Moanalua's Victor Zamudio puts down a kill attempt against Baldwin. Peter Caldwell | SL

Purchase image 1 of 4

Moanalua's Austin Amion digs up a ball against Baldwin. Peter Caldwell | SL

Purchase image 2 of 4

Baldwin's Braydon Kaiama digs a ball against Moanalua. Peter Caldwell | SL

Purchase image 3 of 4

Moanalua's Karson Cruz puts down a kill against Baldwin. Peter Caldwell | SL

Purchase image 4 of 4

Second seeded Moanalua (16-0) routed Baldwin in three sets, 25-13, 25-7, 25-11 in the quarterfinals at Moanalua High School and advances to play Kamehameha-Hawaii in the semifinals of the New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Boys Volleyball State Championships, which will be played at McKinley High School. The Na Menehune were the O’ahu Interscholastic Association Red champions and had a first round bye yesterday.

“I think we played really well and we have been working on our team chemistry and we talked about our biggest problem being finishing and I thought today we finished well and we didn’t let them get back in it,” said outside/opposite hitter Victor Zamudio.

“I think it came with all the physical and mental preparation we did throughout the week for today’s game and one of starters wasn’t here today, but we were able to pull through and come out with that win,” added setter Skylan Engleman.

The Na Menehune racked up 11 service aces and 35 kills for the game. Austin Matautia had 10 kills and three service aces, Victor Zamudio had nine kills, six digs, Dustin Carrier had eight kills and two blocks, and Skylan Engleman had 36 assists and three service aces to lead the Na Menehune.

“I try to do my job to the best of my abilities, but everything comes from the liberos and outside hitters because they’re the ones passing the ball to me in order to dish it out to the outside and credit goes to them for giving me such great passes so I could dish the ball out and finish the play,” said Engleman, on setting his teammates up.

“The passing was good, we were missing one of our best players Lu (Luuga Vailuu), he was out of town and I knew I had to step up and take more responsibility but we worked well on our passing and Sky’s sets are getting better and better every practice so all the glory goes to him,” said Zamudio.

The Na Menehune jumped out to an early, 6-2 lead after Reno Young put down a kill. Baldwin managed to cut it to two, 8-6 after Moanalua hit it out of bounds. Moanalua used a 7-2 run after Ryan Garces hit it out and the Bears called a timeout and the Na Menehune led, 15-8. Tyler Iketau’s kill put the Na Menehune up by 10, 23-13 and two straight kills from Matautia and Engleman clinched the first set, 25-13.

Moanalua got off to a good start and pushed the lead to 12-4, prompting Baldwin to call a timeout. Zamudio nailed a kill to put the Na Menehune up by 10, 16-6 and extended the lead to 20-6 after Matautia’s kill. Moanalua finished the set on a 5-1 run and Karson Cruz had two consecutive kills to end the set, 25-7.

“From their game last night, our coaches scouted last night’s game and figured out what to serve and who to serve and we came in earlier to work on our serving and passing because that’s what’s most important,” said Engleman.

Early in the third set, Baldwin kept it close after Trent Helle put down a kill to make it 6-5. Moanalua started to pull away and made it, 9-5 after Carrier’s kill. The Na Menehune used a 7-2 run and pushed the lead to 16-7 after Austin Amian’s service ace. Brayden Batungbacal had two consecutive service aces to put the Na Menehune up by double digits, 21-10. Engleman had three consecutive service aces to end the set and the match, 25-11.

“We know to get to the state final, we have to go up against Kamehameha-Hawaii so we have to use this all this week to prepare the best we can and when Friday comes we have to do what we do best and play our game,” said Engleman.

Ryan Garces had seven kills and Trent Helle had six kills to lead the way for Baldwin.