It’s muggy here at Moanalua High School gym, where top-seeded Punahou is about to square off with underdog King Kekaulike. Na Alii have the talents of Colton Cowell, a UH commit who was much talked about during the Kamehameha Cup when his team played.
I’ll have updates here during time outs, of which there should be quite a few due to OC Sports XCast coverage.
PUNAHOU VS. KING KEKAULIKE
Punahou wins 25-13, 25-8, 25-20
Game 1: Punahou leads 11-6, KK time out. Micah Ma‘a with three kills, though Punahou is not looking for him exclusively. Nice offensive balance. KK with two service errors and one hitting error already.
PUN 25-13 in game 1. Ma‘a with five kills and one block. Trosky with three blocks. Colton Cowell of KK (UH commit) 2 kills in 8 swings.
Game 2: Kelsey Yogi with an ace to make it 5-1, PUN. Time out, KK. Coach Leah Hall not satisfied with her team’s defense.
Time out, KK. Punahou leads 12-4. The Buffanblu have Cowell covered, and when KK sets the other side, big blockers like Akahi Trosky are in the way. Wil Stanley with three kills and an ace so far in this set.
Punahou wins game 2, 25-8. Total domination. Four of KK’s points came on Punahou service errors. Three aces, two blocks by the Buffanblu. They have completely neutralized one of the state’s top players, Cowell.
Game 3: Na Alii playing better, but trail 13-9 at media time out. Cowell with two kills, but his team still struggling to keep up with Punahou’s balance, height and depth.
Time out, KK. They made it interesting, staying within 15-14, 16-15 and 17-6 before Punahou pulled away to a 20-17 lead. Cowell finally getting some clean looks, has four kills so far in this third set.
Time out, KK. Punahou leads 23-20. They were within 22-20.
Ma‘a ends it with a bomb from the back row, 25-20.
KAMEHAMEHA-HAWAII VS. MOANALUA
Final: KS-Hawaii def. Moanalua 17-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-23
Game 1: TV time out. This was locked up in a one-point margin until 10-10, when Moanalua ran off four points in a row. Seyj Engleman leads Na Menehune with three kills so far.
Time out: KSH calls another TO down 18-13. Unforced errors hiring the Warriors.
Time out: KSH calls its last TO, trailing 22-15. Again, unforced errors. Moanalua’s home crowd is roaring tonight.
Moanalua 25, KS-Hawaii 17
Na Menehune went on a 15-7 run to close out the opening set. Kruz had four kills, but it was offensive balance that KS-Hawaii could not stop. Engleman and Austin Matautia had three kills apiece. Five service errors by KSH.
Game 2: Warriors lead 8-5, playing error-free so far in this set. Time out, Moanalua.
KSH holding on to the lead, playing almost error-free until the last few points with net violations. The Warriors still lead 21-19. Time out, KSH.
Time out KSH, Moanalua ties it at 22-all on another KSH net violation. The big difference has been Emmett Enriques, who (I think) sat out the first set, not sure why. And they were in some control of this set until those unforced errors began to hurt them again.
Out of the time out, Enriques with a monster kill from the back row, and then Isaiah Laeha with a back-row kill that climbs the net and into the middle gap of Moanalua’s defense. KSH leads 24-22, time out MOA.
Isaiah Tauati roofs Matautia to end the second set.
KS-Hawaii 25, Moanalua 22. The match is tied at 1 apiece.
Game 3: Time out, MOA. KSH leads 7-3. Warriors have momentum, playing clean (no unforced errors) and as in the second set, getting a boost from Avery Enriques at setter. His twin brother, Addison, usually sets, but they took turns in game 2 and it’s happening in game 3. Working well.
Emmett Enriques goes to the back row and Carson Cruz comes up with back to back blocks, and after a KSH hitting error, it’s 11-8.
Time out, KSH, which leads 12-11. Cruz has his third block of the set when Avery Enriques tries a dump shot over him.
Time out, MOA. KSH leads 22-18. The margin was down to two points, but KSH got two big blocks, including one that closed out a bad pass by Moanalua to outside hitter Matautia.
Moanalua wins game 3, 25-19. Emmett Enriques comes up huge with a roof at the middle on Matautia, then delivers two roll shots for the final two points. Incredible precision and skill. The Warriors have taken this near-capacity home crowd out of the game. For now.
Game 4: Time out, MOA. KSH leads 13-9, benefitting from four hitting errors and three service errors by the home team. (Technically, KS-Hawaii is listed as the home team since they have the higher seed, but for all intents and purposes, this is a MOA home crowd.)
Time out, KSH. The lead is down to 16-12 after the Warriors were up 16-9. Tough serving by Moanalua sparked the 3-0 run, with Karson Kruz pounding two kills over the middle.
Time out, MOA. KSH Leads 22-16. After Moanalua creeped closer, they got key plays from all over their roster. Laeha has been huge with four kills in this set.
Down 24-19, Moanalua climbs all the way back to 24-23 before Emmett Enriques ends it with a big poi pounder slam. KS-Hawaii wins the match in four sets.
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