DiAeris McRaven (center) and Max Slaughter (right) combined for 43 kills against Kalaheo, but the two did not play in Moanalua's lone loss to Castle back on March 28. CJ Caraang | SL

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_19042830__19042512_BVB_OIAD1_KHEO-MOA_CJCARAANG-1260.jpg - CJ Caraang | SL

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As far as boys volleyball goes in the Oahu Interscholastic Association, Moanalua has been in another class in the past decade.

Na Menehune captured their eighth league title last week with a four-set win over Kalaheo at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium Wednesday night. All of those championships have come in the last nine seasons, seven of them under Alan Cabanting's watch.

Moanalua has put together a 13-1 record heading into this week's New City Nissan Division I State Championships, but it's the lone loss — a sweep at the hands of Castle on March 28 — that Cabanting points to as the biggest learning momentum for his squad this year.

"When we lost to Castle, DiAeris (McRaven) and Max (Slaughter) were out, so it allowed our other guys to get some valuable reps," Cabanting said.

McRaven, a 6-foot-7 junior, and Slaughter, a 6-foot-2 senior, combined for 43 kills in Wednesday's win over Kalaheo. Without the services of the pair of prolific hitters, Cabanting had to do some mixing and matching against the Knights.

"It allowed an opportunity for (libero) Nick (Au) to come in and do a lot more setting, it allowed Bryant (Abalos) and Ethan (Ho) to be guys that we had to go to, Mike Pawlak also, so the guys that are role players for us," Cabanting said. "It allowed a lot of opportunities and experiences in really tight situations, so when this (Wednesday's match) happened, these guys could step in and help out and do their part. Of course, our big hitters in Max and DiAeris continue to make their plays."

One of the unsung heroes of the squad has been senior middle Joshua Galeria, who had three of his eight kills in the fourth set Wednesday.

"That Castle game we kind of knew that our pin hitters were a little thin, so we had to go to him a ton and it allowed for the rep and the connection between (setter) Cole (Fukumitsu) and Josh, our middle, to click," Cabanting said.

Cabanting added that Galeria's effectiveness in the middle balanced out the offense with the production from Slaughter and McRaven on the outsides.

"He kept their middles honest. Cole went to him a couple of times during the first three sets and it forced them to stay with him and then it allowed, of course, Max and DiAeris to hit away at the seams because they did have to stay with Josh," Cabanting said.

Slaughter said the players were eager to turn the page on the Castle loss.

"We just really wanted to forget that game. We wanted to forget it and just keep moving forward because there was a lot of season left to play after that loss, so we just really wanted to come back into it and finish off OIAs before the state tournament," he said.

Moanalua, ranked fourth in this week's ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings, is seeded second in this week's state tournament. It will have a first-round bye before opening state tournament play against either Lahainaluna or Mililani Thursday night.