually contributed a bit so it was good. It was a good match for us."

Nako credited the development of sophomore Simon Phillip (15 assists) as a 6-2 setter in his team's winning streak.

"That gives Matthew Saffery a lot of chances to score points, which he has, so we get point production by doing that. (Simon) is one of the keys for us playing good right now."

The Kamehameha coach also spoke highly of the back row abilities of freshman libero Cruse Aea (18 digs) and sophomore outside hitter Christmas Togiai (15 digs, seven kills, three blocks).

"Cruse, our freshman, he's pretty special back there. He still has a lot to learn, but he's getting better every time he plays."

On Togiai: "Christmas' passing has become very good. At the start, he was a little shaky, but now he's pretty solid. That right now is what his value to the team is more than hitting."

On the other side of the net, the Eagles (3-4) were playing in just their seventh regular season match of the season. HBA was missing a couple of its key players in the contest (setter Davin Rausch, libero Dru Pang, outside hitter Michael Johnson), but was able to give some much-needed playing time to the young players on the team.

Eric Wong, who is normally an opposite-side hitter, played all six rotations against Kamehameha and had nine kills and three digs to lead the way. Backup setter Micah Murayama also had a solid game with 18 assists and 10 digs. Dillon Francisco added five kills, Max Wiemken had three kills and two blocks and Trevor Tokairin had two kills to round out the Eagles' top contributors.

"We'll get better for sure and make a run in the (ILH) second round," said HBA coach Teoni Obrey.