Peter Caldwell | SL

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Moanalua players celebrate after posting a straight-set win over previously unbeaten Kahuku. Peter Caldwell | SL

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SALT LAKE — In the midst of its biggest match to date this season, Alan Cabanting urged his Moanalua team to stay patient and trust in itself.

Na Menehune followed their coach's instruction and followed the lead of their senior standout, Jojo Kruize, en route to a straight-set win over visiting Kahuku Monday night.

Kruize put down a match-high 13 kills to go with seven digs and five blocks to lift Moanalua to the 25-23, 25-20 win before a crowd of about 500 fans, running its record to 8-0 on the year while handing the Red Raiders their first loss to fall to 7-1.

"I think we executed with the game plans that we had and we played disciplined," said Cabanting, whose team moved into sole possession of first place in the Eastern Division of the Oahu Interscholastic Association. "We talked about weathering the storm, and the barrage of attacks that they had and we continued to stay in it and stayed focused all the way through."

Kruize, a 5-foot-10 senior outside hitter, took 44 swings in all and had six hitting errors for the reigning Division I league champions.

"I think we played really confident, strong and we fought point-by-point," Kruize said. "Obviously Kahuku is a great team, but we just came out on top."

Cabanting praised the play of Kruize, who finished off Kahuku in both sets. She went off the block to end game one and put away the match with a kill from the left side in game two.

"Jojo is amazing. When we needed her, she was there. When she wasn't, her other teammates stepped up," Cabanting said. "Even when she was down she knew that she had to play defense, she had to work on her serves and she got back into the attacks there."

With the Red Raiders taking a 9-6 lead — that was fueled by an 8-1 run — in the opening set, Cabanting used a timeout to calm his team down.

"We talk about it that once we start playing, we've got to be focused, we've got to be in it and that's what we've been working on," Cabanting said. "I told them to be confident, to continue doing what they were doing and eventually we'll make a break and we'll find our way back in it."

Na Menehune answered with a 7-2 run to pull ahead 13-11 and maintained the two-point edge until Jaclyn Ah You put down a kill from the middle to pull Kahuku within 24-23 before Kruize ended it with her seventh kill of the set.

The visitors got out to a quick 5-2 lead in game two, leading to another Moanalua timeout.

"He told us that we should believe in ourselves and play with confidence because we worked hard and we know we can beat this team and that we just had to execute how we practice," Kruize said of Cabanting's message to the team.

This time it took a little longer to register as the Red Raiders stretched their lead to 14-9 before Moanalua roared back with a 7-1 run to go up, 16-15.

"I told them, ‘Hey, we talked about this. They're going to do this, they're physical, they're talented, so they're going to come at us strong, we just need to weather it out, just do what we've been doing, depend on our serve, depend on our passing and it'll come,' " Cabanting said.

Cheyenne Teo tied it up at 19 with her kill from the left side, before Na Menehune closed out the match by scoring six of the final seven points.

Moanalua's block came up big down the stretch. Kruize had two solo blocks and Katy Ehnstrom and Emily Dulaney combined for another roof in game two.

"We told them, ‘Hey this is what Kahuku likes to do and they'll eventually go back to the things that they like to do, so we wait for them to do it and when they do, we're ready to block, we're ready to do the things we worked on during practice,' so they believed it, they were disciplined and they continued all the way through," Cabanting said.

Libero Lindsey Ng had a team-high 11 digs, while setter Emree Sato distributed 11 assists with seven digs for Na Menehune.

Despite the loss, Kahuku first-year coach Mounia Tachibana said the match was a great learning experience for her squad.

"There's a huge benefit," Tachibana said. "For us, now we become the underdogs, so at least we can rise from that and come up from that kind of status and for me, I think it's very beneficial for this loss for us tonight. It was kind of neck-and-neck there between both teams, but at least they know and can expect what we're going to do in practice tomorrow and get ready for the playoffs and the next game. We have a few things to work on, but other than that, we're good, we're fine, we've just got to keep pushing harder."

Outside hitter Carey Williams had seven kills with eight digs and libero Puao Sao posted a match-high 13 digs for the Red Raiders.

Both teams return to action Wednesday. Kahuku will host Anuenue (0-8), while Moanalua visits Kalani (5-3).