For one set, the young guns blasted away at their nemesis.

After that, it was business as usual for the Moanalua Na Menehune, who swept Kalaheo 27-25, 25-11, 25-18 to win the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference crown Thursday night. A crowd of about 800 watched at McKinley Student Council Gym.

It is Moanalua’s second OIA Red title in a row; in 2009 and ’10, Na Menehune won the league’s White championship.

Senior Ahren DePonte, a 6-foot-2 opposite, led Moanalua with 14 kills and added two aces. Another senior, Joshua Buted, added 10 kills and four aces. Trevor Tsugawa, Nalu Tagalicod and Justin Valliere — all seniors — chipped in with five kills each as junior setter Zarin Augustino ran a balanced attack.

Augustino finished with 33 assists and Moanalua hit .381 against Kalaheo’s tall block. Moanalua finished league play with a perfect 15-0 mark, knocking off a Kalaheo squad comprised almost entirely of underclassmen.

"It’s so surprising how unselfishly they’re playing now," coach Allan Cabanting said. "At the beginning of the year, it was about the individual, but now they’re understanding it’s about the team, that they’re not always going to get the set."

Reeve Troberg led Kalaheo (13-3) with eight kills. Nainoa Frank tallied six kills and Luke Owens added five. Setter Silila Tucker had 19 assists. The Mustangs faced more tactical challenges from Moanalua and hit just .145.

Moanalua’s serve was a huge obstacle. Na Menehune had eight aces with 12 service errors. Kalaheo had just one ace with eight service errors.

The opening set was scintillating, thanks to Kalaheo’s balance. Troberg had four kills in a set that had six lead changes. Kalaheo went up 25-24 on a Moanalua violation, but DePonte came through with a kill, and a net violation by the Mustangs gave Na Menehune the lead. A hitting error by Kalaheo’s Jordyn Reindollar ended the set.

From there, Moanalua was in control in all aspects. Kalaheo hit .051 in the last two sets.

The Mustangs made a big turnaround in one year, going from 2-10 to the OIA Red final.

"We’ll definitely use this as a learning tool and build on it," coach Edwin Chun said. "As you can tell, we’ve got to keep improving. I’m proud of these kids. Moanalua was steady and consistent. They played well all the way around. They’ve got top-notch ball control. When you take care of the rock, you’ll win games."

Moanalua was prepared for Kalaheo’s enormous block.

"We definitely adjusted. They’re awesomely coached. We moved our hitters so they’d get the best advantage," Cabanting said.

They also gauged a way to face Frank, a 6-foot-6 threat.

"We played (Frank) differently because of the angles he’s able to get. To temper that, we had to shift a little bit of our defense and the boys executed today. We had to take away his angle and know where his shot’s going to be at," Cabanting added.