Hawaii Baptist's Caleb Fisher attempts to get a kill past a pair of Kailua blockers. Sylvia Lee | SL

Purchase image 1 of 3

Kailua's Martin Tigilau, left, makes a kill attempt before a pair of Hawaii Baptist blockers. Sylvia Lee | SL

Purchase image 2 of 3

Hawaii Baptist's Isaac Liva (center) makes a kill attempt past Kailua blockers Kamu Scheer, left, and Christian Mejia, right. Sylvia Lee | SL

Purchase image 3 of 3

KALIHI – There were two competitions going on at Kitamura Gymnasium Thursday night; one between Hawaii Baptist and Kailua, the other between sophomores Isaac Liva and Caleb Fisher.

Liva and Fisher recorded 14 and 13 kills respectively to help the Eagles sweep Kailua, 25-12, 25-13, 25-12 in the first round of the 2014 New City Nissan Division II Boys Volleyball Championships. 

“It’s like a friendly competition because we’re the same age, and it’s just who can be better, get more kills and stuff which is fun,” said Liva. 

Kailua, the Oahu Interscholastic Association White Division champion, entered the tournament as the fourth seeded team while Interscholastic of Honolulu Division II runner-up Hawaii Baptist was unseeded, despite being the three-time defending state champion. 

“It’s huge,” said Fisher. “We wanted to come in here and play our best. We wanted to prove ourselves because we weren’t seeded so it just made us better in the match.”

With the win Hawaii Baptist improves to 11-2 on the year and will face Honoka’a in the semifinal round. Kailua drops to 10-7.

“We were happy to get this one under our belts,” said Hawaii Baptist coach Teoni Obrey. “We didn’t know what to expect with this group. I thought we played well in certain areas.” 

One area that the Eagles excelled in was in the kills department, winning the category 40-16. In addition to Liva and Fisher’s efforts, Brett Miller chipped in eight kills and Jordan Kauwe added four. 

Setting them all up was junior BJ Hosaka who finished with 36 assists.

“He’s our unsung hero” Obrey said on Hosaka. “This is his third year in the state tournament so he gives us a lot of confidence on the court.”

Hawaii Baptist was also strong in the serving game, registering nine total for the night. Fisher and Hosaka led the way with three aces each.

“We knew that would definitely something that we need to take advantage off,” said Obrey. “(Kailua) is so physical at the net, so when we gets them out of what they do, it helps us a lot.”

Despite winning the first set handedly, 25-12, the Eagles came out a little flat to start the match, having accounted for seven of the Surfrider points on errors.

“We were rusty and had a little bit of nerves. Just a little bit of anxiousness so hopefully we got over that,” said Obrey.

The second set started off much closer with both teams trading blows until the score was tied at seven apiece. Hawaii Baptist was then able to buckle down and go on a 13-4 run, and ultimately win the set 25-13.

The final set followed a similar recipe. Hawaii Baptist broke away from a 6-all game with a pair of 6-0 runs to make the score 18-7. Kailua delayed elimination with a couple of kills from Martin Tigilau and Kamu Scheer, but the deficit was too large to overcome and the Eagles won in straight sets.

Hawaii Baptist will try to extend their quest for a four-peat with a win against the Dragons tomorrow in a 7:00 p.m. meeting.

It’s a good first step and we got to continue to get better,” said Obrey. “Honoka’a is a good team and is athletic. We got to come ready to play.”